Foretravel Owners' Forum

Foretravel Motorhome Forums => Foretravel Tech Talk => Topic started by: Mark... on March 27, 2012, 12:01:32 pm

Title: Storage plan ok?
Post by: Mark... on March 27, 2012, 12:01:32 pm
I will be storing the coach for 3-4 week periods in an enclosed building with 15 amp available.  Since this is the first time doing this I want to do everything possible to not come back to dead house or coach batteries.

So after connecting to the 15 amp shore power:
1 - Power off the fridge

2 - turn off 12v DC at door (pic 1 - not turned off yet)

3 - turn off inverter (invert and standby light off) but leave charger on (ready lit) for house batteries (pic 2)

4 - turn off coach starting batteries at disconnect switch (pic 3 - not turned off yet)

Assuming that all batteries are fully charged going into storage and no power outages is there anything else I need to do? 
Title: Re: Storage plan ok?
Post by: wa_desert_rat on March 27, 2012, 12:14:27 pm
Seems pretty reasonable to me. The only thing I can think of would be the microwave's clock function which might be difficult to turn off and shouldn't create enough load to matter. That 15-amps isn't much but you won't have much going on either.

Craig
Title: Re: Storage plan ok?
Post by: Peter & Beth on March 27, 2012, 12:38:03 pm
I suppose that if you wanted to you could turn off the circuit breakers to the inverter circuit to ensure no parasitic currents such as the microwave clock, bedroom radio, TV's, toaster, coffee maker etc.
Title: Re: Storage plan ok?
Post by: J. D. Stevens on March 27, 2012, 01:03:50 pm
Your plan to disconnect the starting battery should work fine to minimize loss of charge. However, you may want to keep some kind of charger connected to the chassis battery. We keep a 5 amp Battery Tender connected to the chassis battery at all times. When the coach is plugged in, the Battery Tender maintains the chassis battery. We don't have to take any action other than plugging the coach to shore power. Other folk use Trik-L-Start, battery combiners, boost switch, or other means to keep the chassis battery at full charge during storage.



Title: Re: Storage plan ok?
Post by: Dave Head on March 27, 2012, 03:01:18 pm
I installed switches inline to my propane valve and CO propane alarms to drop them also.
Title: Re: Storage plan ok?
Post by: Dave Head on March 27, 2012, 03:02:52 pm
Also generator auto start to OFF!
Title: Re: Storage plan ok?
Post by: Steve & Kathy B on March 27, 2012, 06:09:58 pm

Why auto start to off?  I have been leaving mine on while stored to keep the batteries charged.  That wrong?
Title: Re: Storage plan ok?
Post by: wolfe10 on March 27, 2012, 06:19:41 pm
Why auto start to off?  I have been leaving mine on while stored to keep the batteries charged.  That wrong?

If you are plugged in, particularly if in a building, you don't want the generator to run.
Title: Re: Storage plan ok?
Post by: Dave Head on March 27, 2012, 07:06:18 pm
We had someone nearly lose their coach this way - the heat buildup in the enclosed space was amazing. As it was the entire coach was smoked out with diesel smoke and soot.
Title: Re: Storage plan ok?
Post by: Steve & Kathy B on March 28, 2012, 09:06:52 am
If you are plugged in, particularly if in a building, you don't want the generator to run.

Oh.  I am not plugged in when storing though. That's OK right?
Title: Re: Storage plan ok?
Post by: txforetravel on March 28, 2012, 09:11:05 am
Either way, plugged in or not plugged in, I would never leave my generator set to "AUTO" while storing.  I want to be around the coach if and when the generator starts/stops. 

I only use the "AUTO" feature when we are using the coach. 

Title: Re: Storage plan ok?
Post by: Dave Head on March 28, 2012, 02:51:25 pm
enclosed?