Battery care while not in use.

campfire7

Active Member
I just bought a new battery for the RV (T/T ). What is best when the RV is at home and not in use, leave the battery hooked to the camper all of the time ? or disconnect the battery and plug it into trickle charger? I am interested in what everyone else does.
 

Oregon_Camper

Well-known member
Install a battery cutoff switch. This will stop all battery drains, while your RV is in storage

https://amzn.to/2LF52ib

You can leave it plugged in all the time, but easier to simply turn off the battery and not worry about converter possibly overcharging while RV is stored at your house.
 

RoadJunkie

Well-known member
I use the disconnect switch to isolate the batteries from the coach and then plug a trickle charger into the solar panel rough-in connector. Any auto parts store will have the two pronged connector for this purpose.
 

Loren1227

Member
We keep our Sundance XLT189MB in the driveway of our home. One of the first things we added to our Coach was the battery disconnect switch.

Since it is in the driveway we are constantly going in and out opening the slide and closing the slide because of trash day. We love the idea of having for the most part a full charge and only have to plug in to the house a day before we go on a trip to cool the fridge down.

Highly recommend a battery disconnect switch.
 

sengli

Well-known member
Whether you are using it or not, you really need to check the water level in batteries every three months or so especially during the summer. I personally remove the battery from the RV, and take it in the shop and leave it on a battery tender for the off season. I have found that even when the cut off switch is turned to the off position there is some parasitic current draw. You would be surprised how quickly the water level will drop.

My stock OEM battery lasted right at 5 years with this care.
 

Lynn1130

Well-known member
I
have found that even when the cut off switch is turned to the off position there is some parasitic current draw.

There shouldn't be. That is the purpose of the cut off, to cut off all draw on the battery. Otherwise why have it on the system? The norm is that a battery will drop about 3% per month just because it is not a perfect electric storage system. I use a small solar trickle charge system to keep it from getting too far down between uses and since I run the genny every month, I check the battery water also. I recently replace the flooded with AGM batteries to see how they hold up so the water issue is not any longer. Instead of two 6 volt I now have three 12 volt. More amps for dry camping but time will tell how they hold up in our heat. Most batteries in cars/trucks don't last over 18 months and I have found that 2 years has been about the max with RV batteries. I hate it when I get over to hook up and find the batteries are dead and won't raise the landing gear.
 

mlpeloquin

Well-known member
I

There shouldn't be. That is the purpose of the cut off, to cut off all draw on the battery. Otherwise why have it on the system? The norm is that a battery will drop about 3% per month just because it is not a perfect electric storage system. I use a small solar trickle charge system to keep it from getting too far down between uses and since I run the genny every month, I check the battery water also. I recently replace the flooded with AGM batteries to see how they hold up so the water issue is not any longer. Instead of two 6 volt I now have three 12 volt. More amps for dry camping but time will tell how they hold up in our heat. Most batteries in cars/trucks don't last over 18 months and I have found that 2 years has been about the max with RV batteries. I hate it when I get over to hook up and find the batteries are dead and won't raise the landing gear.

The imperfection "not a perfect electric storage system" is the internal leakage current or internal parasitic draw. The leakage current for a lead acid battery is 5% per month. If you are talking about an external, to the battery, parasitic draw, then you would have a bad leaking cutoff switch or another connection that does not go through the cutoff switch. There is only one on a fifth wheel and that is to the breakaway switch which is a direct connection to the battery for safety. The breakaway switch can, though seldom, go bad and leak current. The OEM on mine melted one day do to an ever increasing leakage path in the breakaway switch.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/elevating_self_discharge
 

Lynn1130

Well-known member
Thanks, and actually it says "about 5%" in the information you posted. I have seen 3%. Whether 3 or 5 it is still very small and the point was that the cut off should do just that to parasitics. That 3/5 % is not caused by parasitic draw.
 
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RVFun4Us

Well-known member
I have my fifth wheel next to my house and plugged into a 50 amp outlet. For the winter, is there any issue other than checking the battery fluid level periodically to leaving it plugged in to the house? Doing this in lieu of using a trickle charger. Would rather leave the batteries (two) hooked up rather than disconnecting and having the possibility of not reconnecting the battery cables in the spring in the right order.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
I have my fifth wheel next to my house and plugged into a 50 amp outlet. For the winter, is there any issue other than checking the battery fluid level periodically to leaving it plugged in to the house? Doing this in lieu of using a trickle charger. Would rather leave the batteries (two) hooked up rather than disconnecting and having the possibility of not reconnecting the battery cables in the spring in the right order.
That's what I do and it works just fine.
 
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