what to do about electrical systme when storing?

[mlwright]

we are sorley lack a manual for our used travel traler
this is our first travel trailer / rv and we totaly understand draining water and holding tanks etc - we have a covered "carport" for the trailer. but do yall advise disconecting the shore power cord and batteries and turning off all breakers on the converter panel?

thanks for your advice in advance.

mary wright

[md2lgyk]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned a battery disconnect switch. Even in the summer, if the TT will be parked for a while, I open the switch. Though it can get cold here (occasionally approaching zero) I've never bothered to remove the battery.

[hershey]

Park the trailer. Make sure battery is fully charged. Remove the ground cable from the battery(s). They will keep their charge, even 90% of their charge for months.

[colliehauler]

I would unplug the trailer and disconnect the battery. If you have a battery maintainer you can hook it up to the battery.

[PartyMarty]

I charge both batteries on shore power to full charge
I disconnect the battery cables completely
I am not plugged in at all .
I do this after every trip and throughout the long term winter storage
I have not frozen a battery yet .
batteries will freeze if not charged up .

[rexlion]

If I am going to be unplugged from shore power for very long, I have found it helpful to pull the main fuse on the 12V system to stop the parasitic drains. However, the battery will still slowly self-discharge even without anything drawing on it. That is why it is still good practice to plug it into shore power for a day or two each month, if you're going this route.

A decent multistage converter will make this procedure unnecessary, though, by just leaving the TT plugged in.

[mlwright]

thanks everyone for the advice

i dont think we have a inverter
but we have a converter that we had to replaced from a WFCO to progressive. i dont have model number with me but will get back with you.

thanks again

[beemerphile1]

If you unplug from shore power there certainly is no reason to turn off the breakers.

How do you intend to maintain the battery? What brand and model converter do you have?

Both of my RVs have three stage smart converter/chargers and stay plugged in 24/7 in storage to maintain batteries.

[1492]

Moved from Forum Technical Support

[SteveAE]

Mary,

In addition to parasitic loads (clock, CO2 detector, etc.), batteries will self discharge over time and can be damaged...especially if cold. So you should either keep the RV hooked up to power (if you have a three or four stage charger)or go out and plug it in for a day or two once a month if you have the typical (cheap) RV converter (just don't forget to unplug it after a day or two). If you can't provide any power to the unit while in storage, you may want to remove the house batteries and store them in a garage with them connected to a good trickle charger. You might also want to remove the batteries from the smoke detector, etc.

Hope this helps,
Steve

[2oldman]

Winterize batteries Oct2009
Stay plugged in in storage?
Stay plugged in roast batteries?