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Old 04-08-2021, 01:53 PM   #1
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Using Shore Power while in Storage?

New owner of 2015 Vista 27N, and wondering about keeping the shore power connected while in storage.

My owner's manual states (several times): "Do not leave the shoreline plugged in during storage. Follow regular battery inspection and maintenance."

I like to follow instructions from the manufacturer and it would be easy for me to turn off the house/chassis batteries. and start the coach periodically to keep batteries charged. However, in reading many posts by owners it seems like most of them will keep shore power connected during storage if it is available.

I can hear what I believe is the inverter buzzing when connected and I wonder if there is increased potential for damage from storage while connected.

Am I missing something?
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Old 04-08-2021, 02:49 PM   #2
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I can't really speak to the pros/cons for your RV. I can say that with my prior fifth-wheel, I opted not to plug it in due to frequent severe weather and the chance that there might be a local lightning strike. I kept the batteries topped up with a little solar panel instead.
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Old 04-08-2021, 04:45 PM   #3
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Thanks, backtrack15. I have considered exactly that. Shore power connection costs $12 a month as long for minimal usage. My main concern is why would Winnebago say not to use shore power in storage?
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Old 04-09-2021, 09:29 PM   #4
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I wonder what full timers do?
My MH is under a roof, open to the sides. I am plugged into 120v/20A all the time when in storage, 50amp at home and in RV parks. Only time it doesn't have AC voltage is when we are driving down the road using the inverter. Even then it has the AC from the inverter.
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Old 04-10-2021, 04:03 AM   #5
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I went and looked at your owners manual and saw the two different spots about not keeping unit plugged in.

Both of those comments "NOTE: Do not leave the shoreline plugged in
during storage. Follow regular battery inspection and maintenance."
were in section 6 electrical under the topic of invertors/chargers.

I believe they are saying that so you do not over charge the batteries or let them run dry. The reason I say that is the part about follow regular battery inspection etc. When units are plugged in all the time you have to make sure the batteries stay healthy and topped off with water.
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Old 04-10-2021, 07:29 AM   #6
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Because you are not physically with your RV on a regular basis when it’s in remote storage I wouldn’t keep the RV plugged in. Stuff goes wrong with the power at the storage lot and stuff goes wrong with your RVs charger and batteries and you are not aware of any of it.

The buzzing is likely your auto transfer switch. You should open it and check that all connections are tight. But other than that there’s not much to do about the noise.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayne M View Post
I wonder what full timers do?
They are with their coach full time so there are not the same concerns.
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Old 04-10-2021, 10:20 AM   #7
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Great responses. Thanks. I do keep a battery tender connected to my motorcycles all the time, but they are maintenance free batteries and they are at home where I am around them all the time. The coach batteries are not. It is no problem for me to run the coach engine and generator on a regular schedule. I just have to decide if I am comfortable being on shore power for long periods when I am not monitoring it.
Thanks again!
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Old 04-14-2021, 04:29 PM   #8
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Since we live in a civil court lawsuit country, it's likely all manufacturers limit their liability by recommending prudent actions from their consumers... a low risk factor for all concerned. I've left it plugged in to shore for long periods of time with no issues, that being said my coach charger does have a "trickle charge" feature to protect and don't overcharge batteries.
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Old 04-14-2021, 04:46 PM   #9
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Shore Power and storage. Here's my suggestion. Plug into shore power. Turn off the Battery switch. THEN use a "Battery Tender" on your batteries. The Battery Tender can be plugged into any of the onboard AC receptacles. Plugging into shore power is just a easy way to activate the onboard AC receptacles. If you leave the battery switch on your batteries will eventually be ruined. Also... know that the charge rate on your converter is built to charge ONLY Lead Acid Flooded batteries. Using other type batteries requires a change in converters IF YOU WANT TO DO IT RIGHT.
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Old 04-14-2021, 05:08 PM   #10
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If your rig has a triple-stage charger (has "float"/ maintenance stage) I would leave it plugged in whenever possible, as I have my own coach since 2003. If just a standard charger, unplug except when using or charging it.
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Old 04-14-2021, 05:17 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by Snakebite View Post
Shore Power and storage. Here's my suggestion. Plug into shore power. Turn off the Battery switch. THEN use a "Battery Tender" on your batteries. The Battery Tender can be plugged into any of the onboard AC receptacles. Plugging into shore power is just a easy way to activate the onboard AC receptacles. If you leave the battery switch on your batteries will eventually be ruined. Also... know that the charge rate on your converter is built to charge ONLY Lead Acid Flooded batteries. Using other type batteries requires a change in converters IF YOU WANT TO DO IT RIGHT.
Good answer. My Winnie had a cheap converter with one stage that was just to charge the batteries. If left on they were overcharged and boiled the water out killing the batteries. Solved the issue by installing a Progressive Multi stage charger so trickle charges after 24 hours or less. Using a stand alone charger is a cheaper solution for storage but if you are travelling and in the same park for 14 days you get the same effect and overcharge with the old charger so that is why I changed.
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Old 04-14-2021, 05:33 PM   #12
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So the onboard charger won’t just go into trickle mode?
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Old 04-14-2021, 05:41 PM   #13
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So the onboard charger won’t just go into trickle mode?
The limited trickle charge was 13.6 V which was too high to be permanent. Was a Parallax 7455BT
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Old 04-14-2021, 07:17 PM   #14
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Using shore power while in storage

