Winter battery storage

[Rmcruiser]

Should I take batteries off of RV and store at home?

 

[T.J]

Should I take batteries off of RV and store at home?

Yes you should. If you do not disconnect, your battery will go dead. Your carbon monoxide and propane detector is hooked up to your battery. Put a battery tender on your battery at home. It will keep it charged and be ready for next season of camping

 

[Jerryd13]

Rosy is 100 % correct, and may I add one or two things. It is unfortunate that these forums do not ask our users to be more specific. For example, Batteries, is it a wet cell or dry cell, lead acid or lithium. All of this matters. But, if you have a wet cell lead cell acid battery, DO NOT ALLOW IT TO GET DISCHARGED. KEEP IT FULL OF DISTILLED WATER, AND ON A CHARGER THAT HAS OVERCHARGE PROTECTION. Also, if your charger has a temperature sensor, try to locate that sensor where is is not the warmest ambient or the coolest
But at a mid point. As the ambient temp in the area drops, the charger will charge more, and if the sir temps rise, SUMMER DAYS, the charging current will lower. Last but not least, the water onside a charged battery will not freeze, BUT the water in non charged battery will freeze. Hope this helps for lead acid battery.

 

[Wemustrv]

Yes you should. If you do not disconnect, your battery will go dead. Your carbon monoxide and propane detector is hooked up to your battery. Put a battery tender on your battery at home. It will keep it charged and be ready for next season of camping

JerryD and TJ are spot on. I would add this, do not store the batteries directly on the concrete floor. If you have the ability to power the rig on site just disconnect the battery and hook up a maintainer. This is a great time to service the batteries and cables.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

JerryD and TJ are spot on. I would add this, do not store the batteries directly on the concrete floor. If you have the ability to power the rig on site just disconnect the battery and hook up a maintainer. This is a great time to service the batteries and cables.

A lot of information here! Some of it applies to old technology, but none of the suggestions are bad.

That said, keeping a battery on a maintainer has negative effects! I would keep the batteries in the garage for the off season, but not on a maintainer. Maintainers are the lazy way to deal with batteries. My suggestion is set up a schedule to check charge on your battery, and charge as needed.
Alternatively put the maintainer on a timer.

Best solution is RV storage close enough to the house to visit the rv and do the above, and see that no issues have developed with your stored home!!!

 

[Wemustrv]

A lot of information here! Some of it applies to old technology, but none of the suggestions are bad.

That said, keeping a battery on a maintainer has negative effects! I would keep the batteries in the garage for the off season, but not on a maintainer. Maintainers are the lazy way to deal with batteries. My suggestion is set up a schedule to check charge on your battery, and charge as needed.
Alternatively put the maintainer on a timer.

Best solution is RV storage close enough to the house to visit the rv and do the above, and see that no issues have developed with your stored home!!!

I am a little maybe confused maybe disagreeing some here. The maintainers or at least my on board system monitors and charges as needed to maintain them. My uncertainty comes here. How is this charge system which would also monitor battery levels with solar any different than having a full time solar setup the charges as battery levels demand?

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I am a little maybe confused maybe disagreeing some here. The maintainers or at least my on board system monitors and charges as needed to maintain them. My uncertainty comes here. How is this charge system which would also monitor battery levels with solar any different than having a full time solar setup the charges as battery levels demand?

I love your question!!!

You might think that I would push solar here, but your question is valid!
My installation includes (as well as any properly installed solar) switches to disconnect the panels. There are many reasons for this but my reason is to disable the charging system for storage.

Solar is just another form of battery maintainer, so the rule applies equally to all maintainers. If, and that is a big if! I had the rig in storage close enough to visit, I would follow the procedure I outlined for any maintainer. The chance is if stored, I will be more than one state away, so allow the batteries to take the hit from improperly maintaining them.

As far as full-time use, nothing can be avoided, so count the experience as unavoidable.

 

[mhbell]

I leave my motor home plugged in to shore power 24-7 when not in use. I also have solar with a MPPT controller that will control the charging and maintaining of the batteries if the power goes out. It will also keep the plates from sulphating. My motor home has been parked and not used since sept 2023 it has sat in the hot and cold weather rain and snhow with no problems. I start it up once a month and also the generator to excersize it. I've only had to add water once. Of course if the OP doen't have shore power that is different and he should remove the batteries.

 

[John Burke]

Ensure they are, clean, topped off with water, fully charge the battery's, then disconnect them. Keep them in the battery box with the top on. For many, many years I have done that without any issues. A standing charge of 12.8 in the fall is 12.3-12.2 volts in the spring. For northern North Dakota where we see -30 and colder for days on end, that is not bad. If there is not a drain on a fully charged battery that is in good condition it will not freeze and hold its charge. Do more damage moving them in and out than leaving them in.