MainerBob
Waterville, Maine
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Joined: 12/26/2011
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Anyone have a recommendation for a battery charger to maintain my batteries over the winter. They are warm and cozy in the house along with my tractor battery. The RV batteries are 2 Group 27 DieHards which are listed as 180min, 575 CCA, 120ah@20 hour rate. They are out of my 1991 Avion 5er which I pull with an '06 Chev 2500HD Duramax.
1991 Avion 30' F'er, not silver
2006 Silvarado 2500HD Duramax, CC, Short Bed
16K Draw-Tite Slider
Bikes on the back
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jauguston
Bellingham, WA
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Joined: 07/03/2005
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Walmart stocks Schumacher brand battery chargers and maintainers. I have several of the Schumacher 1.5a battery maintainers and several twice as expensive Battery Tender brand. The Schumachers work equally as well as the Battery Tenders. Hook them up and forget them. One maintainer can take care of several batteries with jumper wires connecting them in parallel. The jumpers can be small wire 16 ga or even smaller.
Jim
2005 Coachman Sportscoach Elite 402 40'
350hp Cat C-7 w/MP-8
7500w Onan quiet diesel generator
6-Kyocera 130w solar panels SB3024i MPPT controller
Pressure Pro TPMS
1987 Suzuki Samurai tintop Toad w/VW 1.6 turbo diesel power
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webslave
Clearville, PA
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Joined: 04/14/2008
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I use the BatteryMinder on all of my equipment (from my EU2000iS generator, lawn tractor, antique cars and even my John Deere 750) and have only good things to say about it.
When I pull my battery for the winter, it goes in the garage, BatteryMinder hooked up and plugged in and there it sits until I re-install it in the spring. I have eight of them in use. As soon as I'm finished with a piece of equipment, I turn it off, hook up the BatteryMinder for it (I've installed "quick connects" on all of my equipment) and I know that the battery will be "good to go" when I use it next. I use my big tractor maybe a half dozen times a year and the diesel battery in it is now going on 17 years old...
BatteryMinder
IMHO, you can't get better for your batteries - charges, maintains and desulfates automatically.
My 2 cents, your mileage may vary...
Don
Bronwyn
3 Cats - Coco, J-Lo and Ragamuffin 
2011 Keystone Cougar 318SAB
2011 Ram 2500 Longhorn CTD HO
Built in brake controller and exhaust brake
Tri Glide TrailAir Pinbox with a B&W Companion Hitch
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aruba5er
Neenah Wisconsin
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Joined: 11/09/2007
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First thing i'd do if you have a cool area(basement, attached garage) is to put them there. They would like being cooler than warm. Harbor freight has a cheap float charger from $4.99/$9.99. (same charger, depends on which day). I have a couple. they work great.
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johnvb
Virginia Beach /Virginia/USA
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Joined: 03/17/2004
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Battery Tender or CTEK
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Veebyes
Bermuda & Maryland
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Joined: 11/24/2003
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How many months will the battery be left. If only a few months, leave them alone. Top them up once a month for a couple hours is not a bad idea but not necessary.
I just pulled 2 gel cell batterys out of my boat today. They have not had a charge since LAST year March. Checked them before putting on the charger. Voltage, 12.2V. One of these batterys has been in the boat since 1998. Still tests good on the load tester.
Wet cell batterys only lose about 10% of their charge per month with no loads.
Boat: 32' 1996 Albin 32+2, single Cummins 315hp
40+ night per year overnighter
2007 Alpenlite 34RLR
2006 Chevy 3500 LT, CC,LB 6.6L Diesel
Ham Radio: VP9KL, IRLP node 7995
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gbopp
The Keystone State
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Joined: 08/03/2008
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I use a Schumacher 1.5 on my chassis battery and keep it hooked up all winter.
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AUWing
Slinger, WI
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johnvb wrote:Battery Tender
X2 15 years - 2 motorcycles - lawn tractor - ATV & RV with all lasting 4 or 5 years each. Battery Tenders are smart enough to make it plug n play. I use BT Jr
From someplace in SE Wisconsin
2011 Silverado 2500 Ext-cab / reg box / D/A
2008 Jayco Eagle 313RKS
2008 Goldwing
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45Ricochet
North Idaho
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Joined: 09/04/2009
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MainerBob wrote:Anyone have a recommendation for a battery charger to maintain my batteries over the winter. They are warm and cozy in the house along with my tractor battery.
Shhh Don't let mine hear that 
I just plug in the RV every couple of weeks for a day and they have been doing fine. I can't imagine pulling out my tractor battery in winter, of course the snow has been light (6') this year.
06 Dodge 3500 CC LB Laramie 4x4 Dually 5.9 Cummins 325/610 48RE Jacobs brake Smarty Jr
GVWR 12,200 Payload 4580
06 Grand Junction 34' High profile 15500 GVWR 3200 pin Mor/ryde 5500 Onan genny Dual A/C
27' Hallett 502, 500HP
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Veebyes
Bermuda & Maryland
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rick83864 wrote:MainerBob wrote:Anyone have a recommendation for a battery charger to maintain my batteries over the winter. They are warm and cozy in the house along with my tractor battery.
Shhh Don't let mine hear that
I just plug in the RV every couple of weeks for a day and they have been doing fine. I can't imagine pulling out my tractor battery in winter, of course the snow has been light (6') this year.
Ever wonder if all that farm equipment, construction equipment, RVs on lots, new cars, used cars etc. you see on storage lots all winter have their batterys pulled of get any kind of attention during the winter?
BTW, I checked my 13 year old gel cell group 31 battery which has been sitting completely unattended for 10 months yesterday before charging. It was at 70% charge. Lost 30% in 10 months, less than 5% per month. Not bad at all for such an old battery & that was after I gave it a hit with the battery tester.
Those smart chargers & minders can go wrong. Saw one guy lose 4 8D gel cells onboard his boat. Batterys cost something like $800 EACH. Cooked in one winter because voltage regulator of charger went.
Something to think about.
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