battery storage - removable tongue
 

Hello! I've heard that the best way to store the battery is removed and on a trickle charger, but i need the battery to raise/lower and put in storage. to sum it up, i need the battery to remove the battery.

Any harm in just leaving the trailer plugged into the garage electrical for the winter?

Matt Kempf
Bellevue, WA
2208T

I was told sometime back to not leave the trailer plugged in, the inverter get hot. So I just leave my battery charger hooked up and plug it in when I want to raise or lower the camper or plug it in once a month to keep it from battery water from freezing up. But then again I'm in Wis.

Hi, Matt -

If you have a set of jumper cables, you could connect them to the trailer battery cables and they would reach a removed battery to lower and raise the top.

Personally, I would NOT use the trailer's converter to maintain the battery charge. I don't think it's a good source for prolonged battery maintenance. I think it continues to charge the battery at too high a rate. (And, as was posted above, ti may get too hot if left on forever.)

I have a Battery Minder (that's the name) that is temperature compensated and it goes into "float mode" when the battery is fully charged. In addition, it applies a desulfinating pulse at this time to improve the battery's condition. It will not overcharge the battery. I just connect this to the batteries in my trailer and leave them hooked up all winter. We get cold here in the mountains of Arizona - down to 16 degrees two nights ago, and I've never had problems overwinter using the Minder.

There is another device called a "Battery Tender" that also reduces its output to a safe mode, but it does not do any desulfinating. I've seen it in Home Depot and ACE Hardware.

Either of these would be good for long duration storage with the battery in the trailer.

- Jack

Or, if you have the manual bypass valve installed and don't mind getting a little exercise, you could raise it with the battery, remove the battery, then lower with the manual valve. In the Spring, raise it manually and reinstall the battery.

My hi-lo had two batteries wired together. I took one out and leave one in. The one that I took out stays on a charger and I swap when the one in the trailer gets low. When I go camping i just make sure they are both fully charged (i even bring my charger).

Im with Jack on this- this year. This year i was able to procure an "inside" storage situation with electric. so, even though it is not heated, I left the the battery tender hooked up and plugged in. In the past when I was storing outside without access to electric, I removed the batteries but made sure the cables inside the battery box were accessible by lifting the front flap of the battery box. Then- when I needed to lift the unit to get the batteries re-installed I just used a heavy duty set of jumper cables from my truck. The batteries went into my basement with the tender hooked up.