Left battery out all winter in Michigan....

[EnochLight]

Greetings everyone!

Forgive the noob post (and I apologize if this is in the wrong place or has been discussed before), but I am new to the RV world and just bought our first travel trailer last summer (a 2013 Gulfstream Amerilite 16BHC) new.

I keep it plugged in to shore power when at home, but this winter I accidentally forgot to pull my battery for storage inside the house. As a result, I left my TT plugged into shore power all winter long (a good 7 months) with the porch light on, but I am wondering if my battery has been damaged or if I need to do anything now at this point?

My battery is an Interstate HD24-DP that appears to be sealed, but then again... it has the two caps on top that I am assuming I can pull to add distilled water to (not sure).

Thanks for any advice!

*Note: my TT does not have a battery meter or battery level indicator

Here's a shot of my battery for reference:

[EnochLight]

Harvey51 wrote:
I.
I am near the start of the Alaska highway. Temps are well above freezing during the day now. Still freezing at night. We are going on an overnighter on Thursday.

Interesting. I'm in Michigan and our nights are only now starting to hover above freezing. Are you using your plumbing in your 20 footer? I'm reluctant to flush my plumbing of antifreeze right now for fear of it freezing at night.

[Harvey51]

I left mine out all winter for a change. They are getting heavy! Disconnected the engine battery, switched off the house batteries. Not plugged in. The engine just started easily, house batts are about 12.6 V. I put them on the charger once around Christmas. I am near the start of the Alaska highway. Temps are well above freezing during the day now. Still freezing at night. We are going on an overnighter on Thursday.

[EnochLight]

BFL13 wrote:
IMO the 6300 would do you no harm in winter at its 13.8v, which is still below ideal voltage for those temps. ( 13.8v is for 50F. Higher temps than that you need lower voltage; lower temps higher voltage )

So you would not "boil" the batteries but you would still need to destratify.

Some converters (not the 6300 or 7300) give a shot of 14.4v every so often to try to keep the batts from stratifying when on a Float at 13.2v (proper float voltage for 80F)

IMO dubious if that does much good when it is cold out, but haven't been there, done that, so can't say for sure.

So whatever converter you have, you should still use an hydrometer and see what the SG is. Then you may need to destratify as indicated.

Thanks. So... (and pardon my naïveté).. but is SG = specific gravity? I'm not familiar with battery maintenance like this. I have no idea what destratify means, nor what SG is in relation. Where would I find a hydrometer for something like this and a guide on.. well - a guide on what you're talking about? 🙂

[BFL13]

IMO the 6300 would do you no harm in winter at its 13.8v, which is still below ideal voltage for those temps. ( 13.8v is for 50F. Higher temps than that you need lower voltage; lower temps higher voltage )

So you would not "boil" the batteries but you would still need to destratify.

Some converters (not the 6300 or 7300) give a shot of 14.4v every so often to try to keep the batts from stratifying when on a Float at 13.2v (proper float voltage for 80F)

IMO dubious if that does much good when it is cold out, but haven't been there, done that, so can't say for sure.

So whatever converter you have, you should still use an hydrometer and see what the SG is. Then you may need to destratify as indicated.

[NinerBikes]

EnochLight wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
The answer depends on the Trailer's converter.

Magnetek 6300l you may have damaged the battery.

most others.. You likely did not.. I have a Progressive Industries Intellapower 9180 with optional charge wizard (Equal to a 9280) and between the time this rig was new (2005) and when we went full time (2009 I think) this rig was plugged in all winter save for when Detroit Edison failed to provide, and then I cranked up the ONAN and it was still "plugged in".

The batteries were replaced last week.

And.. a few other comments That is one small battery, (Group 24 is only 75 amp hours give or take a couple. I have over 500 of those in this house (Amp hours that is).

Second I do not believe that is a sealed battery, I believe those are removable caps,, but the photo angle is not optimum.

Thanks. I just Googled the Magnetek 6300l and it doesn't look like mine. Mine more closely resembles that WFCO converter mentioned earlier in this thread, so hopefully it's OK. It's pouring rain right now so I need to wait until the weather clears up before I check the levels.

500 amp hours - wow! Not sure I would need something that heavy for a simple 16 foot travel trailer that barely sleeps 4. I only run a few lights, the bathroom fan, my water pump, and our furnace - and never all at once. That said - we usually camp plugged into shore power, so I rarely even need the battery. It's just those in-between stops and rare moments when we find a spot with no power whatsoever.

Still, I appreciate your (and everyone else's) input! I'm totally new to this, with just one RV camping season under my belt. Learned a lot of lessons last summer.

Wait until you start spending money on good batteries, good chargers, good solar panels, and start saving lots of money on lack of shore power or hook ups. Then you're really living. Independent versus dependent.

[EnochLight]

wa8yxm wrote:
The answer depends on the Trailer's converter.

