Battery Storage for the Winter

[Texas79]

Is it necessary for the batteries to be disconnected and brought inside for the Winter months? I always bring mine in the house. I know some people who leave them connected to their unit outside all Winter long.

[tnchuck100]

Yes. You have the constant drain of the propane detector that will eventually totally discharge the battery. Once the battery has become completely discharged it is very likely it will no longer accept a charge. In addition, a dead battery can easily freeze.

[owenssailor]

A vice president from Varta batteries described the best way to store batteries at home. He said keep them in a cold dark place - such as your deep freezer. Of course they must be fully charged first.

I've been keeping the batteries on our sailboat in outside storage on board for the last 25 years. Fully charged at the end of the season and ensure there is NO load on them. I spring they are still fully up. It does get very cold here in Ontario. I don't know anyone who removes the batteries.

The best way to ensure no load is to remove the positive cable. Items such as Co monitors, radios, clocks have a small drain and will discharge the batteries. Then they will freeze and split if it gets cold enough.

There is also a risk if you leave a charger switched on and the unit plugged in. If the shore power gets disconnected the now non-funcyioning charger will deplete the batteries. Then freezing and splitting. I know one guy that demonstrated that. What a mess in the bilge of the boat.

[Texas79]

I would really like to leave them in the trailer each year because obviously it's less hassle, but as you can see by the above two answers this is the type discussion you get into. Some say yes and others say no. Anybody else care to chime in?

[teevman]

Charge the battery then simply unhook the cables(wires), it will be fine come spring.

[Jagiven]

I have done both in the past with my old car (6 volt). If I leave it in the car I make sure it is fully charged and the battery is disconnected. In the spring, I put the battery maintainer on it, and let it charge up fully. Personally, I have never had an issue. On the TT I will bring it in, but only so I can use it as a battery backup (with an inverter) to power our furnace in case we lose power for any significant time during the winter (I have not had a power issue in 10 years).

[tlhdoc]

I keep one battery connected at the trailer since I use it off and on all winter. The roads to where I have the camper are state forest roads and they don't do any winter maintenance, so the amount of snow determines if I can get to the camper or not. I have my spare battery at home to run the wood pellet stove if the power goes out. If I won't be at the camper for several weekends I will bring that battery home, but only to have for the pellet stove.

[sunstarsmoon]

Originally Posted by teevman

Charge the battery then simply unhook the cables(wires), it will be fine come spring.

We have a switch on the outside of the trailer that the previous owner put on. Its a big red dial that we turn to off or on. When we looked at the trailer in the winter it was turned to off, the salesman turned it to on to show us the trailer so I am assuming as long as I turn the dial to off I do not need to unhook the battery.

[Chakara]

Battery disconnects are great sunstarsmoon. That said, I wouldn't make any assumption on an owner install modification and test it. Easy test if you have a cheap multimeter. Set the meter to OHMS and put one lead on the positive side of the battery and the other on exposed metal on the frame (paint interferes). If you read "infinite" ohms, you are good. If you get a number, that switch isn't completely isolating your batteries from the trailer.

Just me, I don't trust people

-Chak

[tnchuck100]

"Set the meter to OHMS and put one lead on the positive side of the battery..."

This will damage the ohmmeter.

The test being described must be done with the battery disconnected. The ohmmeter is then connected to the positive CABLE with the battery disconnected.