"Richard Casady" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 13 May 2009 23:52:55 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Wed, 13 May 2009 22:35:11 -0400, "BetaB4"
wrote:

Thank you all. Well, I sure am glad I posted the question. I am now in
the
middle of looking online for battery chargers to see what is available,
what
they cost, where to buy them, etc. Over the next few days, I'll check
some
auto parts stores to see what hey sell. Obviously, I need a charger that
I
can leave on and not have to worry about the battery being overcharged.

The cheapest solution if you already have a 2 amp charger is to put an
automatic timer on it as gfretwell suggested.

Go to the thrift store and get a 50milliamp 12v power supply for a
calculator or whatever. One of those cubes that plugs in the wall.
In a week, 50ma comes to some 6 AH, not enough to cook the battery.
If you add water once a week, it should be all right. It would be
better to get a smart charger.

Casady

I've had boats and RV's with the old school, voltage controlled chargers and
the newer, 3 stage smart chargers.
The ferro-resonant type used to keep big boat batteries charged (multiple
8-D's) also have a nasty habit of cooking the batteries if you don't keep a
watchful eye on the water. For many years the newer, switching power
supply "smart" chargers just weren't big enough (current wise) for this
application.

But over the past few years the 3 stage smart chargers have been improved
and increased in capacity.
We have a little 2005 Sprinter based RV built by Pleasure-Way.
Pleasure-Way builds RV conversions with an excellent quality reputation and
use top shelf components. The "smart" battery charger in it has kept the
original 2005 house battery in excellent, like new condition and I've never
had to add water to it in 4 years.
With the older type chargers, I'd have certainly had to replace the house
battery by now.

Eisboch