Magnetek 6300l you may have damaged the battery.

most others.. You likely did not.. I have a Progressive Industries Intellapower 9180 with optional charge wizard (Equal to a 9280) and between the time this rig was new (2005) and when we went full time (2009 I think) this rig was plugged in all winter save for when Detroit Edison failed to provide, and then I cranked up the ONAN and it was still "plugged in".

The batteries were replaced last week.

And.. a few other comments That is one small battery, (Group 24 is only 75 amp hours give or take a couple. I have over 500 of those in this house (Amp hours that is).

Second I do not believe that is a sealed battery, I believe those are removable caps,, but the photo angle is not optimum.

Thanks. I just Googled the Magnetek 6300l and it doesn't look like mine. Mine more closely resembles that WFCO converter mentioned earlier in this thread, so hopefully it's OK. It's pouring rain right now so I need to wait until the weather clears up before I check the levels.

500 amp hours - wow! Not sure I would need something that heavy for a simple 16 foot travel trailer that barely sleeps 4. I only run a few lights, the bathroom fan, my water pump, and our furnace - and never all at once. That said - we usually camp plugged into shore power, so I rarely even need the battery. It's just those in-between stops and rare moments when we find a spot with no power whatsoever.

Still, I appreciate your (and everyone else's) input! I'm totally new to this, with just one RV camping season under my belt. Learned a lot of lessons last summer.

[wa8yxm]

The answer depends on the Trailer's converter.

Magnetek 6300l you may have damaged the battery.

most others.. You likely did not.. I have a Progressive Industries Intellapower 9180 with optional charge wizard (Equal to a 9280) and between the time this rig was new (2005) and when we went full time (2009 I think) this rig was plugged in all winter save for when Detroit Edison failed to provide, and then I cranked up the ONAN and it was still "plugged in".

The batteries were replaced last week.

And.. a few other comments That is one small battery, (Group 24 is only 75 amp hours give or take a couple. I have over 500 of those in this house (Amp hours that is).

Second I do not believe that is a sealed battery, I believe those are removable caps,, but the photo angle is not optimum.

[skipnchar]

AS long as it wasn't low on water it won't harm it. Sometimes a converter can boil water out of the battery which CAN cause damage but if you opened it up and found the plates covered it should be good as new. Usually it's a good idea to check battery fluid level about once every month or two until you know if your converter is causing it to loose water. I have to add a cup or so every 6 months on mine and it's left plugged in all winter every year.

[EnochLight]

NinerBikes wrote:
Unplug your travel trailer, and disconnect the single negative ground wire from the battery, the white wire. Measure your voltage at the terminals with the white wire disconnected. You should see 12.68 at around 50F to 12.73 volts at 70F if you leave the trailer unplugged from the wall, and the terminal disconnected overnight. Battery voltage fully charged is affected by the temperature of the battery at the time of measurement.

Do yourself a favor right from the get go, and do a search here for "48LCD LED's" and where to buy 16 to 20 of them, and change out all your incandescent bulbs to LCD's. Your battery and your charger will thank you for it.

Thanks. I actually already switched my porch light over to an LED, however; we rarely camp without shore power, so saving power while hooked up & camping isn't a main concern of mine for the time being. I will definitely consider it in the future, though.

I only replaced my porch light because I leave it on 24/7 for security purposes and wanted to save as much money as possible (not to mention the incandescents seemed to burn out quick).

[NinerBikes]

Unplug your travel trailer, and disconnect the single negative ground wire from the battery, the white wire. Measure your voltage at the terminals with the white wire disconnected. You should see 12.68 at around 50F to 12.73 volts at 70F if you leave the trailer unplugged from the wall, and the terminal disconnected overnight. Battery voltage fully charged is affected by the temperature of the battery at the time of measurement.

Do yourself a favor right from the get go, and do a search here for "48LCD LED's" and where to buy 16 to 20 of them, and change out all your incandescent bulbs to LCD's. Your battery and your charger will thank you for it.

[GordonThree]

EnochLight wrote:
I'm really not sure what kind of charger/inverter my Amerilite 16BHC has, but I guess I'm about to find out! 😄

If you haven't made any modifications to your RV, your converter is most likely part of your AC/DC distribution center, where the circuit breakers and fuses are. It should be labeled what it is, like posted above, probably a WFCO.

[mena661]

It's probably a WFCO converter not an inverter/charger. Most of the time the WFCO's never go into boost mode which slows down charging drastically (ie batteries don't charge).

[EnochLight]

I'm really not sure what kind of charger/inverter my Amerilite 16BHC has, but I guess I'm about to find out! 😄

[GordonThree]

Four AGM group 31's plugged in all winter, coldest it was around here -25F. Magnum inverter/charger kept those batteries happy all winter long. Just did a short cycle on the batteries this weekend, disconnected shore power Sunday night and spent the night drive way camping with the furnace on. 82AH used over ~11 hours with the furnace and a small bedside fan.

[EnochLight]

Again, all great information - thanks again everyone! Glad to have found this community forum.