Good trickle charger or not?

westend wrote:
THere are three different threads on the Forum at this time about maintaining batteries while the RV is in storage. There are different opinions about the care and maintenance of batteries, some based on use, some based on science, some on a combination of the two, and some with no real qualifications other than "it's worked for me".

I don't have a horse in this race since I have adequate solar to keep my batteries in great shape. Some good information can be found at Battery University or at The 12 volt side of life.

The bottom line is, that when a battery sits unattended, it is discharging and starts to sulphate. When a small current is connected to the battery that is greater than the potential energy inside the battery, it is being charged. A user will decide towards which side of this situation is applicable to their use and how much loss of battery capacity/longevity is acceptable for their use. Logistics may come into play as not everyone has power close by their RV for the purpose of charging. The worst situation is leaving the RV battery connected with the parasitic loads common to most RV's drawing the battery down to unacceptable levels. A cheap marine hybrid battery won't endure much of that before it no longer works.

Those 1.5 watt solar maintainers will probably not keep an average sized battery from discharging.

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Good info for "rhagfo" to read and heed - as he is mis-informed...;)

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As a boat owner, if the boat is out of the water, pull the transom plug or garboard plug if an inboard. Have not seen an out of water boat sink yet.

As far as battery maintenance goes, continue what you have been doing, give them a top up charge every month or so, assuming that they are not hooked up at all. No parasitic loads. Not even for things as small as a clock.

On my boat I use a 400MA solar charger all winter. I think it was like $50 years ago. The battery lasts the normal 4 to 5 years sitting outside in the cold. So I think it does something good all winter here in Wisconsin. In the spring I top off the battery with a “Battery Minder Plus” for a day or two and the boat is good to go.

On my camper, it has a three stage charger for the house batteries that works even when the batteries are disconnected from the house. Just plug in the AC for a few days each month and all is well.

Now my, new to me last year, chassis battery died last winter. So this year I am putting a “Battery Minder Plus” on that battery. It will work when I am charging the house batteries.

I hope this helps.

mlts22 wrote:
I am partial to Battery Minder brand chargers, because they charge by pulses, which help with desulfation, as well as keeping the acid from stratifying. I've used those for months on end, and even a small one, less than 1 amp, would do, assuming no parasitic loads.

i use batteryminders on everything. airplanes, 4 wheelers and now the rv batteries. one 4 wheeler battery is now 15 years old... the airplane batteries typically last 5 years ( norm is 3).

I am a fan of Deltran Battery maintainers. Got 3 going in the barn right now. Plug them up and forget them.

I am partial to Battery Minder brand chargers, because they charge by pulses, which help with desulfation, as well as keeping the acid from stratifying. I've used those for months on end, and even a small one, less than 1 amp, would do, assuming no parasitic loads.

Depends on how good your converter charger is. If it has a good multi stage charger with a float mode, it will do as good a job as a maintainer so just leave it plugged into 110V and check the battery fluid level occasionally. A battery will lose very little fluid with a good charger, a bad one will have you topping them up regularly.

THere are three different threads on the Forum at this time about maintaining batteries while the RV is in storage. There are different opinions about the care and maintenance of batteries, some based on use, some based on science, some on a combination of the two, and some with no real qualifications other than "it's worked for me".

I don't have a horse in this race since I have adequate solar to keep my batteries in great shape. Some good information can be found at Battery University or at The 12 volt side of life.

The bottom line is, that when a battery sits unattended, it is discharging and starts to sulphate. When a small current is connected to the battery that is greater than the potential energy inside the battery, it is being charged. A user will decide towards which side of this situation is applicable to their use and how much loss of battery capacity/longevity is acceptable for their use. Logistics may come into play as not everyone has power close by their RV for the purpose of charging. The worst situation is leaving the RV battery connected with the parasitic loads common to most RV's drawing the battery down to unacceptable levels. A cheap marine hybrid battery won't endure much of that before it no longer works.

Those 1.5 watt solar maintainers will probably not keep an average sized battery from discharging.

On another note - the phone company central offices have generator and battery backup. The batteries are flooded lead acid cells, typically 2500AH for a 2V cell. They're under a constant charge by the rectifiers.

Seems I heard VW shipped their cars with a small solar charger to keep the battery up during transport. I wonder if it's true, and what do they do with the solar panels after the vehicle is sold?