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Old 12-07-2013, 05:37 PM   #1
gearhead
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Batteries over winter?

I've got the 5th under cover for the winter. Probably hook it up no sooner than March. What seems to work for keeping the batteries alive? I left the electrical cord dangling out from under the cover. I'm thinking just plug it in to an outside 20amp receptacle for 4-6 hours maybe once a month to give the batteries a charge. What works for everyone?
Oh...I'm near Houston so no brutal cold weather. Usually.
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Old 12-07-2013, 06:09 PM   #2
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i full time but.

if I was storing I would take them out and store them inside and buy a trickle charger like I keep on my motorcycle. parallel them with some wire and let it charge them as needed. oh be sure to check the water levels. periodically
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Old 12-07-2013, 06:19 PM   #3
Ken / Claudia
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My last RV, 02 AF, I had to get a charge wizard and plugged it into the converter. I keep it plugged into a 30amp RV plug year round for 8 years when sitting in driveway. I was told by the salesman that this trailer convertor will not cook the batteries as the olders ones. I keep it plugged in as before with the 12v switch off. I checked batteries 3 times in the year I owned it and added alittle water to several cells last month. I have not checked them with a hypro but, unplugged they show full power. My understanding is that they will get charged when needed if you remain plugged in the 110 as my charge wizard did before.
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Old 12-07-2013, 06:51 PM   #4
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I'm thinking plug it in when I can. I have to run about 50ft of extension cord from the house to it. Wish I had a barn!
I use a Battery Tender on the boat starting batteries, I probably should do that for the trailer, or just pull them into the garage to charge off the Battery Tender.
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Old 12-08-2013, 06:26 AM   #5
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I took mine out and put it in my work shop and got a $19 Black and Decker battery maintainer hooked to it

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Old 12-08-2013, 06:49 AM   #6
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Although the DW and I often camp in what passes as for winter in Texas I always pull the battery when we're not using the trailer and hook it to a trickle charger with battery minder. I have a small space that I set up a wooden block for the battery to sit on while in the garage and on the charger.
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Old 12-08-2013, 06:57 AM   #7
Terry W.
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I have a Battery Tender and Put it on camper battery for a week then on lawnmower battery for a week then on motorcycle battery then start all over again. I did this and had a boat battery last about 5-6 years. Just m2$
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Old 12-08-2013, 07:37 AM   #8
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Trailer gets parked in the driveway and plugged into outdoor outlet that's tied into same breaker as house air conditioner. Only prob is cant run trailer air (or other high load items in trailer) and house air at same time. Been meaning to run a dedicated line from the power pole to a proper rv pedestal, but just haven't done it yet.

Old trailer is in secondary drive, 12V kill switch engaged, and battery tender hooked to batteries
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Old 12-08-2013, 05:12 PM   #9
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So if I leave the batteries in the trailer, install pigtails for Battery Tender, turn the battery switch to OFF, I won't do any damage back feeding a charge? (I'm cautious of the infamous kill switch that doesn't kill everything) Since I have dual batteries, would I put pigtails on both posts of both batteries, or just the negative post of one and the positive post of the other??
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Old 12-08-2013, 08:00 PM   #10
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If you have 6V batteries in series, then you need to hook up to the posts that 'feed' the trailer, not the ones that tie the batteries together. If they are 12V batteries in parallel, you can use whichever pos and neg terminals are easiest to reach (one each, pos and neg) .
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Old 12-08-2013, 08:06 PM   #11
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Assuming each battery is a 12v battery and battery tender in question is 12v, you'd need to disconnect the batteries from one another if you were to hook a set of pigtails to each of them. Dealing with that is obviously not what you want to have to do.

I hooked my battery tender to neg on one battery and pos on the other. This is the same thing that Battery Tender suggests. http://batterytender.com/resources/c...s.htm/#answer9 The only time you'd want to hook a Battery Tender to each battery (2 batteries, 2 battery tenders) is if you have two 6v batteries wired in a series and two 6v battery tenders. If you have a 12v battery tender then it'd just be one battery tender for those two 6v batteries.

As for your kill switch, I'd throw that before hooking the battery tender wires up, just as a precaution (plus, that way you won't forget to throw the disconnect before hooking up the battery tender ). And, be sure that everyone knows to not touch the kill switch.

Worth mentioning - if two 12v batteries hooked in parallel, you want your battery tender to be 12v as well. Don't get the 24v tender.
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Old 12-09-2013, 06:06 AM   #12
gearhead
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Yes, I'm running 2 batteries, 12volt each, in parallel. I have a 12volt Battery Tender. It's just me being lazy. I have to run an extension cord from the house to the trailer to hook up the Battery Tender, or just plug the extension cord into the trailer power cord and let the on board converter charge the batteries.
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