When my 2006 Winnebago Voyage is in storage during the wintertime in North Carolina, I leave it plugged into shore power, and turn and leave the refrigerator on to help draw a small amount of power. When it gets very cold, even though I have drained and purged the plumbing system, I have a small electric heater plugged in and turn it on to help keep the inside of the RV at a non-freezing temperature.

In the summertime, when it is not being used, I turn one of the two air conditioners on and set the thermostat to about 80 degrees F to use some shore power while (I think) I am charging the house batteries. I have an engine battery disconnect switch which I use to disconnect the engine start battery. I have had no trouble doing all of this.

If others have the same or similar experience, or if I am doing this erroneously, please let me know.
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Old 04-14-2021, 08:39 PM   #15
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Chargers fir shore power

I agree with the posts about needing a better charger in the coach (although solar may be less costly in the very long run). I fried a set if batteries in our first Winnebago until i put in a charger that had a computer to go from charge to trickle with a once a month to off. We keep it plugged in Year round for 8 years and only need to tip off batteries once/yr.
Winnebago used a proper charger on the 2016 Navion we now have so didn’t need to do anything to charger.
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Old 04-15-2021, 04:35 AM   #16
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Keep it simple and use a quality trickle charger that has temperature compensation (hot and cold). When charging, disconnect the batteries either with a switch or by removing the cables from the terminals.
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Old 04-15-2021, 08:37 AM   #17
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We have a 2021 View with lithium batteries and an AMP-L-START.

When stored, the View is parked in an enclosed pull-through shed with locking/sliding front/back doors.

While in storage, we leave it plugged into 15A power - which keeps the lithium and chassis batteries charged.

Though - we usually only keep the View in storage for no more than two weeks, so what we're doing isn't "long term" storage. If we were going to park it for several months, would likely disconnect the batteries instead of using shore power.
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Old 04-17-2021, 09:21 AM   #18
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Plugged in

Our “new” 2017 Suncruiser say at least twice in the owners manual not to leave the RV plugged in during storage, which I have always done with previous RV,s.
I called Winnebago tech and asked them about it.
They told me it’s fine to leave it plugged in. They have never led me astray so that’s what I’m doing. Ours also has the option to adjust the charging rate, so I set it at 10%
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Old 04-18-2021, 07:56 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sherf View Post
Our “new” 2017 Suncruiser say at least twice in the owners manual not to leave the RV plugged in during storage, which I have always done with previous RV,s.
I called Winnebago tech and asked them about it.
They told me it’s fine to leave it plugged in. They have never led me astray so that’s what I’m doing. Ours also has the option to adjust the charging rate, so I set it at 10%
I think it is one thing what they can say in manual due to Legalese to cover for any possible scenario versus practicality of real world.

i.e. what happens to the RV'er that left in plugged in and something got hot and caught on fire, or the RV's that has a charger that is NOT conducive for the battery type and it effects cooks all the water out of the battery? n short $#% happens.

It is non issue for me because I don't use a storage facility. I have that Progressive Dynamics Charge wizard and it calculates when in storage mode and will throttle back from normal charge.

Oddly, as I keep my RV at home, every so often, I shut down the shorepower for a few days or weeks. But it is more to exercise the batteries and verify everything else is working. That Use/Store switch is about the most USEless thing I can think of. While the dealer seems to use it all the time... (sometimes I spend a few minutes trying to figure what was wrong when they left it in Store mode

I guess if I were to park my RV in a shady place overnight and not be in it, I could put in Store mode.

But to the question at hand, I am not sure the gain if you will not use RV for months to leave it plugged up? If batteries are the concern, use true disconnect switch or that dreaded store switch if you confirm no parasite draw. Thus far I have not detected a draw when in store mode; but I have not gone months in store mode.
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Old 04-18-2021, 08:21 AM   #20
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I guess folks have a wide range of opinions about this... just like everything else.

I once left an RV in a storage lot plugged in. We left the fridge on AC and left the doors closed, of course. We we’re leaving it there for only one month. When we returned a month later the power was off and some mold was growing in the closed up fridge. The batteries were dead, too. We had left the power disconnect on since it was plugged in.

Since that time, we’ve never left an RV plugged in in storage and we always turn off all the disconnects.

But our current RV has solar panels and the house and chassis batteries are always 100% state of charge when we pick up the RV.
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