BATTERY

OK...Another question from the Newbie....I didn't disconnect my battery when I packed up everything for the winter. I contracted to have someone "winterize" the camper (since it was my 1st year) and didnt' think about the battery. I've seen pros and cons regarding leaving the battery connected or disconnecting for the winter season.

What will I have to do when it's time to begin the spring season? Sorry to be such a nuisance. I really appreciate all the help everyone has given me in the past. Just remember, it's just me and my sister and our German Shepherd.

It will most likely be frozen solid and will need to be replaced in Spring.

Hopefully, it won't split the case and make a mess for you.

rvmama
If it were my RV I would have someone get the battery out of it and after putting it on a charger (Auto Zone will check it out and charge it for free) place the battery in a garage or similiar location for the remainder of the winter. Lots of luck. Jim

rvmama

Absolutely agree with Stanford. I also charge mine to a full charge about once a month during the winter. Luck!

I've wintered three 5th wheels in NH over the last 22 years and never had a battery freeze on me. I think it's because the fluid is acid, not water.

You are not a nuisance, This is how we learn, by asking. There is a lot of good people here, ask away. Tim

If you have a 3 or 4 stage charger in your Cat and have access to shore power I would use this to top up the battery, if the battery is showing signs of life, check with a multimeter, a fully charged battery should be over 12.5 volts .
Sean

I had my Wildcat for 4 years, never took out the battery, but, I did plug it in every 2 weeks for a day or 2.

If you have electricity where every you have it parked, just plug it in every few weeks.

Be use to take the fuses for the radio and the propane sniffer out, else your battery will die in 2 weeks.

Oh, and check the water every once in a while also, only use distilled water in it and you'll be fine.

Oldelmer 1, that's the way I would like to be able to keep the battery charged, but unfortunately my under roof storage is 15 miles away and does not have electric, so I lug the battery back and forth.

Rich,
If I could have under roof storage, I'd lug my battery back and forth too.

I have a vehicle tracker fitted to my Cat and I can check the state of charge by going online and see what the voltage of the tracker is, it saves me having to run back and forwards every couple of days to check what is happening to the Cat and the batteries.
Sean

Sean that is so cool. I am going to look into one of those

Sean wrote:I have a vehicle tracker fitted to my Cat and I can check the state of charge by going online and see what the voltage of the tracker is, it saves me having to run back and forwards every couple of days to check what is happening to the Cat and the batteries.
Sean

Hi Sean,

This sounds pretty neat, can you give us some more info ?

Here is a link to a new posting that I have added on my Tracker. which I use for battery checking and more
http://www.wildcatcamperforum.com/t3706-tracker
Sean

This may sound like a silly question. I have only camped in popup and owning a 5th wheel is all new to us. When I take the battery out for the winter, can you still run the slides in and out? I wasn't sure if they ran off of the power or not. What kind of charger do I need to charge the battery with during the winter? I know some talked about charging it once a month while it is out of the camper for the winter.
Thanks

No question is ever too silly. You will need some sort of 12v power source to run the slides. A battery maintainer is what you will need to put on the battery for the winter.

You can also purchase a small solar panel that will trickle charge the battery. I have large solar panel so don't have to worry about it, but I have seen the small, portable ones that can be put on the dash to keep a car battery up. This could easily be modified for the cat.

Seems like we have a bunch of battery questions on the forum now. A simple solution is to purchase a quality battery tender like Deltran plus.. There are other quality battery tenders, but I am familiar with Deltran and have both the single and dual tenders. They also make a four battery tender.

Two easy ways to keep the battery charged 24/7

1. Remove the battery or batteries and take to a location that has electricity and connect to a battery tender like the above and check on the water level every other month.

2. Leave the battery or batteries in the camper, disconnect the battery from the camper, then plug in the tender to the disconnected battery or batteries, and check water level every other month.

All batteries at some point will fail. One symptom of a failing battery is that the sides bulge out and become hard on acid/water type batteries.

Having five cars, one truck, two tractors and the WC, I use our tenders all the time.

Leaving a battery on a standard charger for a prolonged amount of time will boil out the water and destroy the battery.

A third way, if you do not have a battery tender, is to charge your battery to a full charge, then remove the charger and ground cable from your battery/batteries so they will not drain from the camper electrical draw. The drawback for this method is that you keep having to repeat the process.

http://batterytender.com/automotive/battery-tender-plus-12v-at-1-25a.html?gclid=CLO7ueH146wCFQQbQgodzUFOow

Thanks for the information Maxtor. I went to our local Sears this past weekend and purchased the Deltran. So far mine is working great. I did leave my battery in the camper. The only thing I did not do is disconnect the battery from the camper. Do I need to do this? The camper is not plugged in. I have a drop cord going from the charger to a receptacle in my storage shed.