Batteries in the Winter

[dougfir1]

We live in Eastern Washington where the winters are fairly cold. For the last two years I have removed my 2 deep cell batteries and stored them in the garage, charging them up monthly. This has worked well, but I am now thinking as long as I have on shore power that will keep them constantly charged up, their removal and storage may not be necessary. I am curious how others in northern states deal with their batteries. Thanks!

[annie oakly]

Well as I live, across the border and store the trailer in Fraser Valley. I pull the batteries off and put them in the garage.
The Fraser Valley gets a little colder weather and wind is bad
Plus I do not want them to disappear.

[us71na]

Keeping them on continual charge may cause problems. Over charging will use up water in the battery and expose the plates leading to shortened life. You are better off removing them and doing what you have been doing in the winter.

[owenssailor]

We use our trailer to go South in the winter so those batteries are no worry. However we store a sailboat with 2 batteries and a tractor with one her in Ontario where it does get very cold. I always leave the batteries in the units fully charged with absolutely no load on them.

We left Nov 15 2013, returned Apr 15 2014. Check the 3 batteries. They were all still well charged.

I've been leaving the batteries on the boat every winter for the last 30 years and have never had a problem.

The key is to have the batteries fully charged in the fall and have no load - ie disconnect the cables.

[Subaru297]

We do the same as above and the batteries have all been fine. They sat for 7 months Sept to Apr and were still good.
The cold weather slows down the self discharge a lot. Just make sure they are disconnected.

[clutch]

I have always just plugged in the trailer for the winter. I live in N Idaho.

[dougfir1]

Thanks to every one for their input. This is aa great website where everyone helps each other.