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Old 10-18-2020, 03:14 AM   #1
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Should battery stay charged when rv is winterized?

My 2018 Thor Citation i winterized and will be covered until March in Nee England. Should I keep it plugged in as well?

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Old 10-18-2020, 03:57 AM   #2
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Ours is plugged in everyday. Make sure the battery has water in it. I just do a monthly check.
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Old 10-18-2020, 10:31 AM   #3
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If you don't have a charger connected it is best to disconnect the battery
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Old 10-18-2020, 10:57 AM   #4
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Ditto on what elite washington said.
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Old 10-18-2020, 11:28 AM   #5
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We took our rig to the dealership for winterization and storage yesterday...
But I pulled the coach batteries, and have them on a solar charger.
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Old 10-18-2020, 11:48 AM   #6
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I leave my batteries in the coach and keep it plugged in and the use/store switch on, and check the water levels every couple of months and have never needed to add any distilled water. I use a smart charger for the chassis batteries and its always on and for the last two years no problems. The batteries on the Ford Transit chassis are located under the drivers seat and near impossible to access unless you are very handy or have a handy friend or mechanic
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Old 10-18-2020, 01:40 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by Coveman2 View Post
...The batteries on the Ford Transit chassis are located under the drivers seat and near impossible to access unless you are very handy or have a handy friend or mechanic
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There is a video in here about how to access the battery under the seat...
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Old 10-19-2020, 01:18 PM   #8
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I dont like leaving my coach connected all of the time.

I feel like something strange will go wrong and either the battery over charging or not charge at all and be 100% dead. Or some electic surge will fry everything, Fire, lightning storm etc.

I just check on mine every couple of week (inside storage facilty) and I try to drive her ever 2 - 4 weeks.

With my AGM's they are like 90 % charged so its never an issuce. My old Factory LA batteries would be dead in 2 weeks.
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Old 10-19-2020, 01:30 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Sandersonh View Post
My 2018 Thor Citation i winterized and will be covered until March in Nee England. Should I keep it plugged in as well?
Mine is plugged in at all times and have never had an issue. Since you need to exercise the generator under load monthly check battery level at that time and clean the terminals every 3 to 6 months as needed.
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Old 10-19-2020, 07:25 PM   #10
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Mine is plugged in at all times and have never had an issue. Since you need to exercise the generator under load monthly check battery level at that time and clean the terminals every 3 to 6 months as needed.
Yeah I try to drive my RV (and run generator with AC on) every 2 - 4 weeks year around.

Luckly the mild temp in AR we only see snow a couple times a year and it melts the same day or next day. In-fact my insulated (which is un-heated) storage building only gets below freezing (inside) a few days or at most one week per a year (normally). It has to be below 18 / 20 deg outside for 12 + hours before its below 32 inside. Pretty sweet for me. But I still winterize my RV to be safe.
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Old 10-20-2020, 05:06 PM   #11
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I use solar and for five years no problems. If you just turn your batteries off at the switch there are phantom drains that will still lower battery level, ie. radio, smoke alarm, etc. charge battery completely and disconnect at the battery if you go that route. I do recommend a solar charger.

Leaving your coach plugged in will not hurt it
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Old 10-20-2020, 05:29 PM   #12
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I use solar and for five years no problems. If you just turn your batteries off at the switch there are phantom drains that will still lower battery level, ie. radio, smoke alarm, etc. charge battery completely and disconnect at the battery if you go that route. I do recommend a solar charger.

Leaving your coach plugged in will not hurt it
Yeah but in an enclosed storage building solar will not help.

Well I say it COULD HURT to leave it plugged it. Freaky things are always going on with RV's. This forum if full of them. I rather NOT worry about some surge frying something when im gone, Converter over charging my battieries, or fire etc.

I say plug it in for a day or two at a time every couple of weeks (in my case once a month with my AGM's).

But Everyone has their own opinion on this. So really no wrong answer.

If I had my own storge (at my house) I might leave it plug in 90% of the time with a fan going most of the summer time (or even with AC on once in a while).
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Old 10-24-2020, 06:48 PM   #13
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If you batteries discharge, they could freeze and rupture or worse. But I guess it doesn’t get below 32 degrees in RI, just like Florida.
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Old 10-24-2020, 08:42 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by Yosemitebob View Post
I use solar and for five years no problems. If you just turn your batteries off at the switch there are phantom drains that will still lower battery level, ie. radio, smoke alarm, etc. charge battery completely and disconnect at the battery if you go that route. I do recommend a solar charger.

Leaving your coach plugged in will not hurt it
Leaving it plugged in CAN hurt. Mine was plugged in with the main breaker off. It was a total loss and some damage to the house 20 ft away. I kept a hose on the house til the fire dept arrived. They said a mouse could have eaten a wire before the breaker. New RV not left plugged in when we are not in it or loading it.
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Old 10-24-2020, 08:57 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by carver Gary View Post
Leaving it plugged in CAN hurt. Mine was plugged in with the main breaker off. It was a total loss and some damage to the house 20 ft away. I kept a hose on the house til the fire dept arrived. They said a mouse could have eaten a wire before the breaker. New RV not left plugged in when we are not in it or loading it.


Yikes! Did you insurance work out well? I don’t have a choice where my machine is stored. But I think my 80 watts of solar will keep all three batteries ready to go without that risk. I was going to add a second 80 watt panel but never quite got around to it.
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Old 10-24-2020, 09:05 PM   #16
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Yes, State Farm took good care of us.
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Old 10-24-2020, 09:20 PM   #17
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Here in sunny AZ, we have solar chargers for both the chassis battery and coach batteries on the RV storage shed....keeps the batteries up with store/use switch off. Voltage runs average daily from +14.1 to a low of 12.6 vdc. Prior to installing the solar, we had a parasitic drain on both the chassis and coach battery banks.
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Old 10-25-2020, 09:30 AM   #18
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Hi all I use a cheapo battery tender works great. I don't like leaving the rv plugged in all winter.
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Old 10-26-2020, 07:00 PM   #19
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Question

What's the difference between leaving a battery tender plugged in all the time and the land line plugged in. Doesn't that function as a trickle charge once the chassis battery is fully charged?

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Old 10-27-2020, 12:18 AM   #20
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When I plug the rv into shore power the in use relay energized so that is why I use a battery tender. The rv is a 2018 thor chateau mercedes.
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