Prepping batteries for winter

[TheBryceIsRight]

Pretty straight forward question, but what precautions should I take when it comes to the batteries for once the temps start to really dip?

Last year I did nothing and ended up losing both batteries cause they were hooked up all winter long.

My bus is in a field with little to no surrounding trees, so it's very exposed to the elements.

I've heard mention of trickle charging and having a solar charger that plugs into the batteries.

But should I just detach them and store them somewhere warmer and just not worry about starting the bus up for about three months?

[fo4imtippin]

Plug them into a trickle charger and if you don't have an outlet, remove them and put in a garage or something that does..

[Booyah45828]

At a bare minimum you should have them fully charged and unhooked from the bus. Whether physically unhooked or through a shutoff/disconnect. Trickle chargers are best, but I understand that electricity isn't always available.

Best case would be to charge them, connect them to a trickle charger, and put them someplace warm in the winter.

Running a battery dead and then freezing it is a sure way to trash it. So at least charge it fully and then unhook it.

[PorchDog]

Hard to freeze a properly charged battery---

https://modernsurvivalblog.com/alter...g-temperature/

[Dbacks2k4]

If you have ready access to power where parked put a trickle charger on and call it a day. That's what I do with our buses.

If power isn't convenient and you're not going to be running the bus very often, disconnect the batteries and bring inside to put on a trickle charger. I do that with my popup camper's and my boat's batteries. They sit on a tender down in my utility room all winter.

[TheBryceIsRight]

Anyone got any suggestions for a good trickle charger?

[Dbacks2k4]

Originally Posted by TheBryceIsRight

Anyone got any suggestions for a good trickle charger?

These are the ones I use:
https://smile.amazon.com/BLACK-DECKE...MP6/ref=sr_1_1

[fo4imtippin]

I have a viking one from Harbor Freight that works really good. It has float, cold and AGM settings. I also have an expensive NOCO one, but its tempermental to change the selections on it, so it doesn't get used often..

[Booyah45828]

https://www.menards.com/main/tools/a...330466&ipos=29

I've got 3 of these, one on the lawnmower, car, and the camper. Oddly enough, the bus doesn't have one, as I just unhook the batteries on that, as it's not parked near 120vac or used enough to warrant one. Unfortunately that exact model seems to be discontinued. On maintainers I prefer it to be all automated with no switches, that way the gremlins can't change anything or turn it off when I'm not looking.