Winterizing Battery Question

[Texas79]

I am in upstate New York, is it OK to leave the batteries in the trailer for the Winter. I was thinking of turning the switch off and just leave them in the battery compartment.

[Mustang65]

Not a good idea. The cold will cause the battery to lose its charge and can eventually freeze. You need to somehow keep them on a trickle charge over the winter months. Nothing worse than a cracked battery leaking in yourcompartment. Do you have electric where you are keeping tht TT? Is it stored in a secure area? Best bet is to remove them and keep them at home on a trickle charge.
Don

[highlife4me]

X2. Remove the battery and store it above freezing temp. Even if you don't have a trickle charger you can put it on a charger every month or two just to keep it charged.

[RoyBraddy]

If you do decide to remove the batteries be sure to identify where battery cables go before you take them off. Maybe take a photo of the cables with your cell phone camera. I have all of my POSITIVE CABLES marked with a red dot from fingernail polish.

It is so easy to get them reversed and that will blow fuses in your system.

Roy Ken

[owenssailor]

The best way to store a battery is with it fully charged, no load in a dry dark cold place. A home freezer would be good. Everyone her at our Marina in Ont. leaves the batteries on the boats and have done so for years.
It is essential that there is no load on the battery. Rvs have co and propane monitors which will deplete the battery. The best solution is to remove the positive leads from the batteries.
A trickle charger can result in a battery being boiled dry unless it is a smart device. Also - if it is accidentally disconnected from shore power it can drain the battery.

[Mustang65]

Here is how the battery mfr. suggests storing your battery over a period of time
Don

[owenssailor]

A couple of charts showing discharge rates for batteries. It seems like batteries are like a lot of us old geezers. They slow down a lot when cold.

[bbrown]

Originally Posted by owenssailor

The best way to store a battery is with it fully charged, no load in a dry dark cold place. A home freezer would be good. Everyone her at our Marina in Ont. leaves the batteries on the boats and have done so for years.
It is essential that there is no load on the battery. Rvs have co and propane monitors which will deplete the battery. The best solution is to remove the positive leads from the batteries.
A trickle charger can result in a battery being boiled dry unless it is a smart device. Also - if it is accidentally disconnected from shore power it can drain the battery.

OK, if you want a frozen and cracked battery case...listen to this guy....Ha ha. Kidding. But seriously, never store a battery in below freezing temps...it contains water for god sake...yes it is in a acid solution which will lower the freezing point but as the battery self discharges...it will freeze...especially in a freezer which stays at 0F or lower. Now a refrigerator would be a good storage place but who would want a battery in the fridge. I don't even leave my battery in the camper during the spring/summer/fall. I always disconnect, remove and store in my garage not in contact with the concrete floor. I know this old wise tale is not supposed to be true...but I had it happen to my last battery. The battery was fine for a month while on a work table, but when I moved it off the table onto the conc. floor and forgot about it...a week later it was at 7 volts; pretty dead and ruined since it was an older battery.

[owenssailor]

People should store their batteries however they wish. However the simple facts do not change:

Fully charged battery with no load on it will remain charged for months. Colder weather slows the self discharge even more.

Experience: I have left 2 batteries on my boat all winter every winter for the past 35 years. No problems. The other 50 boats are stored the same way. Again no problems.
I does get very cold here in Ontario. At least as cold as upper NY. Way below freezing.
To each his own.

[David472]

Originally Posted by owenssailor

People should store their batteries however they wish. However the simple facts do not change:

Fully charged battery with no load on it will remain charged for months. Colder weather slows the self discharge even more.

Experience: I have left 2 batteries on my boat all winter every winter for the past 35 years. No problems. The other 50 boats are stored the same way. Again no problems.
I does get very cold here in Ontario. At least as cold as upper NY. Way below freezing.
To each his own.

It's interesting that the data charts you provided do not show any storage temperature below 5 degrees C, which is 41 degrees F, and quite a bit above freezing. We must conclude from this, storage below freezing is not recommend at all.

[bbrown]

I agree with David, store your battery per the manufacturers recommendations and I don't see them recommending a freezer. Cool (temp) places are great...Owen is correct about that at least. The battery will self-discharge much slower as evidenced on the battery chart, if stored in a constant cool temperature. However, be careful where you might assume it is always/constantly going to be cool enough to maintain the slow discharge rate. Even in the winter months, places can warm up and receive enough solar heating to affect temperature in an unclimate controlled space. So, if your RV (since this forum is about Jayco RVs; not boats) is where you might plan to store the battery over the winter, it will likely receive solar heating unless it is stored indoors. Heat=rapid discharge=dead battery=possibly ruined battery. Again, my oppinion is that removing the battery and storing it in a place where you can monitor the charge level and/or maintain the charge with a slow rate charger is going to be the best option. A well known fact about lead-acid batteries is that they last the longest when kept constantly at or near full charge. A fully charged lead-acid 12volt battery will measure 12.6-12.8 volts. Don't forget Mustang65's post that has the proper procedures for storing deep cycle batteries...that says it all.