hi sl6 sages- this may be a job for superman, uncle dan or the doctor, but ill bet there are covert charger experts out there. some of my old tanks(buick and feather duster) sit for long periods. have had a sears charger since 63 and have charged my own batteries instead of going to a clip joint shop. too many times the battery is so far down it wont start and sometimes a cell has crapped out and it wont accept a charge. think its time to get what isnow calleda battery maintainercharger . think it used to be called a trickle or float charger. have noexperience with them.however i understand they offer a very small charge(1/2- 1amp) and shut off automatically when the battery is fully charged. they are continually hooked up. want to prolong my batterys sitting life. if you have experience with these items, please advise. are they reliable and do they do what they are advertised to do. notice that harborfreight has one for 4.99 made by centech. what do you think- bad move? thanks tons bob fisher

One of the best things to do is too completely disconnect the battery if the vehicle sits for any length of time.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Second that.

Every winter I line up all three batteries from stored vehicles and mower on bench in warm basement and treat them to a once a week top-off trickle charge from one of those minder chargers with red & green lights to indicate charge level.

I also have installed a battery disconnect switch on both old cars, and use it often if car is to sit unused for more than a few days. Battery is always at full charge or darn close when car is reactivated after a month of sitting for a show or trip to get ice cream cones...

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

My brother gave me the Accumate he used to use on his motorcycle. It's great for charging smaller batteries and keeping big batteries charged. It's a 3-stage charger and so shuts off the charger when the battery is charged and doesn't switch back on until the voltage drops to the reset point. An old style trickle charger stays on constantly and will dry out a battery. I still have my old 10 amp Shauer for bulk charging of big batteries, but the Accumate maintains everything.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0001V0A9 ... ot_redir=1

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Joshua