Battery Trickle Chargers

[Devoman]

I normally let my camper sit during the summer season for nearly 7 months.I try to tow it at least once a month and check things out to make sure everything is fine.The problem I am having though is my batteries sit for a very long time without any use.Would a trickle charger help out to keep the battery alive?
I believe I forgot to turn the camper off when I disconnected from the power when I was setting it up for the summer so it went completely dead.
I am also wanting to get one of these setups also so I can disconnect from the batteries when I need to turn it off when working on something.Here is the link to the page.Which one would you all suggest?
BATTERY DISCONNECT
Thanks

[Wingeezer]

AGM batteries (absorbed glass mat) are supposed to hold their charge for up to a year, I have a set of them.

Even so, since we don't use our trailer regularly during the year, and since it is stored away from our home, I remove the batteries after each trip and bring them home. I put them on charge for maybe 8 hours every month or so.

As far as battery switches, I installed these on our trailer .......


- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices


Cheap and easy to use - just turn the green knob a turn or so and your batteries are disconnected and cannot drain through parasitic loads from the trailer.

If you do buy a trickle charger I would strongly suggest getting one of the so-called "intelligent chargers" that will not try to continually charge the batteries. They cost more - maybe $40 compared to $15 for a straight 1-2 amp trickle charger. "Battery Tender" is one brand name.

The main reason I put the disconnect knobs on our trailer wiring connectors is that I don't really trust the charger built into the AS not to overcharge the coach batteries when we are on shore power for a long time.

Whenever we stay at an RV park more than a couple of days, I disconnect the coach batteries - need to remember to connect them again when we depart!

It may not be necessary but I felt it might be worth doing - and its a whole lot cheaper than replacing the AS converter/charger with a better one!


Brian

[Ag&Au]

This is what I chose to maintain the AGM batteries out of the trailer in the winter. It will Maintain two batteries separately.

Amazon.com: Battery Tender 022-0165-DL-WH 12-Volt 2-Bank Battery Management System: Automotive

regards,

Ken

[cosmotini]

I use a Battery Minder also. I pull the batteries and keep them in the garage over the winter. I hook them to the charger and it maintains them. Charger/maintainer/desulphator.

[bryanl]

Trickle charging (or float charge) was about the only option - forty years ago.

These days what you want is something that will provide both a full charge (but not enough long enough for plate corrosion) and inhibit sulfation buildup.

Look at what the Progressive Dynamics Charge Wizard does or what the BatteryMINDer line of products does for examples. (note that the Battery Tender (tm) is different from BatteryMINDer - compare and contrast techniques).

While the self discharge rate of AGM's is very low, you still don't want them to sit neglected. If your batteries sit a lot, a good battery maintainer will help you get the most life from them.