Maintenance of your Caravan Battery during Winter
Autumn is upon us and winter is coming soon. This means that many caravan owners around the UK are preparing to put their vehicle into storage. This is also an ideal time to check your caravan’s power system so that you can prepare it for a period of dormancy. But there are several precautions you should take into account to ensure that your battery is ready and waiting in peak operational condition when springtime comes around. Here are five tips for maintaining your battery during the winter:
1.Remove your battery from the caravan. When it comes time to place your caravan into storage for the winter, you should remove the battery so that you can give it the treatment that it requires. Batteries have very specific needs when it comes to climate control and exposure to the elements. Removing your battery allows you to give it the special care that it needs.
2.Keep your battery away from extreme temperatures. Extreme heat can cause your battery to discharge more quickly than it otherwise would. Likewise, freezing temperatures will also cause irreversible damage to the battery’s plates. The best thing that you can do is remove your battery from the caravan and store it in a climate-controlled environment.
3. Keep your battery fully charged. If you have to store your battery outside during the winter, then make a point of keeping it fully charged. If your battery is discharged, the sulfuric acid inside will freeze and expand. This will irrevocably harm the battery. But when the battery is fully charged, it must become much colder before it will freeze (-70° C), so you’ll have much less to worry about.
4. Purchase an appropriate battery charger. It’s always a good idea to have a battery charger on hand. When you’re out on the road, this can help you recover from an unexpected battery discharge. But it can also come in handy when you are putting your caravan into storage. Just bear in mind that leisure batteries and actual car batteries have different needs – and there are different chargers available for each type. Use a charger that is designed for your specific battery to ensure that it’s charged up and ready to go into storage.
5. Keep your battery away from volatile substances. This may be an obvious point to some people, but it still warrants mentioning in this post. It’s relatively easy for a charged battery to ignite flammable substances or to even leak out the harmful acids that are stored inside of it. Protect your battery and the people who live in your house by storing it away from potentially flammable substances and strong heat sources. Every battery has a finite lifespan. Even if you commit yourself to strict battery maintenance, there will still come a time when you have to replace it. When that time comes, you can make life easier by purchasing a high-quality caravan battery. Browse our selection of batteries online, and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
