Leaving van plugged in overnight in freezing weather

[Jimmylondon07]

Couldn't actually find an answer to this one which I was surprised about, is there any negative impact to leaving the EHU plugged in to an empty van overnight when the temperature falls close to or below zero? Was planning on giving the leisure batteries a good charge but don't want to damage anything.

 

[Carryon Cali Camping]

We have had Motorhomes for years and now have our GC…..ours stays plugged in all the time on our drive, never had any issues. Our last Motorhome Leisure battery (AGM) was 8yrs old and still going strong.

 

[chockswahay]

Yup, just do it and don’t worry

 

[GrannyJen]

Keep it plugged in. Will do no harm at all.

 

[ArunAlec]

Plugged in all the time ….. added bonus I can have a mains driven (via USB) security camera monitoring inside van.

 

[Jimmylondon07]

Thanks all, pretty unanimous then! I shall leave it plugged in.

 

[Hawthorn37]

When on the driveway I leave ours plugged in on a timer to charge 2 hours each night. This seems to be enough to keep the leisure and starter battery topped up to ‘full’ - albeit I know the engine battery normally only charges to about 80% unless you select maximum charge. We’ve done this for two winters with no issues.

 

[Californication69]

I leave plugged in EHU all the time in Winter as Solar does not charge the lesuires.
Then a timer cuts in for 4 hours from 1am

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks all, pretty unanimous then! I shall leave it plugged in.

What would you do if you were camping? Not use the paid for EHU because it is cold?

 

[Californication69]

I think while camping the internal temperature isn’t going to be 2 degrees for any length of time.
Would keep the heater on continuous on #7
So the EcoFlow wouldn’t get that cold.
It’s 2.7 degrees in my wardrobe at the moment and I won’t be using the California this week.
The EcoFlow is in the house.

 

[pluc99]

close to or below zero

That's not even close to being cold enough to worry about. At -30 I might think twice, but mainly because I would rather sit in my cozy living room than venture outside for something that wasn't urgent.

 

[SpuffingtonMe]

Can’t understand why you wouldn’t. And furthermore, I’d be using the EHU to bring a tiny bit of heat into the van using a bar heater /
oil rad or similar.

My Motorhome sits on the driveway with EHU plugged in permanently when not in use.
I also set the Truma to 8degs C to keep it somewhat aired and ensure there’s no freezing of any residual water in the system after it’s been drained down.

 

[yossarian]

engine battery normally only charges to about 80%

On ehu a 6.1 charges the starter battery to 100%

I've also observed that a 6.1 drops down to float voltage so long term hookup should be fine if your vehicle behaves as mine does.

 

[fatbob]

Having a winter charging plan is a good idea. If you leave it sat there for weeks, your leasure battery is only going to last a couple of years.
Never allow it to sit fully discharged it will be permanetly damaged.
lithium batteries need special attention at low temps and should not be charged when its freezing. Regular AGM happy to be charged down to regular uk cold temps.
bBggest problem at low temps is pipes freezing and breaking something. I plug in for a few days every month, through winter.

 

[Peter84]

I leave plugged in EHU all the time in Winter as Solar does not charge the lesuires.
Then a timer cuts in for 4 hours from 1am

Solar does not charge the leisures? You mean the starter?

Does the starter battery gets charged while on EHU btw? (MY2022 Ocean in my case)

 

[yossarian]

MY2022 Ocean

That's what I have.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Having a winter charging plan is a good idea. If you leave it sat there for weeks, your leasure battery is only going to last a couple of years.
Never allow it to sit fully discharged it will be permanetly damaged.
lithium batteries need special attention at low temps and should not be charged when its freezing. Regular AGM happy to be charged down to regular uk cold temps.
bBggest problem at low temps is pipes freezing and breaking something. I plug in for a few days every month, through winter.

If you read posts of members based in places like Germany, France and Switzerland, they use their Cali’s in minus 20 regularly and report no issues with freeze ups. Although we drain our tank when not using the van in winter, I don’t really expect anything to break.

 

[Californication69]

Solar does not charge the leisures? You mean the starter?

Does the starter battery gets charged while on EHU btw? (MY2022 Ocean in my case)

Lesuires.
I have a Raspberry Pi, running Venus os, dual sim spitz router, 3 camera box new dashcam setup, so around 1.5amps constantly.
Parked inbetween two houses so no sun.

 

[JoeSouthFrance]

Actually charging the batteries makes them warm so I’d be rather more concerned with charging them when it is more than +40 C than close to zero or sub-zero so long as it is not extreme (colder than -20 C)