Hi all, Just wondering about battery maint. over the winter. I have heard people removing the battery and storing in a garage or something and charging every few weeks or putting a maintainer on it. I have no basement so the batt will be outside in New York. I am wondering what the difference would be if I put it in the cold garage or leave it hooked into the pup and just power it up every few weeks to put a fresh charge on it. It is a 2010 pup with a good converter/charger in it. Thanks
Hi, there.. I'll tell you what I do, may not be "correct" but it has worked for me for 6 years.. I remove the batteries and store them in a (for the most part) unheated shed (has an electric heater that only gets used if I'm doing any work in the shed), I connect both batteries up to their own solar trickle charger and I just check the voltage once a month or so, If I see it has dropped I will then connect them to the deepcycle charger for a day or two... One battery is about a tear old and the other (back up) is around 4..
You could leave it in the cold garage on mounted on the PUP. If mounted on the PUP be sure it is disconnected (remove white negative wire) so the gas/smoke detectors aren't discharging it. The advantage of putting it in the garage is that you can test voltage and hook up a charger without going out in the weather. A smart, 3-stage charger hooked up once a month or so will do a much better job of maintaining the battery than the charging circuitry in the converter.
I've just noticed a typo in my earlier post but the software on this board prevents me from editing it at this point. My first sentence should have read: "You could leave it in the cold garage or mounted on the PUP."
X2 I do the very same thing, minus the 'cold garage'. Sorry, Unstable_Tripod, I couldn't resit it. All in fun tho sweetie! Campit Campit
You can store it anywhere you like, just don't let it discharge below 40-50% state of charge and re-charge to full on a regular basis. I would avoid leaving the battery actually "hooked up" as the propane detector can discharge the battery to those levels within a matter of a couple of weeks. Personally I prefer doing this in the garage and using my 3 stage smart charger as I can monitor more closely.
Check Wally-World for a battery tender. Just plug it in and connect it to your battery. Most come with a variety of connections (alligator clips, a bolt-on pig tail that stays on the battery and just disconnects from the charger, and some of them have a cigarette adapter). This is the brand I use: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumacher-SpeedCharge-Battery-Maintainer-and-Charger/13005742 I have three of these, one for my motorcycle, one for my pup battery, and an extra one that used to be connected to DW's MC before she sold it. They work very well. My bike's battery isn't removeable without taking off the entire exhaust (PITA), so it gets left in the unheated, uninsulated garage all winter. Every spring, the bike fires right up. I would assume it would work for a camper battery, too. FWIW, I still pulled my PUP's battery and hooked it up in the basement, since it's so easy to remove.
I and a lot of people I know leave the battery in there lawn mower so what is the difference of a heavier deep cycle battery? It sure wont hurt to put a charge on it 2 or 3 times over the winter.
Not only won't it hurt to put a charge on it, you definitely should -- at least once a month when it is not being used. You don't leave it actually hooked up (i.e., with positive and negative wires connected) to the PUP because the CO, LP and smoke detectors have a small but steady draw. They can kill a battery in a couple of months. Lawnmowers don't have this problem. In fact, the battery should be disconnected (removing the negative white wire will suffice) anytime the camper is not being used.
