Battery and Cold Weather

[Madmax07]

This is the first year we will be making the trip to Arizona with our Montana in late December. Normally, I would take the battery out for the winter and put it on a battery tender in my house. Since we will be leaving in about 6 weeks I would prefer to leave it in.

Winter temperatures in our parts can be quite severe. Temperature could potentially drop down to -25 or -30C. I currently have the trailer plugged into shore power which should keep the battery charged. Will I be okay with this, considering the cold weather or should I bring the battery in the house until I leave and just leave the trailer connected to shore power?



Thanks

[Daryles]

If you are plugged into shore power your flooded lead acid battery will be fine. If it is lithium, they don't like being charged below freezing temperature.
I put a battery heater on mine and another one in the basement to keep the chill out.
Also a small ceramic heater in the rig on low. Again just to keep the chill out.

[DQDick]

Before we went full time we left the rig plugged in and the batteries still in place when wind chills would be well below zero from time to time. Never had an issue. A full charged battery won't freeze.

[rames14]

We are plugged in at home and our batteries do fine even double digit below zero F. And, a good reminder for me to put my battery heater switch on in the camper.

[Madmax07]

Thanks for all the input. I don't have a battery heater on my trailer but I'm going to buy a battery blanket and plug it in. That will give me some peace of mind. One other question - is it okay to open the slides in below freezing temperatures? I'm thinking as long as water didn't freeze around the slide seals I should be okay?

[rames14]

Mad max, don’t overthink it. You don’t need a battery blanket, first off. Think of your truck battery. Ours does fine even below zero. Batteries only freeze if they aren’t charged. I need a heater because I have lithium batteries and it’s part of my Super Solar system. As for the slides, the coldest we have put our slides In/Out is -12 degrees F. The only thing to check is to make sure your unit has the 80 amp breaker on the slide. You can do a search on the forum if you are unsure. Your slides will work fine, albeit slower if it’s really cold. We were headed home last January from Florida and pulled over because of snow in the St. Louis area. We did squeegee snow from the slide when we put them back in. We don’t have slide toppers because of the wind where we live (59 mph this morning). Relax and enjoy your trip.

[Montana Man]

Kilovault hlx series lithium batteries are designed for colder temps.

[bcrvman]

Originally Posted by Madmax07

This is the first year we will be making the trip to Arizona with our Montana in late December. Normally, I would take the battery out for the winter and put it on a battery tender in my house. Since we will be leaving in about 6 weeks I would prefer to leave it in.

Winter temperatures in our parts can be quite severe. Temperature could potentially drop down to -25 or -30C. I currently have the trailer plugged into shore power which should keep the battery charged. Will I be okay with this, considering the cold weather or should I bring the battery in the house until I leave and just leave the trailer connected to shore power?



Thanks

You said you are taking the trailer to Arizona. Does it get that cold there in the winter? With my first trailer I lived in northern Ont Canada with temps well below freezing (-20C/-4F and cold as -40C/-40F). Took out the battery and placed in the cellar. Not plugged in. Did that for years with 0 issues. Now I live in BC on the coast where it seldom gets below 5C/41 so no problems even with lithium which are in heated space in the bass thru.

[steiny93]

either leave the battery in and attached to shore power OR disconnect the battery and unplug the shore power while leaving the battery in the rv

charged batteries don't freeze, zero issues with the cold, but if you don't disconnect the battery the rv will draw it down and it will freeze at those temps

shore power for extended durations can be a bad deal, boil the battery(s) or cause a fire via equipment failure

I'm in ND, we have very cold winters, across the board we charge the batteries then disconnect the negative side, zero issues (rv's / atvs/ boats / vehicles / etc)

[jwengermt]

We live in MT and have some cold temps. When i winterize the trailer and park it for the cold weather i remove the battery and put it in the garage. We will head to AZ in January. I will check the water level and hook it up to a charger before putting it back in the trailer. Having dealt with equipment, tractors etc over the years in cold weather, taking the battery out and keeping it warm always works and helps increase the life of the battery. When we set up the trailer for travel, i turn the furnace on to warm it up before extending the slides. Seems to work fine.

[twindman]

Some (many?) rigs have the furnace vents covered when the slides are in. I think at least one of mine is that way, so running furnace before extending slides is not always possible.

[ChuckS]

Batteries will be fine at those temps.. Lived here in Idaho for over 30 years and we dont pull the RV batteries in wintertime... (-10 or more some days)...

The converter will maintain charge.. as others said just keep electrolyte topped off

Hyd slide outs.. mine has 3... I routinely open them in the wintertime and on cold days the fluid viscosity is thicker so the slides move much slower...

I yanked the OEM 509 amp breaker back in 20914 and installed 80 amp breaker

Ive never had an issue operating the slides in the cold weather

My curretn GC2 batteries are now six year old Costco specials at $89 each.. they re now $98

[jwengermt]

we're fortunate that none of our vents are covered with the slides in.