Winter time battery storage
 

I have shore power available for my coach batteries this winter. Should I leave them plugged in? Also what would be best for the chassis battery? Pull it and keep it inside or leave under the hood?

Leave them plugged in, check the water level monthly. A fully charged battery will resist freezing way down.

Since you have a smart charger, leave it plugged in.

I just make sure they are fully charged , then disconnect them. In the spring reconnect and your ready to go. They will easily survive the coldest of winters.

IMO, that is bad advice for a deep cycle battery.

Why ?

I've always left mine connected to at least a trickle charger or charged them every month or so with a battery charger.

Last summer we went on our 2-3 month trip with the Flair and I left the Monaco plugged in to the 50 amp service as I had during the winter. I made certain the fluid levels were up before leaving. The difference was that while we were here during the winter I could maintain the fluid levels, when we were gone I could not. When we got back one of the cells in a house battery had very little liquid in it and was boiling. The rest were down considerably. After filling both batteries with distilled water and charging them overnight neither would take a charge. I replaced both. They were about 2 years old. As previously advised, it is a good idea to check the fluid levels every month or so.

Steve

That sounds like bad cell in one battery drawing higher amps then the charger upped the volts out of float and just cooked them.
A good tender probably wouldn't have cooked the other battery.
Poeple have done great with plugged in, disconnected and on tenders. I would just stay away from cheap tenders that go bad and take you batteries with them . Show green charge light with no AC voltage, until batteries are flat.

I notice your in Joplin, MO. I kept a bass boat North of there winters and kept it plugged in. It wintered over well. Joplin is a pretty moderate climate. On the other hand you could fully charge them and disconnect them. That would work and you would not have to check the water levels as you should with them plugged in. Winters are short there but personally I like to start my rigs, boats or shore toys, every month or so and bring them up to temp. Yes, a drive would be even better. But with short winters a few months of downtime will be fine.

How do you know he has a smart charger?

Mine is parked on a seasonal site year round with no electric in the winter. Been doing that for 4 years is western MA. No problem. I just disconnect the cables when I leave.

In my 25 years plus of owning RVs I have lost too many batteries do to poor maintenance. I've had new batteries that sat all winter, took a charge in the spring and died by the end of the year. Why take the chance on an expensive item? It's just too easy to keep them maintained. A quality battery that is not abused should last many many years.

Kinda hard to do maintenance on a battery from 1500 miles away.:thumb:

Ever think that you abused the batteries during use and that's why they failed.

I live in the NE and have had boats for 40 years, and I still do have, boats in NY and FL.

I disconnect the batteries during the off season and they last for years.
In some storage yards its a requirement.