Winter Storage

bparisi2

Hello Tab 320S Boondock People - - I recently purchased a 2023 Tab 320S Boondock package - it is fully winterized - is there any reason to not have it connected to power for the winter ?  I can hook it up to power at my house.   Any recommendations? 

gulfarea

I run power to mine but un- hook when lightning is around. Art

ChanW

I have ours powered continually.

dragonsdofly

We had ours plugged in continually to 15 amp household current from May 2016 to December 2021, except while traveling. While it is still wintering in our backyard, we are full timing in a 30' Keystone Laredo and are in Tucson, AZ (December, 2022). It was not only unfair to expect our house sitter to monitor our t@b, but seemed risky to us to do so, and we unplugged and switched off the battery when we covered it and left Michigan in November. We will say hello again to our t@b sometime in the summer of 2023. So far, nothing has gone wrong in that entire period of time, so I would say to plug it in, but the choice is entirely yours.

bergger

We keep ours covered and plugged in as well.  It is continually so cold where we live the solar charger usually turns itself off anyway so keeping it plugged in is the only way to keep them charged up without actually removing them from the trailer and keeping them on a charger.  

Sharon_is_SAM

@bparisi2 - don’t forget to use a surge protector!

dragonsdofly

@Sharon_is_SAM sorry for not mentioning that. For those of us who have been doing this for a while it is a given. For NEWBIES, not so much and I am remiss. Good catch!

DanSees

One precaution I can suggest & I am no expert here. If you have lithium batteries & expect to leave the camper unused for more than a month, it is recommended that you store the batteries in a warm place ( above 34'F ) And store at 40-60% state of charge. If more than 6 months you should run them through a full charging cycle to 100%  each 6 months. 

Horigan

LiFePO4 batteries can be stored and discharged below freezing.  They just can't be charged below freezing.  If the battery doesn't have a smart BMS that monitors temperature to enable charging, then disabling all charging modes is required if you intend to store below freezing.  

As @DanSees mentions, storing at around 50% state of charge and cycling after long periods are good to improve the longevity of the battery.

Yoshi_TAB

DanSees said:

 And store at 40-60% state of charge. If more than 6 months you should run them through a full charging cycle to 100%  each 6 months. 

Hi,  Is there a method to discharge them or do you just turn on  loads and  run them down?

Thank you

Dana

I pull my batteries and keep them on a trickle charger in my garage.  Flip flop each one, once a month

Horigan

Yoshi_TAB said:

DanSees said:

 And store at 40-60% state of charge. If more than 6 months you should run them through a full charging cycle to 100%  each 6 months. 

Hi,  Is there a method to discharge them or do you just turn on  loads and  run them down?

Thank you

Just turn on loads.