Batteries while in storage

[rowemi]

Originally Posted by Marine71-76

Maybe not on a Jayco but our friends have a Silverback and with the disconnect off & removed, their slides still work. He removes his battery in November/December.

Our Melbourne 2017 motor home, the steps (and I think the slide) is run off the chassis battery. It makes sense as you want both to retract if you start moving.

[Bill Johnson]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Why not just plug the rig in? It should have the smart charger/converter.

Just wondering, I'm going to plug my unit in for the winter and that will keep the motorhome batteries up but the truck battery will be slowly discharged by the computer and from sitting. I will use a pulsing trickle charger, BatteryMINDer Model 1510: 12V-1.5 Amp Maintenance Charger/Desulfator Designed for Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles, ATV, Boat, RV, etc.

[jnpj6279]

Some disconnects sever solar as well...

[videoarizona]

I don't believe anyone addressed the solar charging potential problem.

I used a small 5 watt solar panel to charge my boat... In 3 days my battery was bubbling over... Overcharged.

Unless you have a controller on the panel, even a small one can ruin a battery in time.

My recommendation is add your own disconnect switch or take off a cable. The batteries will be fine in your Texas winter fully charged.

I added my own disconnect switch to my 2 6 volt GC batteries, and they stay on trailer year around in Tucson, Arizona area.

[Bill Johnson]

In the Midwest solar doesn't work well unless you brush the snow off Every time

[Bill Johnson]

Originally Posted by Jagiven

OP, I would not bother with the solar charger and do one of two things; Physically disconnect the negative power cable. Then there is NO power drain on the battery. A health fully charged battery will make it through a cold winter with no issues. The other thing I would conciser is pulling the batteries and bring them home and place them in the garage/basement/storage room. Every few months consider putting a trickle charger on them. I pull my battery each fall. It sits on a couple scrap blocks in the corner of my garage. By spring it might be down 0.1 volts without being on the trickle charger.

If you are parked at home, and if you can, just leave the 5ver plugged in.

As for power drains, some people with 5vers have reported that with the disconnect thrown, the auto leveler system (hitch height recall) and the receiver system for the remote, that controls the slideouts, and awnings still have power, with the disconnect thrown. Hence, just disconnect the battery.

You don't need wood under the battery, it's an old man's tale. It's like putting Heet in your gas in the winter, if you have 10% in your gas already it does absolutely nothing except wasting money. I'm surprised they even sell it wherever people have alcohol in the fuel already