Removing battery

[Eastham]

Do you remove your battery for the winter and keep it in a warm place ?I have a cut off switch.Just wondering if it is better to take it in or leave it hooked up. thanks for the info.

[slow]

Originally Posted by Eastham

Do you remove your battery for the winter and keep it in a warm place ?I have a cut off switch.Just wondering if it is better to take it in or leave it hooked up. thanks for the info.

Yes I remove my battery to a warm place and I place it on a trickle charger that claims to also desulfate the battery. https://www.pulsetech.net/xc100-p-xt...esulfator.html

Also have the Quadlink so I can also charge the TV battery in the winter since it is not a daily driver.
https://www.pulsetech.net/xc-ql4-qua...ultiplier.html

[ctbruce]

Originally Posted by Eastham

Do you remove your battery for the winter and keep it in a warm place ?I have a cut off switch.Just wondering if it is better to take it in or leave it hooked up. thanks for the info.

If you leave it hooked up, even with a battery cut off, it will go dead because of phantom drains. Disconnecting the negative cable would be better if leaving it at the trailer. It should be fully charged if you do this to keep it from freezing. If you are doing all that it's just as easy to bring it in and put on a trickle charger. Be sure to check your water levels in each cell.

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[Dave W]

Originally Posted by Eastham

Do you remove your battery for the winter and keep it in a warm place ?I have a cut off switch.Just wondering if it is better to take it in or leave it hooked up. thanks for the info.

I've done it both ways but will normally pull it out and bring it in to my warm basement shop with a small trickle charger maintaining a 'floating charg.

If you do leave it in lace, I would either leave the RV hooked up to 120VAC or disconnect the battery. The propane detector and any of those little red LED lights that everything seems to have these days will drain the battery charge - as I found when I had a 'senior moment' and afterwards found that a replacement was over $100. The battery disconnect wont shut that propane detector off(and possibly other circuits)

[Eastham]

Ok.If I bring it in and hook up trickle charger.and I am gone for the winter will the charger boil off enough of the water in the cells to have a problem?in the past I have put it on the charger until January and unplugged it til I returned in May. Battery seemed ok in may.thanks again for the info

[ctbruce]

That seems like a reasonable plan. Yes, it should hold the charge thst long.

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[Tinner12002]

Some of us with onboard generators have to run them about every month so I leave my batteries hooked up, but I did install a second disconnect to stop most of the phantom drain.

[{tpc}]

I leave mine on top of a piece of wood or something to keep it off the cement floor in my garage on a battery tender until the spring. Then I check the cells, add water as necessary and thats it. Never had any issue.

[dcg9381]

Originally Posted by ctbruce

If you leave it hooked up, even with a battery cut off, it will go dead because of phantom drains. Disconnecting the negative cable would be better if leaving it at the trailer.

I respectfully (and conditionally) disagree. There are no "phantom drains" with real battery cut-offs. They physically disconnect the battery.

The battery drains on the "factory" battery cut-off aren't phantom at all - they are quite real. Keystone leaves stuff hooked up that by-passes the factory cut-off. Probably for liability reasons (smoke detectors, C02 detectors, etc).

[ctbruce]

Originally Posted by dcg9381

I respectfully (and conditionally) disagree. There are no "phantom drains" with real battery cut-offs. They physically disconnect the battery.

The battery drains on the "factory" battery cut-off aren't phantom at all - they are quite real. Keystone leaves stuff hooked up that by-passes the factory cut-off. Probably for liability reasons (smoke detectors, C02 detectors, etc).

And I thought I was an extremely high C on the DISC personality survey! However you say it, the battery drains because there are draws on the battery that are not disconnected by the battery disconnect and it will drain your bsttery, as several have pointed out. Thank you for pointing this out, as the goal is to help others.

Please, for clarity in my post, sustitute "known draws" for "phantom draws". My intent was not to confuse. Mia culpa.

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[notanlines]

Yep, what Chip said^^^^^. All batteries have some internal resistance that will drain them slowly over time, even with a battery disconnect. As they get older the plates deteriorate and leave residue in the bottom of the battery adding to the internal resistance. When it builds up enough it shorts out the plates and the battery is dead. Even sitting unhooked on a shelf they deteriorate. If you don't maintain the charge state they deteriorate more rapidly. We can call this a "phantom draw."

[Desert185]

If your trailer converter is a smart charger with a float charger (newer trailers), leave it plugged in. The battery(s) will remained charged without damage. BTW, my two 6v, GC batteries haven’t needed water since I bought them about a year ago while living on the converter.

If no electrical power is available where the trailer is stored, remove the battery(s) and connect to something like a Battery Tender brand that will maintain a float charge for long periods of time without battery damage. If two batteries, you will need two Battery Tenders, one for each battery, or just swap the tender to each battery every week or two if you are around. If the batteries remain charged, they will not freeze, regardless of the temperature.

[ptooti]

I'm on my 3rd RV in 15 years Winters in Canada can reach -40 at times I have always left my battery in with RV plugged into my house never boiled a battery never replaced a battery there are different views on this but it works for me. My new 2018 model is spending its first and all subsequent winters plugged in as well.