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amihailidis · 10-24-2021, 07:22 AM

Sorry another question. The place where I am leaving the RV over the winter is a slight downhill slope. Is this ok or do I need to level it out?

Thanks.
Alex

wolfe10 · 10-24-2021, 07:23 AM

Alex,

Please tell us what RV you have and whether you will be running the refrigerator over the winter. And, if so, whether you have an absorption or residential refrigerator.

amihailidis · 10-24-2021, 07:49 AM

It’s a 1981 empress. There isn’t any documentation out there on it!! I won’t be running the fridge over the winter. And I have winterized all the plumbing already.

Thanks folks.
Alex

Chargerman · 10-24-2021, 08:01 AM

No need to level. What are your plans regarding the batteries? Will it be plugged in? Personally, I would pull all of the batteries and fully charge them individually and after that they will be fine until Spring.

amihailidis · 10-24-2021, 08:10 AM

Was going to leave the plugged in all winter. Is that ok? Or should I pull them?

D Gardiner · 10-24-2021, 10:48 PM

Batteries:
Depend on how cold it gets, you may want to pull the batteries out of the coach.
https://www.usbattery.com/winter-sto...cid-batteries/

Of course, you will want to clear out your water lines and holding tanks if the coach will be subject to temperatures below freezing.

Argosy · 10-25-2021, 04:04 AM

Congratulations, the oldies, especially one that old, are great!!

Search for individual manuals by manufacturer and model. The original RV manuals were a binder of appliance, furnace, AC manuals with safety reminders and thanks for buying a new RV. BryantRV.com is a good place to start.

What are your plans for the winter? Use it, work on it, let it sit until spring then start?

I ask because in that era the house batteries were charged with a convertor/charger. Many were simple one stage chargers with a fairly high voltage and would boil batteries quickly if there wasn't any draw from the house to drop the voltage. If you're not going to be in it cleaning, working, no frig, I wouldn't leave it plugged in full time.

Most likely there's nothing electronic that has a phantom load so the batteries should maintain a charge for a couple of weeks. If there's a voltmeter for the house, watch it, or check voltage at the battery. Maybe plugged in for the day every Sunday, develop a routine that keeps them charged but not over charged.

Also (most likely), the chassis battery won't be charged by the convertor, you'll need some way to maintain it. A cheap Harbor Freight trickle charger should work for the winter until you have a plan for the DC. That would be pretty high on my list just because of the age of converter and what it's going to cost in shortened battery life over time.

Or 2 trickle chargers if it's going to sit until warmth returns.

amihailidis · 10-26-2021, 05:29 AM

Thanks for the advice on the battery. My plan is to use the winter to do a Reno inside. Which I am sure I will have many questions about posted on here! But that will be working on it every few weeks. Probably long enough periods in between that I should leave it unplugged it sounds like.

Chargerman · 10-26-2021, 06:03 AM

I wouldn’t leave it unplugged with the batteries connected. Even if you switch off the battery disconnects there is still a few on them and you could loose them. Based on what you said about working on it over the Winter I would leave it plugged in.