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There is a switch in my motorhome that doesn’t seem to have any usefulness. The switch is labelled Connect/Disconnect Coach Battery
Does anyone know what the switch is there for? Why would anyone want to disconnect the coach batteries anyway???
Your coach has two sets of batteries one set for the vehicle and the other set for the coach (house batteries). The switch disconnects the house batteries for storage. If you don’t disconect the batteries the smoke detectors will drain them.
Ahhhhh….OK! Now I understand…thanks!
(When I store my motorhome for the winter, I remove every battery, even the vehicle’s battery, so drain from smoke deterctors/clocks and so on wasn’t an issue.)
Depending on your inverter vs converter set up, you may also want to disconnect your coach batteries if you are plugged into shore to reduce extra wear on the batteries. I think this is only necessary if you have a converter though.
If you store for the winter, the disconnect switch for the coach should disconnect everything in the coach. If you are in an area where you get freezing weather, you might want to either plug in your shore cord to charge the batteries once a month. Leave it hooked up a couple of days so the batteries recharge. Don’t forget to turn the disconnect switch back on for those two days. Or you can put a trickle charge on them to keep them charged. Or if in really cold area, you can also get 110 v battry heaters for the batteries, like they have for diesel rigs. For the engine battery, you can get a disconnect switch from Harbor Freight to install on that battery so you can isolate it. It can be a good coach theft deterrent. All you do is bolt it on one of the battery posts and connect your cable to it. All it is is a knife switch that you flip up or down. You also have some drains on it from your radio for one thing. Good luck. Gary
OK…thanks to both of you. My RV is stored outdoors for the winter now, under an RV cover. I won’t be able to get to it until mid-January (I live in the arctic and my RV is 1000 miles south of here). Both my coach and vehicle batteries were fully charged when I parked the RV in late September. I pressed the disconnect switch but didn’t do anything else (apart from normal winterizing the plumbing). This is the first winter my RV will be parked outdoors without shore power. It gets down to -20 F at the park site but average temps are closer to 5 degrees F.
Anyway…my fingers are crossed and I hope that helps!
Even though you’ve disconnected, I’m guessing the batteries will be dead, rechargable but dead. If you can leave a trickle charger on them, that’d be best. I’ve heard of some people who even remove the batteries completely and bring them inside their homes for the winter while the RV is not in use.
Good luck!
Whatever you do, don’t let a discharged battery freeze (and crack the case) Always keep them fully charged when stored in below freezing weather. I just looked it up and “A 100 percent fully charged battery will not freeze until approximately minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit”. A discharged battery will freeze at a little below 32degs.
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