Winter battery maintenance

[cdcrumba]

This is my first winter with our 96 Winnebago 37 RW. I have to store it in a storage lot and need to know what to do with the batteries for the winter. I believe I have one coach battery and 2 house batteries. I have heard to bring them home and put on a trickle charger in the garage. I have also heard of using a dashboard solar charger plugged on the the cigarette lighter. Any advice would be appreciated.

[wyocamper]

I have the extension cord plugged into a Kill-A-Watt and will see how much it actually draws over the next month or so. Maybe not the best approach but it works for me.

Since I plugged it in the Kill-A-Watt has registered less than 1 KWH usage for both battery minders.

[gutfelt]

wvabeer wrote:

gutfelt wrote:

wvabeer wrote:
I removed all 6, 2 12v engine and 4 6v coach and brought them into my much warmer garage and rotate a 2 amp charger. I believe my owners manual recommends this. It doesn't matter I hate loosing a battery over the winter, like most winters.

nothing wrong with your system absolutely not required but effective for sure

I have lost many batteries during cold winter on charge. Not anymore.

only time u would loose a battery during the winter on charge 24/7 was if the battery was weak to begin with
like said your system is great just not necessary
to each their own

[wvabeer]

gutfelt wrote:

wvabeer wrote:
I removed all 6, 2 12v engine and 4 6v coach and brought them into my much warmer garage and rotate a 2 amp charger. I believe my owners manual recommends this. It doesn't matter I hate loosing a battery over the winter, like most winters.

nothing wrong with your system absolutely not required but effective for sure

I have lost many batteries during cold winter on charge. Not anymore.

[wyocamper]

The manual for my Winnebago says the converter is a 3-stage charger, but I don't have a 30A outlet to plug into. I think it would be fine plugged into a 15A extension cord, with nothing connected but the batteries I don't think it would draw much to keep them charged. But then I'd need a second cord to run a maintainer on the chassis battery.

So I ran one cord into the battery compartment and connected one tender to the house batteries and one to the chassis battery. Now I can leave both shut off and not worry about it. On my 5er I pulled the batteries and connected them to the tender in the garage, but that's not practical with the MH.

I have the extension cord plugged into a Kill-A-Watt and will see how much it actually draws over the next month or so. Maybe not the best approach but it works for me.

[gutfelt]

JaxDad wrote:

gutfelt wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
charge them. disconnect the positive posts. reconnect in spring or first trip.

times 2 exactly what to do

matter not what cable u remove + or -
If the battery is dead in the spring then replace it as its weak
no way a good fully charged battery should go dead after sitting 4 months or 6 months that has zero draw(disconnected)

Disconnecting the positives is far more dangerous than disconnecting the negatives.

If the wrench touches any metal that is a ground bad things happen when you’re working on the positive terminals.

If however you are working on the negative side and the wrench touches a ground........ nothing happens.

LOL well I guess if ones so stupid that they don't know any better and somehow his wrench somehow grounds out while removing or installing the cable anything is possible
my point was and is its best to remove a cable so theres zero chance of a power draw

[JaxDad]

gutfelt wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
charge them. disconnect the positive posts. reconnect in spring or first trip.

times 2 exactly what to do

matter not what cable u remove + or -
If the battery is dead in the spring then replace it as its weak
no way a good fully charged battery should go dead after sitting 4 months or 6 months that has zero draw(disconnected)

Disconnecting the positives is far more dangerous than disconnecting the negatives.

If the wrench touches any metal that is a ground bad things happen when you’re working on the positive terminals.

If however you are working on the negative side and the wrench touches a ground........ nothing happens.

[gutfelt]

wvabeer wrote:
I removed all 6, 2 12v engine and 4 6v coach and brought them into my much warmer garage and rotate a 2 amp charger. I believe my owners manual recommends this. It doesn't matter I hate loosing a battery over the winter, like most winters.

nothing wrong with your system absolutely not required but effective for sure

[wvabeer]

I removed all 6, 2 12v engine and 4 6v coach and brought them into my much warmer garage and rotate a 2 amp charger. I believe my owners manual recommends this. It doesn't matter I hate loosing a battery over the winter, like most winters.

[Cobra21]

I disconnect the house battery, but not the engine battery. Mine are fully charged now. If they are dead in the spring, I don't want them. My batteries stay good outside in the Minnesota winters without a trickle charge.
Brian

[10forty2]

DrewE wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
charge them. disconnect the positive posts. reconnect in spring or first trip.

It's better to disconnect the negatives.

Electrically it makes no matter either way, as an open circuit is an open circuit, no matter where it's open. However, it's generally safer to connect the negatives last and disconnect them first as accidentally shorting the wrench to the frame won't cause a short circuit that way. If you're undoing the positive with the negative still attached to chassis ground, hitting most anything metallic on the vehicle can easily result in a very, very hot wrench very quickly.

Good advice! Keep in mind that ruining the battery is not the only side effect of a spark nearby....those things can explode and cause severe personal injury and property damage! ALWAYS disconnect the NEGATIVE cable first and reconnect it last.

[gutfelt]

pianotuna wrote:
charge them. disconnect the positive posts. reconnect in spring or first trip.

times 2 exactly what to do

matter not what cable u remove + or -
If the battery is dead in the spring then replace it as its weak
no way a good fully charged battery should go dead after sitting 4 months or 6 months that has zero draw(disconnected)

[Jim]

Do your normal battery maintenance service, than as DrewE says, disconnect the negatives.

Next spring, you will likely need to jump the chassis battery with your car for a few minutes before trying to start the engine in the RV. Be sure to disconnect the car before trying to start the big RV engine to avoid damaging the car's alternator.

Once it's running, the alternator will bring the chassis battery up a bit, than start charging the house batteries too.

[DrewE]

pianotuna wrote:
charge them. disconnect the positive posts. reconnect in spring or first trip.

It's better to disconnect the negatives.

Electrically it makes no matter either way, as an open circuit is an open circuit, no matter where it's open. However, it's generally safer to connect the negatives last and disconnect them first as accidentally shorting the wrench to the frame won't cause a short circuit that way. If you're undoing the positive with the negative still attached to chassis ground, hitting most anything metallic on the vehicle can easily result in a very, very hot wrench very quickly.

[pianotuna]

charge them. disconnect the positive posts. reconnect in spring or first trip.