Winter Storage of Batteries? Buffalo, NY

[Din]

Should I leave motorhome plugged in for winter, I live in Buffalo N.Y. area. To keep batteries charged or should I put batteries in garage. 2015 Vista 27N.

[Eagle5]

Hi Din,
When you have your motorhome plugged-in, what is the steady-state charging voltage on your lead-acid house batteries?
Do you have a charger hooked-up to the motor start battery?
Eagle5

[TravatoJohn]

Din, I live in Colorado where it’s gets cold also. I have a Winn Travato with two Lifeline AGM’s. Besides the Solar I sometimes plug in to power as I have a converter that is a smart charger. You may have this also. My system also charges the chassis battery. Sometimes I put a battery maintainer on that one separate from the coach batteries just to be certain especially if I start the engine to move the van but don’t drive far. Just remember discharged batteries sulfate and can be damaged by the freezing temps you may encounter. If you don’t have at least a 3 stage charger (converter) on your coach you may want to get one. Hope this helps. Travato John.

[Din]

I do not know the charging voltage and I do not have a charger connected to start battery.

[creativepart]

If your motorhome is not stored and plugged in at your home or somewhere you can monitor it constantly then leaving it plugged in is a risk. You’d never know if the power goes out.

In Buffalo I’d at least disconnect the battery cables completely and put a trickle charger on them over the winter. But as a best effort, I’d bring the batteries home, put them in the garage and put a trickle charger on them. That’s what I did when I lived in Wyoming to prepare for our epic winters.

[Eagle5]

Originally Posted by Din

I do not know the charging voltage and I do not have a charger connected to start battery.

Do you have a friend with a multi-meter? There are training videos out there too.
Assuming you have:

1. Lead-acid batteries
2. A power center designed to keep a maintenance voltage on them

We should see a steady-state voltage of about 13.05 volts. After your motorhome has been on shore power for 24 hours, you should be at this 13.05± VDC reading. If you are reading much higher (something like the high 14s VDC or the low 15s VDC, then your power center is not designed for maintenance charging and should be disconnected for storage. If your system is not designed to be a maintenance charger, the batteries will still need to be fully recharged once-per-month.
You can back-charge your motor start battery with a cigarette lighter plug on the 12 VDC output side, and plugging into your 120 VAC household outlet.
Below are some suggested links.
Thanks, Eagle5

How to use a Multi-meter to test 12 VDC

Klein Tools 69149P Electrical Test Kit with Digital Multimeter
NEXPEAK NC201 10-Amp Battery Charger, Smart Trickle Charger 12V
SinLoon Cigarette Lighter 12VDC 15A Cigarette Lighter Plug

[Bzerull]

I live in Wisconsin, here is what i do,

You probably have a 12 v disconnect switch in your motorhome, so use that and disconnect the 12v power. I then put a battery maintainer on the batteries. I also put a maintainer on the truck battery. I use the “battery tender” brand. It will provide the proper voltage for you.

[Morich]

There are many different ways to go about keeping the batteries from dying too early. Much of that depends on personal choice but when I think of getting good advise for my specific RV, I like to start with the folks who built it and have been doing it for really much longer than any of us!
So your owners manual seems to do a good short form article of what works best. That may leave you to want to change thing slightly depending on your personal situation like where it is stored and how much time, effort and tools you have.
But I like to start with the baseline info given in your owners manual as it fits all I know about batteries and much better than I can describe!
https://www.winnebago.com/owners/own...r-manuals/2015
Page 6-11 and 6-12 seem to have what I call really good info!

Basic idea is to avoid overcharging, letting the voltage go too low, and keep the water up! If you keep those in mind and then develop what works for you, you will likely be in good shape when spring comes around!

[Din]

Thanks for all the help. I pulled the batteries and are storing them in garage with a trickle charger.

[Four Seasons]

I live on the north side of Lake Ontario and I have been using solar battery tenders for about 8 years with no problems. I replaced the chassis battery (lead-acid) for the first time last summer, and will probably replace the coach batteries (AGM) next summer.

[Ray,IN]

Lead-Acid batteries self-discharge at 3% per month if they are fully-charged first. They will not freeze during storage.
Simply remove the neg. cable from the battery bank after fully-charging them for the winter.