Batteries, Engine and Generator during the winter months

[paynejr]

We just upgraded to a Class C Motor-home. with my old travel trailer I use to take my battery inside and put it on a trickle charge. Now with the RV I have the Engine Battery and 2 6 volt for the main household loads. Should I be taking the batteries out and put them on a trickle charge or leave them in the Motor-home. And should I be running the engine and generator once a month or so ?

[DrewE]

I've never heard of mice nesting in a generator exhaust pipe. I think the Onans have (or at least are supposed to have) a spark arrestor screen at the end of the exhaust pipe anyhow, which would prevent any mice from getting further in than that. Likewise vehicle exhaust systems in general are not especially problematic from that point of view, at least that I've heard of. Doubtless it can occur and has happened once or twice somewhere, but not at anything like a probability that's worth losing any sleep over.

There's not a lot that a cold exhaust pipe has that mice like: it's not warm, it has no bedding material, and there's nothing to eat. Nests in the generator itself (with the air cleaner etc.) or of course in the RV house part generally can be problematic. Removing all traces of foodstuffs and not heating the interior do go a good distance towards avoiding problems (but not eliminating them altogether).

[pauly_boy]

Any body have any problem with mice nesting in the exhaust pipe or generator pipe over winter?? Or am I trying to be to cautious??
Thanks Paul

[sullivanclan]

1) Fuel stabilizer for storage
2) Periodic starting of the generator. At least monthly
3) We use a solar set up that provides a trickle charge to BOTH the house battery and engine battery. Seems to work well.

[paynejr]

Thank You everyone for the feedback. I love this place

[RambleOnNW]

Our ‘C’ has AGM batteries for both house and chassis batteries so they self discharge more slowly than flooded batteries. Their 100% charge level is rated as any resting voltage >12.8V. I disconnect the negative connection from the chassis battery as the electric steps will slowly discharge the battery. The house batteries are disconnected via a disconnect switch near the entry steps that drives a relay.

Once a month I will take the motorhome out for a drive and also run the generator for an hour. Stabil keeps the gas in the tank fresh and reduces varnishing of the gas in the gen carb.

[IAMICHABOD]

bobndot wrote:
Ken, put a volt meter on the chassis battery and the coach batteries while at rest , should read about 12.6 volts.
Then plug in the MH to shore power and do the same voltage test , should then read about 13.4v or higher.
On some MH's, the MH converter will charge all the batteries, it will depend on how its wired. An isolator solenoid (which acts as a one-way electric gate) should protect your chassis battery from draining while boondocking etc. but that gate would open up to allow your converter to charge all the batteries.
If not, then you need to take measures to monitor the batteries not being charged.

Your 2011 Tioga should have a converter like a PD 4000 or PD 9000 series that has a charge wizard built into it. That CW monitors your batteries and kicks in the charge rate as needed while your MH is left plugged in to shore power for the winter.

Do as bobndot says,You may have a BIRD or a derivative of it my Tioga has one and I know of many Tiogas that have them,It will charge thru the Continuous Duty Solenoid Relay as mine does. It may be located in your battery bay as mine is.

Click For Full-Size Image.

It senses voltage on the coach and chassis batteries and charges the one that needs it most,when it is at full charge it will return to the normal function.

[Sam_Spade]

midnightsadie wrote:
put trickle chargers on the batteries,

NOT trickle chargers.

Small automatic tender type maintenance chargers, yes but that is quite different from a "trickle charger" which can do as much damage as it does good.

[midnightsadie]

put trickle chargers on the batteries, run stabil in your engine and gen set ,fill the tank. your done. winterize the piping. put peppermint oil and fresh cab inside the rv. for mice control. I don,t trust the converter things could happen. fines a small diesel. but on winter days that are nice,and no salt on the roads I drive it about ten miles. just what I do. running in the drive just puts moisture in the muffler. and it,ll rust out.

