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.
Posted 2009-03-24 9:09 PM (#102028 - in reply to #102013) Subject: RE: Battery Tender?
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 420
Location: Florida
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.