To plug or not to plug

[ennajean]

Our B will be stored for the winter in a garage. Now the question is.....should we keep the B plugged in while sitting and waiting for spring
to be used again?

[markopolo]

I keep my current RV plugged in all winter. It's outside with a cover on it. I run a small heater on low and it keeps the temperature inside around 40 degrees. The little electric heater eliminates any dampness.

Yours is in a garage so you probably don't have to worry about dampness.

One very important thing to note is that batteries like to be kept fully charged. If you have a decent charging system then I would leave your RV plugged in all the time. If your charging system is basic or the voltage output is higher than 13.8 volts then I suggest not leaving it plugged in and instead buy a BatteryMINDer made by VDC Electronics and maintain the battery(ies) over winter that way.

BatteryMINDers reverse the primary cause of early battery failure known as "sulfation".

I had two BatteryMINDers for my Roadtrek. One for the engine battery and one for the house batteries.

[renrut]

Originally Posted by markopolo

One very important thing to note is that batteries like to be kept fully charged. If you have a decent charging system then I would leave your RV plugged in all the time. If your charging system is basic or the voltage output is higher than 13.8 volts then I suggest not leaving it plugged in and instead buy a BatteryMINDer made by VDC Electronics and maintain the battery(ies) over winter that way.

I left my RV plugged in during the winter and it boiled my battery down. The charger isn't very good and it will over charge the battery if left on for long periods of time. I left the RV plugged in to run a few ultrasonic devices to keep mice out. After getting them in the furnace, I wanted to do anything I could to keep the mice out. Unfortunately, the devices didn't keep the mice out. Traps worked the best and were the cheapest.

As far as my batteries go, I remove them from my RV when I winterize it. I have them all setup for quick release so it's not a hard thing to do. I keep them in a storage area in the house and take them out to the garage about once a month to charge them. I lived the the Canadian Prairies for a while and learned to remove the batteries. -40 and colder will freeze a battery quite quickly.

[g1g]

I have a batteryminder hooked to both chassie and house battery at all times when parked including all winter. They will always be charged and not overcharged or sulfated.

[Davydd]

We keep our Pleasure-Way plugged in to a 30A service but last year I installed a Progressive Dynamics Charge Wizard to the inverter to intelligently keep the house battery charged. For the chassis I periodically run the motor or go for a drive. I also exercise the generator once per month. I am ambivalent about putting heat in the B. My fear is it might become a heat magnet for critters. So far we have kept it cold.

[Mike]

This may (probably) have been asked or answered before, but if the batteries freeze/discharge are they finished, or can they be thawed/charged by running either the generator or chassis engine for some time, assuming they haven't been physically damaged ? The reason I'm asking is the manual also suggests they may be completely discharged without harm, as long as they're recharged in a reasonable amount of time after discharge. And that they be charged monthly if not in regular use. Based on the owner's manual I would think if you ran the generator or engine every few weeks through the winter, you'd be OK and may not need to remove them or attach the battery minders some have mentioned. Still, it sounds like the preferred method is battery minder, or in-house storage. Has anyone used just the engine/generator to keep their batteries going through the winter? No extra electronics or warm/inside storage?

Mike.