Hi Phil
I’ll pass along what I know about these as I have 5 of them. Yes, 5.
Check the electrolyte level, make sure each cell is topped off.
Fully charge the battery if it is not already. If it is slightly down then that is OK.
Hook up the Battery Minder Plus and leave it on all the time.
The Battery Minder Plus is a slow charger and can only give approx 1.3 amps when on full charge if you have Model: 12117. That is why you want to charge the battery with a normal charger if it has been unused for a long time or you just came off of boondocking and your battery is ½ way down.
Now the good part of what the Battery Minder Plus does is once you hit 100% full charge, it tapers off the current down into milliamps, like about 5 ma when the battery no longer needs more charge. That then creates the float voltage and current to keep the battery at peak charge but not over do it.
The desulfate circuit then kicks in after enough time has elapsed. And it can take days worth pending how bad the build up was to dissolve off the sulfate crystals if you never desulfated before.
The key to being able to leave these on all the time is the current drops off to only the natural bleed area a battery looses just sitting there doing nothing.
Think of it this way, a deep cycle battery, or lead acid battery is either discharging or charging. There is nothing else in the middle. Even when doing nothing there is a slight discharge going on. The Battery Minder Plus keeps a voltage present to stop the natural drain and limits the current to not do harm. And it has the pulse method of desulfating.
So yes, due to these features you can leave them on all the time. A standard float charger, like a Battery Tender, they are good too but they do not have the desulfation mode which is a drawback.
Since we camp all year round, I have mine in a plastic box under the camper and then plug in the battery. I’ll pop a pic later this weekend and post. This prevents the battery from discharging down to where the electrolyte turns more water and then can freeze the battery. I even plug it in during the summer. The other 4 I have are on my other batteries over the winter, the tractor, the lawn mower, the other camper stored in side, the truck but only do them over the winter other then the other camper inside, it’s on all the time.
If you do not have a Battery Minder Plus, then yes, take the battery out, store inside off the concrete, top off with water, fully charge it and come back every month to month and a half and recharge. This does nothing for the heavy sulfate buildup, but it keeps the battery from draining down in discharge too low. And if you are not going to use the camper in the winter even if you have the Battery Minder, you can pull the battery out and put it on the unit in the garage.
Hope this helps
John
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Current Sunlines: 2004 T310SR, 2004 T1950, 2004 T2475, 2007 T2499, 2004 T317SR
Prior Sunlines: 2004 T2499 - Fern Blue
2005 Ford F350 Lariat, 6.8L V10 W/ 4.10 rear axle, CC, Short Bed, SRW. Reese HP trunnion bar hitch W/ HP DC
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