Winter Battery care chassis and coach

[dragonflys]

Hi All, I will be wintering my Redhawk 24B in a fenced in field area about 1 1/2 hrs from my home. I plan to visit once a month to run the generator and engine. I will add gas stabilizer to the gas tank before parking. What are thoughts on how long to run either to keep things up and running till spring?

[RetiredOne]

Originally Posted by dragonflys

Hi All, I will be wintering my Redhawk 24B in a fenced in field area about 1 1/2 hrs from my home. I plan to visit once a month to run the generator and engine. I will add gas stabilizer to the gas tank before parking. What are thoughts on how long to run either to keep things up and running till spring?

Good question.

If you put stabilizer in the gas tank, and ran the motor and generator a while to get it through the system, you really don't need to run them monthly.

The batteries are the question. I've checked my rig after it set for a month or so, and the chassis battery runs down faster than the coach battery, due to parasitic drains. So, keeping the batteries charged is main issue.

A rule of thumb I've seen, it takes like 15 minutes to re-add the charge that starting a vehicle uses. So that's just to stay even, then if you need to give some juice to the battery due to it sitting, my guess is at least another 15 minutes... maybe more...

So, if you ran the generator the same 1/2 hour, that should put some juice back in the coach battery, I don't know how much without testing.

Is this worth it for a 1-1/2 hour ride each way? Only you know.

Other option is to pull the batteries, bring them home, and put them on a trickle charger for the Winter.

[CAG]

Read the info on your generator. Most say at least one hour under load once a month to keep it in shape.

Use Sea Foam. Best stuff going. Use the recommended amount for the number of gallons in the tank.

Freezing temps and batteries do not mix well. If your battery is where it will be in freezing temps. Pull it and bring it back to start and run the genny.

[dragonflys]

I plan to go to unit once a month since it will be near my sister in law's place. I just don't see me removing batteries. Will the engine battery be ok for a month if I run the engine for a while? If no snow on the ground I could even drive around a bit. This will be my first winter in an RV

[dragonflys]

Well, the place I am storing is near a relative and plan to visit. I just cannot remove the batteries .... have you heard of using some sort of solor charger?

[JFlightRisk]

A 100% fully charged battery won't freeze until approximately -76* Fahrenheit. A fully discharged battery can freeze at or around 32*. You'll need to keep it charged, or make sure there's no draw from the coach ( and tell the weatherman to keep the temperature above -76*!)

[dragonflys]

things were easier with a TT since just winterize and remove battery....sigh. Just going to have to do the best I can and hope.

[RVermont]

Depending on how much snow you get you could use solar to keep the unit charged. You could get a suit case model fairly reasonably and set it up on the roof of the rig. That should take care of any drain and then do the monthly engine runs. If you get lots of snow or if it stays around after it falls the solar will not work too well.

[dragonflys]

Will the solar do both batteries? We don’t usually get much snow. Of course I said usually!! You obviously live in cold winter climate.

[RVermont]

Originally Posted by dragonflys

Will the solar do both batteries? We don’t usually get much snow. Of course I said usually!! You obviously live in cold winter climate.

I would think a 100 watt panel would keep them topped off but it really depends what the panels is actually delivering. I don't know how your battery isolation module operates so can not tell if it would keep the chassis charged. On my unit if the battery drops to 12.5 the isolation unit will close and allow the charger to charge the chassis batteries.

[RetiredOne]

Originally Posted by dragonflys

Will the solar do both batteries?

No, our rigs don't connect the two batteries when the coach battery is under charge, you'd have to jump both batteries together, or install a Trik-L-Start under the hood, so the chassis battery charges when the coach battery is charging.

[Camper_bob]

I doubt your Redhawk will charge the chassis battery from the on-board converter; my Greyhawk didn't. I added a Trik-l-start so when I have shore power (or solar eventually), and the house batteries are charged, the chassis battery will get a charge as well.

My long-term plan is to add 100W of permanently installed solar specifically to keep the batteries charged while in storage, with a secondary benefit of extending boondocking a little bit. But then, here in TX, I don't have to worry about the panel getting obstructed with snow.

Since it's at your SIL's house, is there any way you could keep it plugged in? For the batteries' sake, you could just plug the rig into a standard household outlet (using an adapter) and with the addition of a trik-l-start or amp-l-start, that would keep all your batteries topped up just fine. Of course, there is some discussion about whether keeping that line powered all the time is necessary, but it wouldn't hurt. RetiredOne has even thought of adding an outlet timer so that the charger can be powered on a schedule.

I have no possibility of power in storage, so I'll be adding a panel.

I agree with your sentiment about it being easier with a TT. I got in the habit of removing the battery from the tongue every time it went to storage, keeping it on a trickle charger in the garage. So I always had a fully charged battery. Removing the batteries from the MH would be a significantly inconvenient process...