[Sam_Spade]

There is NO good reason to remove batteries unless maybe you have no access to power to keep them charged. A fully charged battery won't freeze until something below -40F and the cold is actually good for them.

You will get better answers if you post the make and model of the converter/charger in your RV. Some will float the batteries properly and some won't.

If you insist on starting your engines periodically, you need to run them until HOT......not just warm.

If your storage period is 4 months or less you should be able to fully charge all batteries, disconnect the negative cables and just let them sit. If they don't survive that, they were bad to start with.

Same for the engines. Stabilizer in the gas and leave them alone.

[bobndot]

Ken, put a volt meter on the chassis battery and the coach batteries while at rest , should read about 12.6 volts.
Then plug in the MH to shore power and do the same voltage test , should then read about 13.4v or higher.
On some MH's, the MH converter will charge all the batteries, it will depend on how its wired. An isolator solenoid (which acts as a one-way electric gate) should protect your chassis battery from draining while boondocking etc. but that gate would open up to allow your converter to charge all the batteries.
If not, then you need to take measures to monitor the batteries not being charged.

Your 2011 Tioga should have a converter like a PD 4000 or PD 9000 series that has a charge wizard built into it. That CW monitors your batteries and kicks in the charge rate as needed while your MH is left plugged in to shore power for the winter.

Generator:
I would add some kind of fuel stabilizer to the MH fuel tank and start the generator once a week or every 2 weeks for 15 minutes or so. Doing that will allow the stabilized fuel to run through the carb and fuel line to prevent it from gumming up.
I find it best to drive the MH every other week and take it for a ride somewhere. It seems to keep the mice away , where they get into it to build a nest or eat the wires. If you don't use it, they tend to get a little too comfy unless you can keep them away somehow.

Use the proper amt of stabilizer of oz to gallons of fuel. A fuel stabilizer like StarTron works well to prevent ethanol gasoline from separating. We have also used SeaFoam in our boats and snowmobiles with equally good results for many years. We (at our marine dealership) tested about a dozen different brands of stabilizers and found only those two to NOT allow fuel separation in the test tubes we used for testing over a 6 month period.
If you can find non ethanol gasoline, that would be the best fuel to use with those stabilizers for long term storage but it's not always available. Call a boat dealer and ask about non ethanol gasoline dealers in your area.

[DrewE]

The answers depend somewhat on various things, like where you are and what sort of converter you have have in the motorhome and whether or not you have electric power (or installed solar) available where it's parked.

Generally speaking, it's fine to leave the batteries in the RV over the winter, doubly so if you have power (or solar) available. If it's an old single stage converter, it would be a good idea to check what sort of voltage it puts out and if it's too high (above about 13.5V, say) only have it on sporadically and check the battery water level from time to time.

If you don't have power but are in a cold (freezing) climate, charging the batteries and then disconnecting them entirely is perfectly okay; they won't self-discharge much at all over the winter unless they were practically dead already, and they won't freeze unless they are discharged or you live somewhere north of the Arctic circle.

It's a good idea to run the generator every once and again, preferably on a not too cold day, to keep varnish junk from forming in and clogging the carburetor and to keep the rings and brushes clean and working well.

It's not at all useful to run the main engine unless you have reason to drive somewhere; cold starts are relatively hard on the engine, and idling for any reasonable period of time will not bring the oil up to full operating temperature to drive off any moisture (but running it will encourage more moisture to collect in it and in the exhaust system). There's no carburetor to get gummed up, assuming you don't have a decades old motorhome.

I would suggest putting an appropriate amount of fuel stabilizer in the tank and filling it completely before storage to minimize the gas getting old and getting water condensed into it.

[T18skyguy]

If you leave them in the motor home and connect 120 volt power to the rig they should stay charged if you have a charger/converter in it. To keep the starting battery charged up google Trik-L-Start. It's about the size of a pack of cigarettes and mounts near the battery. It bleeds a little current from the house battery to the starting battery and keeps it good.