Battery winter storage

Tonijim wrote:
Wow! When I posted my query, I had no idea that the subject would yield so much reasoned discussion. Thanks to all posters, but I confess to continued confusion. I think I will go with the disconnect/trickle chargers. Thanks for all the info!

Jim

There is no reason to be confused. Either method will work fine. Some times people use a certain method that has worked for them over the years and feel comfortable with it. But science is science and what Pianotuna posted is science. When I used a battery maintainer and I lost power and drained my battery. Where I live power lines come down due to ice storms during winter months. So I choose to fully charge my batteries including an equalizing charge then remove the negative cables and let them sit over the winter. The colder it gets the slower the self discharge. My two 6 v Sam Club GC batteries are 9 years old and I dry camp 95% of the time and don't keep them on a constant charge even in the summer.