Proper RV Battery Storage: Tips and Troubleshooting

A common problem with RV batteries is that when we're not using them for a period of time we typically don't store them properly. Any battery that sits without a charging system connected to it is gonna naturally lose some charge and we'll sulfate. When you're charging when you're storing a battery for any amount of time especially if you're going to be storing it in cold weather there's some precautions that you need to do and some things you shouldn't do prior to putting that in. The first thing is you want to charge that battery get it to the proper charging stage before you put it into storage. Never put a battery into storage that's gonna be really cold or below freezing without having some type of a charging system that's gonna keep that temperature up. Here's a classic example of a battery that was neglected. This unit here, we've kinda torn it apart but the first thing you'll notice is that the sides are bulging out. And the reason is this battery was left in an RV, got below freezing. The battery itself froze. And so those plates expanded and this one's a little different. The old style batteries. When you got into this area here actually had led plates that were in and you could see the sulfur build up into these. The newer batteries here have gone to this kind of a pouch technology in here. But one of the things I noticed with this one is that it froze those pouches expanded. They burst, you can see the sides bulging out of here. Also, you can see that material inside there now that you should not be able to see that that should be in those pouches. But we can tell that this battery has been left out and it just basically exploded and disintegrated. And it's no good. Now lead acid batteries and other ones will start to sulfate. So the first step you would do is if you have access to electricity, you can put it to amp that battery minder one of those small little trickle charges that'll help kind of maintain it a little bit. You still will get some sulfation out of that. So it's not the best thing but it's better than just leaving it and doing nothing. What I recommend is you take the battery out bring it back to your facility keep it nice and warm, put a charger on it. What battery manufacturers recommend is that you do a multi-stage charge that you do a 16 volt charge boils a battery breaks up that sulfur. We don't always have that ability. So in storing your battery, another thing you could do is if you're in a facility that doesn't have electricity a solar panel will also charge and condition these batteries. So taking just a little bit of time to do some precautionary steps will help extend the life of your battery while you're storing it for a long, long time.