Winter battery care advice
I take out my leisure battery when closing up the 'van for winter and store it home off the floor. I have recently seen advice to keep it on trickle charge over winter. I have an old battery charges which has fast and slow charge setting. Would it be correct to put the battery on the slow charge setting over winter or is the trickle charge advice not necessary?
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If your caravan has a solar panel it should keep the battery charge topped up providing the van electrics are turned off (black isolating button). If not i would invest in a Ctek intelligent charger which will keep the battery charged when it detects a drop in voltage. I suspect even on trickle charge over a few weeks could ‘cook’ your battery.
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Thanks for the advice. Really my question was do I really need to have it on trickle. I dont have smart charge, also once had a multimeter and never really got to understand how to use it. To buy them would probably the same as a new battery. I have alway done it like I said and seen no shortening of battery life.
Just asked as I thought there maybe agreat advantage in it.
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Does not the charger have an ammeter on the front so that you can visually check the current (pardon the pun) charging rate?
Provided you keep an eye on it and disconnect when drops down to, say, 1 amp you can fast charge it up from time to time without any problem.
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Redface there is a indicator but havent looked to see if calibrated in amps.. So from what you say charge at intervals and when it drops stop charging? If I left it on would it damage battery?
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Lidl have a good CTEK on offer. Amongst other things it is ideal for long term battery care. I purchased one because of this. When we take the MH abroad the car sits at home and the battery very slowly discharges, despite the car systems going into hibernation mode. The CTEK will be permanently connected and be left to run in "care" mode in which it just tops up the battery as it requires.
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What is a CTek CT5?. LHM I have a caravan not a motor home.
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Morning
Simple thing to do, because you say you store the battery at home. Once every four to six weeks just connect one of your old chargers for a day. No need to splash out on any smart charger. If at any time you're not sure of the health of the battery, take it to your local tyre depot and they can do a drop test for you. A fully charged battery at rest (not been on charge for at least 24 hrs.) should be at least 12.7 volts.
JK
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I was browsing some Halfords chargers a while back and came across a cheap trickle charger. In the small print it clearly stated that it wasn’t designed to be permanently connected! So, it’s right to be cautious and as others have said, a CTek (5 amp recommended) can be left permanently connected. Not cheap though.
I would leave on the bench (off the floor) and fully charge once every 4-6 weeks.
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leave my battery on the van 24x7x365, caravan alongisde bungalow connected to EHU, onboard charger is one of those inteligent ones that only charges when necessary, never had a problem. Just replaced original battery that was over 10 years old and only because i fitted new motor mover and old battery was not quite up to the job, as far as i know charger has been on the caravan since new.
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It is not a good idea to leave the battery on charge all winter. Just check the voltage every couple of months. You can get a digital multi meter for less than £10 from ebay. Connect up the leads and select a suitable dc voltage range. Probably 20 volts. There is a chart somewhere that tells you what the voltage should be when it is fully charged. I seem to remember it is about 12.8 volts. If the voltage drops to about 12.3 volts, put the battery on charge for a few hours. Leave it disconnected a little while before you re check the voltage.
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We have an Aldi solar battery "maintainer/chargers" thst we use for both the car and caravan seems to have worked this year when both have had minimum use 33nights this year compared to 200+ most years ,we really do need to clear cobwebs of the car mirrors when we do use it
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It is not a good idea to leave the battery on charge all winter.
CTEK and other manufacturers produce smart chargers for permanent connection. This is what their blurb says about mine:
The groundbreaking CT5 TIME TO GO battery charger and maintainer is a world first because it answers the question ‘When will my battery be fully charged?’ This means you can plan your day around your battery charging because the CT5 TIME TO GO gives you an accurate prediction of the remaining charging time in hours. Not only that, it’ll also tell you when you can safely try to start your vehicle before the battery is fully charged. The CT5 TIME TO GO uses advanced technology to give you three charging and maintenance programs – Normal, AGM and Recond. It’s easy to use and fully automatic, so it can be connected directly to the battery indefinitely, if required, and it won’t over or under charge.
...and it works. As well as clamps it is also supplied with a short loom to provide a more permanent connection.
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I have a volt meter on the control panel inside the caravan, flick the switch and it tells you what state the battery is in, as for leaving on van and charging, using a 3way multi charger, never had a problem and i think it is a good idea particularly if the outside temp is around freezing.
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