What to do with our 2 Marine Batteries and Solar through winter?

Lindamcc

We traded in our T@B QMax this past spring for the T@B 400 supplied with 2 Marine Batteries and rooftop 200watt Solar panels.
Jim has winterized the T@B and was wondering if he needs to disconnect the batteries from the Solar and put in storage. 
He would remove the battery from our other T@B during winter .... we don't have severe cold weather here in the PNW but we will see temps below freezing a few times through winter.
So who all has Solar with those marine batteries and what do you do?

Sharon_is_SAM

If you are storing it outside, even under a cover, can't you leave the solar connected to the batteries as a trickle charger?  Make sure you turn the battery cut-off switch to off to avoid phantom drain.  The 2 batteries are AGM and after you charge them fully they will hold their charge for months at a time without phantom draw.  In that case, you can probably just disconnect or turn off the solar for that matter.

pthomas745

Welcome to the Forums.....

A battery has very low "self discharge", if there is nothing drawing on it.  If I leave my battery switch on in the trailer, it will drain my 35 amps in just a few days.  If I leave the battery switch off, it "self discharges" at a very slow rate, and will stay decently charged for months. 

The easiest thing to do would be just turn the battery switch to off, since I understand the 400 batteries are difficult to get to, etc.  Then just check them once a month or so.

Here is a Battery FAQ that has plenty of info on deep cycle batteries and is a great reference for all things battery related.  Look for the sections on "self discharge" in the Battery Voltage section.  They also discuss temperature and batteries.

https://www.solar-electric.com/learning-center/batteries-and-charging/deep-cycle-battery-faq.html