Protect Your RV Batteries While In Storage

Frozen battery cells

Protect Your RV Batteries While In Storage

With freezing temperatures sweeping across much of the country, many RVers have already winterized their RVs to prevent the plumbing from freezing. But how many of you have taken precautions to keep your lead-acid batteries from potential damage during the winter?

Throughout the years, I have met many RVers who ruined their batteries by not taking steps to protect them while stored during the off-season. Here is why this can happen and what you can do to prevent it.

Don’t drain your RV batteries 

Most RVs have parasitic 12-volt loads like gas detectors, stereo clocks, circuit boards, etc. that slowly drain your battery over time. Why is this bad for your batteries while in storage? Well, unless you have the luxury of leaving your RV hooked up to shore power or have an above-average solar charging system, your batteries will become discharged.

Completely discharging your batteries is undesirable for two reasons: 1) Every time your batteries are drained under 50% of rated capacity, it shortens the life span of the battery. 2) The fluids in discharged batteries can freeze.

The expansion of the fluids will often cause the plastic housing of the battery to crack, ruining the battery. If you have adequate solar charging, make sure the panels remain free of snow accumulations.

Winterizing your batteries

The following are several steps you can take to protect your RV batteries while the RV is stored for the winter:

• Keep your batteries charged as a fully charged battery can withstand extreme subfreezing temperatures.
• Use a battery kill switch to keep parasitic loads from draining your batteries.
• Store your RV in a climate-controlled space.
• Remove the batteries from your RV and store them in your garage (provided your garage stays above freezing). Contrary to popular belief, it is okay to store your 12-volt lead-acid batteries on the concrete floor in your garage.

Regardless, if you remove your batteries during the off-season storage or keep them in your RV, it is a good time to service your batteries by making sure they are clean and cells are filled to the appropriate levels with distilled water.

Pete’s RV also shares some great information on winterizing batteries in this video:

 

By taking the steps listed above, you can protect your batteries from becoming a casualty of winter—because dead batteries are an adventure in RVing none of us want to experience!

Keep track of all your RV maintenance with an online tool such as RV LIFE Maintenance. Not only can you keep all your maintenance records and documents in one place, you’ll receive timely reminders via email when maintenance is due and potentially avoid a costly repair or serious accident.

For more details, see our previous post on Why It’s Important To Keep Your RV Batteries Charged Properly.

Dave Helgeson

Dave Helgeson’s many roles in the RV industry started before he even had a driver’s license. His grandparents and father owned an RV dealership before the term “RV” had been coined, and Dave played a pivotal role in nearly every position of an RV dealership. He and his wife Cheri launched their own RV dealership in the Pacific Northwest. The duo also spent 29 years overseeing regional RV shows. Dave has also served as President of a local chapter of the Recreational Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA), worked on the board of advisors for the RV Technician Program of a local technical college, and served as a board member of the Manufactured Home and RV Association. Dave’s reputation earned him the title of “The foremost expert on boondocking,” bestowed by RV industry icon, the late Gary Bunzer (The RV Doctor). When he’s not out boondocking, you’ll find Dave in the spotlight at RV shows across the country, giving seminars about all things RVing. He and Cheri currently roam in their fifth travel trailer, with Dave doing all the service, repair and modifications to his own unit.