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Old 10-16-2015, 07:18 AM   #1
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Question trickle charge batteries over winter ?

I've always had pull trailers, and in our cold Idaho winters, I pulled the batteries out and used Battery Tender trickle chargers on them over the winter. So now I have this "new to me" motorhome, which has two coach batteries and one engine battery. I've thought of pulling them and doing the same as I used to do with my trailer batteries, but I've been told that I should run my generator once a month under load during the winter months. I'm wondering if I just run a extension cord to the coach power cord, if that would be just as good as pulling them ? Input ?
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Old 10-16-2015, 07:24 AM   #2
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If you keep power to them, there is no need to pull the batteries.

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Old 10-16-2015, 07:41 AM   #3
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Krazybob,

You've asked some really good questions.

As long as you keep the batteries charged I don't think you have to worry about freezing.

If you're able to keep the coach plugged in 24/7 than the converter would charge the batteries. The problem with the older coaches is the OEM converter isn't necessarily great for your batteries. You really need to look into how your batteries are being charged via the converter.

If you find the current converter isn't doing a great job you can get an upgrade on Amazon or someplace like here;
BestConverter - Converters, Inverters, Electrical Supplies, Electronics

If you had a process of charging your trailer batteries (assuming they were true deep cycle) that gave you about 6-7 years of trouble free use than that would work just fine with your rv batteries for the winter.

Running the generator for an hour or two really isn't going to do much for the batteries. The reason you need to run the genset every month is to keep the slip rings/etc clean. Consider yourself lucky if the genset is good and continues to work for you.
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Old 10-17-2015, 09:04 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by okcnewbie View Post
Krazybob,

You've asked some really good questions.

As long as you keep the batteries charged I don't think you have to worry about freezing.

If you're able to keep the coach plugged in 24/7 than the converter would charge the batteries. The problem with the older coaches is the OEM converter isn't necessarily great for your batteries. You really need to look into how your batteries are being charged via the converter.

If you find the current converter isn't doing a great job you can get an upgrade on Amazon or someplace like here;
BestConverter - Converters, Inverters, Electrical Supplies, Electronics

If you had a process of charging your trailer batteries (assuming they were true deep cycle) that gave you about 6-7 years of trouble free use than that would work just fine with your rv batteries for the winter.

Running the generator for an hour or two really isn't going to do much for the batteries. The reason you need to run the genset every month is to keep the slip rings/etc clean. Consider yourself lucky if the genset is good and continues to work for you.
Thanks for the input ! As for running the generator, I read that it should be run about 15 minutes a month during the winter under load, I.E., the a/c. I've installed Sta-bil in the gas tank and ran both the coach motor and the generator to make sure the doctored gas gets into the motors. I was lucky with the generator, because it had very low hours @ 175
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