I seem to remember reading somewhere that if your trailer is not equipped with a high-end battery charger system, you can boil your battery dry if you leave your rig plugged in for extended periods of time.  Is that true? How do I know what my charger is doing to my battery (aside from seeing if it's gone dry inside!) My trailer is from the mid 80's, and I doubt the charger is high tech.

 I invested in a new battery since my current one is antique and due to be replaced.  Will something like one of those battery tenders keep it from getting overcharged?  Or am I confused on what the battery tender is actually used for?  I don't want to cook my brand new battery....though I never seemed to have troubles with my old one, but I'm not sure I took as good of care of it as it deserved.

Amanda

Maybe these will help...

http://www.horsetrailerworld.com/forum/thread-view.asp?threadid=10471

http://www.horsetrailerworld.com/forum/thread-view.asp?threadid=9890

http://www.horsetrailerworld.com/forum/thread-view.asp?threadid=9789

In my opionion, yes to your first question. 

Check the brand and model of your converter.  You may want replace it with a more modern converter that allows proper battery monitoring and charging.  Or you could purchase a decent float charger and mount it permanently for full time charging at home.

I have this one mounted in my truck.  I figured my dual batteries needed some care thru the winter months. There are a few charts that show just how long a battery takes to get a full charge and the effort to get it there.

http://www.batterymart.com/p-battery-tender-plus-12v-5a-wp-battery-charger.html

There are a few charts that show just how long a battery takes to get a full charge and the effort to get it there. Look to the bottom of this link.

http://www.progressivedyn.com/prod_details/charge_wizard.html

My LQ is running the charge wizzard from the above link.  I am very impressed with its results.