Leave TT plugged in or remove battery?

[mleekamp]

In the past I've always removed the battery from our TT and put inside on a battery tender. Can I just leave the TT plugged in all winter to our RV outlet or is it best to remove?

I assume being plugged in will keep it charged. Any issues keeping in plugged in?

Thanks.

[deer30084]

Bmach wrote:
No need for wood under the battery. That need died decades ago.

Thanks for educating me.

[centerline]

as long as the battery is charged, the cold wont hurt it, and a fully charged battery in decent condition should be ok for 4-5 months without any fear of damage due to self discharge...
heat is a killer. its almost always heat that does a battery in... either self inflicted heat, or extreme temps.
the problem is that the heat damaged batteries can still minimally function in normal conditions without notice, but when the weather gets cold and the engine needs the battery at its peak to do the job, it will show its weakness...
so people assume its the cold that ruins it. its NOT, the cold conditions only demands that the battery put all it claims to have in the task of cranking over a cold piece of steel..

a batt that has a charger attached will take an extremely cold harsh temperature, and work well without any noticeable performance loss...that is, IF the battery is good to begin with.

[GrandpaKip]

Our camper is plugged into a 30A circuit whenever we are home and the same usually when away. We want it ready to go if we get an itch to find some warmth during the winter. The battery gets taken out of the boat and stays on the tractor for the winter.

[Sam_Spade]

deer30084 wrote:
Take your battery out when not in use and put it on a wood board on your garage floor ........

IF you have access to power for the battery tender it is ABSOLUTELY not necessary to take the battery out.

It also is not necessary to worry about a battery "discharging" on a concrete floor. That hasn't been true since about the Model A Ford was new. :B

[DE88ROX]

I pull the TT battery the same day I pull the lawn tractor battery.
Bring them inside and alternate them on my battery tender.

Not sure if I need to, but I figure WTH. Only takes a few minutes to disconnect and no sense leaving them exposed to michigan winters if they dont have to be.

[centerline]

it does depend on the charger that is installed... a basic converter charger is bad to leave plugged in all the time, as it can cause premature sulfation of the plates.
but... the battery can benefit from leaving it plugged into a GOOD 3 stage charger, as a good charger can keep the battery conditioned to it peak potential at all times.
I prefer to have my charger on the "LIVE" side of the master switch, so that when all power in the house is shut off, if the power cord is plugged in, the charger is doing its job...

[_1nobby]

I pull my trailer to indoor cold storage....in the Great White North.

I turn off the the switch I have installed on the battery system.

I come back 5 months later turn the switch back on and pull the trailer home.

The end.

[Bmach]

No need for wood under the battery. That need died decades ago.

[deer30084]

Take your battery out when not in use and put it on a wood board on your garage floor with a battery maintaining charger on it. Use wing nuts on the battery so you don't have to look for a wrench everytime you want to disconnect it. I have a Sears Diehard trickle charger that shows what percent the battery is at and when it's fully charged, shows "maintaining."

[TurnThePage]

I played that game exactly once. Now my batteries permanently live on the tongue of my trailer till death do they part. I have solar to keep them topped off. If we get a lot of long lasting snow, I turn on the converter just for insurance.

Since my trailer is at home, I have no worry about some electrical problem harming it. If something happened, it would affect all the appliances and electronics in the house too. I have insurance for that reason.

When spring rolls around, there'll be all kinds of posts here, about people that put their batteries back in their trailers and wired them up backwards, thus causing expensive repair bills. You will read, "Gosh why aren't the wires color coded?"

Why bother with all the unnecessary heavy lifting?

[Atlee]

Probably a little colder over all in Indiana than central Virginia. However, for me, I wouldn't want to haul a battery back out to the trailer should I decide to run away from some extreme cold for a few weeks or a month.

Fortunately, since we're retired, if we get too tired of the cold, we can do just that.

rbpru wrote:
If you leave your TT plugged in all winter, you also power the phantom and a.c. loads. Your Television, microwave, antenna pre-amp and LP detector to name a few.

Never noticed any advantage to leaving it plugged in vs when it was powered down and brought the battery in the house.

As mentioned my TT is in the back yard so I can check on it easily.

[babock]

Ron3rd wrote:

While that is certainly true, if there is any chance of freezing, I would take the battery out and put it on the Tender.

Fully charged battery doesn't freeze until it gets down to less than -90°F.

[rbpru]

If you leave your TT plugged in all winter, you also power the phantom and a.c. loads. Your Television, microwave, antenna pre-amp and LP detector to name a few.

Never noticed any advantage to leaving it plugged in vs when it was powered down and brought the battery in the house.

As mentioned my TT is in the back yard so I can check on it easily.

[beemerphile1]

Bmach wrote:
...Why run a charger all winter....

Because a battery left sitting while discharged as little as 1 percent sulfates the plates. I consider a couple milliamps of electricity worth the extended battery life.