Batteries in winter

[DoctahDeane]

Hi folks - I've got a VMAX battery that is less than one year old - 100A and it sits in an electrical box under my sleeping quarters. I live in New England (Vermont) and the trailer is inside my unheated garage. My plan is to recharge/top off the battery every 3-4 weeks, depending upon what the battery meter says. If I yanked the battery and put it in my basement it would keep the battery warmer - maybe 53 degrees or so, or I can simply leave it in place and as I said, recharge through house grid or solar if it's a sunny day. Am I going to do any damage by letting it sit in the colder garage?

[OP827]

If vmax battery is a lead acid, then there is no issue, but if it's lithium based, then it can be damaged by charging in lower temperatures.

[DoctahDeane]

If vmax battery is a lead acid, then there is no issue, but if it's lithium based, then it can be damaged by charging in lower temperatures.

Thanks, not lithium and mostly it's a heavy sucker so yanking it out, carrying to basement does not have me highly motivated :-)

[saltydawg]

I would buy a battery tender jr, and put it on once a month for 24 hours. The reason I say the battery tender is its such a low charge rate it really cant over charge your battery in those temps, but will keep up with the self discharge.

If you just want to be silly with cold weather stuff for your battery they make silicone battery heating pads where you can keep your battery warm.

https://www.amazon.com/Deltran-Battery- ... s9dHJ1ZQ==

[DoctahDeane]

I would buy a battery tender jr, and put it on once a month for 24 hours. The reason I say the battery tender is its such a low charge rate it really cant over charge your battery in those temps, but will keep up with the self discharge.

If you just want to be silly with cold weather stuff for your battery they make silicone battery heating pads where you can keep your battery warm.

https://www.amazon.com/Deltran-Battery- ... s9dHJ1ZQ==

Thanks for this - actually I enjoy plugging in that solar panel and it does a great job of topping off. We do get sunny days so just have to be ready to move when that happens!

[Shadow Catcher]

Our 150 AH AGM stays in the tear all winter. I plug in the solar for 24 hrs every month or so to get it up to 100% SOC and have been doing that for 1 years. Retired the las battery at 10 years and it is still in use.

[RJ Howell]

I always left my LA's out in the camper, but like others had a tender on them (wall wort or solar). I'm a big believer in a battery should be used so I would run a LED light (or small USB fan) as a power draw and then hook up the battery tender.

Setup an easy to see (if you have not already) battery voltage monitor. Some are still fairly inexpensive and makes it easy to check.

[H.A.]

I used to bring in my battery over winter.
But set it down on cement and learned my lesson not to do that again.
So I put it on a charger and two plug in timers so it turns on one hour every 24 days.
That seems to be enough, but could play around with timer settings to increase or decrease the chargers on time.

[GuitarPhotog]

My AGM stays in my trailer year round. I keep the trailer plugged in 24-7-365 and use a Progressive Dynamics 4045 to keep my battery charged. It seldom freezes here, and very seldom gets below 20F, so I'm not too worried about low temps. So far (4-1/2 years) my strategy has worked very well.

YMMV

<Chas>

[DoctahDeane]

Our 150 AH AGM stays in the tear all winter. I plug in the solar for 24 hrs every month or so to get it up to 100% SOC and have been doing that for 1 years. Retired the las battery at 10 years and it is still in use.

Awesome, thank you that is exactly the approach I was planning to take. Thanks for the reply!

[Squigie]

I put mine in the garage, hooked to a solar battery tender that is in a window. Doesn't get much direct sunlight, and only has a chance to get any sunlight mid-morning. But it doesn't need much as a tender.
I check the batteries every month or so. If it looks like the solar tender isn't keeping up (like 2016-2017 when it was overcast for 4 months straight, because it never stopped snowing), I'll hook it to a plug-in charger with tender function for a few days - and then go back to the solar tender if possible.
(I use automotive and deep-cycle batteries for different purposes, and the appropriate type of charger for each.)

But I don't know how cold it gets, where ever you are.
Here, sub-zero (F) is guaranteed. Sometimes for weeks. January/February comes with an expectation of single-digit highs. It usually isn't much warmer, but it can get much colder.

[DoctahDeane]

I put mine in the garage, hooked to a solar battery tender that is in a window. Doesn't get much direct sunlight, and only has a chance to get any sunlight mid-morning. But it doesn't need much as a tender.

Yup we get that cold, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it