Micro Minnie Battery

[PC Red]

Hopefully this will fall under the “there are no dumb questions” category.

Have an 2018 MM 1808fbs and keep it plugged in to house current. Battery levels are good and I keep the battery shut off with the switch in the storage compartment. We live in Houston so the heat is on!!! Should I periodically switch the battery back on to make sure it is charged. We haven’t been out since early February due to covid and may not get out until September for other reasons.

Thanks and hope everyone is staying safe out there.
PC

[Morich]

As we used to say in the old days?
Big 10-4 on the stay safe and don't go out until we have to do it!
They keep saying Austin is peeking but I have to question if it is peak when things are constantly going up? I think of a peak as having a downslope as well as an uphill side!

But for the battery, I find it is still good to check a battery, even when we think we have everything turned off. I want to look at not only the voltage as there are tricky ways for a battery to run down but also I want to verify the water is still good, even though they may be called "maintenance free". What that means is any water that cooks off is supposed to go into the newer design lids and drain back into the battery. But I also find some of that leaves and never comes back, so I want know it is topped off occasionally as going dry is sure death for the battery.
With staying home, I've got time to do weird stuff like check the battery! Check for spiders, bugs, and rodents while about it? Put screens over the vents on frig and water heater to keep things from building nests and blocking air?
Man! I'm a busy fellow with nothing to do!

[PC Red]

Thanks for the input. Battery seems to be fine for now. Water level good.

Staying busy here too and watching numbers go up in Houston as well. Saw the info on the Austin spike this morning.

Already did most of the goodies to the MM that you’re talking about. Bought a cover for the trailer and it was sad putting it on since we had been getting out at least monthly before this mess hit. The cover will protect it but for us it’s kind of a further indication we’re not going anywhere for a bit. Did book a long weekend to East TX over Labor Day so we’ll see how things go.

My wife’s always teasing me about my “rambling” since I’ve retired and how I’ll corner neighbors now at a distance of I can corral them into a conversation. Anyway, my ramblin mode is kicking in so take care😊.

[creativepart]

Before buying our first motor home in 2015 we had 3 Travel Trailers over about 15 years. When we first got started RVing, it took me a long while to figure everything out. And, in the process "learned" a lot about what to do, and mostly what not to do.

After replacing batteries too frequently due to early failures from lack of care I finally figured out how to prolong our batteries and get the best usage of of them. Much of that came from learning how to best store the TT over the long hot Summers in Texas when we were not using the Trailer.

We varied how we stored things depending on how long the trailer would be stored. For general storage of a month or so, we would leave our two batteries installed on the trailer but disconnect the battery cables from the battery posts. This worked better than the battery disconnect switch to keep them charged. They just sat, unconnected, in storage. Though generally they were fully charged at the time the TT went into storage.

For longer storage I would remove the batteries from the TT and put them on a couple of 2x4s to store them in the garage. I would connect them to a Battery Minder smart charger that uses very low amperage to trickle charge the batteries.

https://www.amazon.com/BatteryMINDer.../dp/B00D7HZ6FC

Once I learned this process I never had to replace batteries again.

By the way, it took me even longer to learn how to take care of my trailer's tires... but you can only know things when you know them.

[PC Red]

Thanks! I was debating on at least undoing the cables since I won’t be heading out for a bit. It’ll be going in for the annual warranty check during late summer but nothing before that I suspect.

Yet another job for tomorrow after my other scheduled “dos!”

Thanks again and I appreciate the link for the battery minder.