Community Forums

DDCarden · 12-26-2012, 03:29 PM

I have a 30 foot R-Vision Motorhome that is parked in my driveway. I was wondering what would be the best way to take care of the batteries for winter storage. Should I remove and store them inside, run the truck motor periodically, or plug the unit into my homes 110V electric?

Jim_HiTek · 12-26-2012, 03:59 PM

Service them first, water levels, remove corrosion, and leave the negative cables disconnected. No need to move them into a heated area. If the batteries are healthy, the electrolyte will prevent freezing. I've left mine in the RV for 3 Fairbanks winters getting down to -55°F and although in those temps I kept the rig plugged in, if it's not too cold where you live, just disconnecting them should work fine.

"007" · 12-26-2012, 04:20 PM

Do not know what type of charging system you have for your batteries but my Newmar has what is call a BIRD System that will charge the house batteries and when they are fully charged than it will charge the chassis battery, Intellitec has them for both the gas chassis and a DP chassis.
My coach is plugged into 120 all year long when at home and never had a dead battery on this coach in ten years or for that matter any of my Newmars.
The chassis battery is ten years old and house batteries were changed out to 2 AGM's about 4 years ago.
Once you have changed the oil for winter and winterized the coach just leave it alone until spring does no good to start up for 1/2 hour its better if you take it for long drive.
My coach has not started since Oct and will not move until March.
Store the tires on sheets of plywood to get off ground and say goodnight.
Welcome to irv2.

GaryKD · 12-26-2012, 04:35 PM

Hi DDCarden,
Keep this simple.
1. Know if having 120 VAC shore power will charge the house and chassis batteries.
2. If the answer to #1 is yes, complete maintenance on the batteries and leave the coach connected to shore power.
3. If the answer to #1 is no, put a maintenance charger on the batteries that are not being charged. This is after completing annual maintenance on the batteries.

DDCarden · 12-26-2012, 05:27 PM

Thanks for all your help. It looks like it's easier than I thought.

wa8yxm · 12-27-2012, 10:02 AM

One other factor is the make and model of your convrter.

Good top end 3-stage converters like a Xantrex True charge, Progressive Dynamics 9200 (or a 9100 with optional wizard) IOTA with IQ4 and many more... Plug in IF you do not have a BIRD system (Bi Directional Isolater) then add a Trick-l-Start (you need one of these anyway) and you are good. Explanation:

Simple one way isolators.. The engine charges house. That's alll.

BIRD the engine charges house, the house charges engine.

Trick-l-Start addes the "House charges engine" to a simple isolator.

Low end single stage converters the lowest of which is the Magnetek 6300..... UPGRADE CONVERTER.

Again, you really need to do this anyway if that's what you got stuck with.