Keeping ones starting battery charged.

Desert Captain wrote:
TreeSeeker, lighten up.... I'm sorry you have had so many electrical problems, most folks have not. If you cannot leave your RV, truck or family car sitting for two weeks without killing the starting battery you have serious electrical issues that need to be addressed, this is NOT normal.

Hmm, I didn't say that I have had many electrical problems.

My point was that many (if not most) RV's sit for more than two weeks, so they may well have a less than full charge on the starting battery. I have seen many posts from RVer's wondering why their starting battery is dead after the RV has been sitting unused for months. And many or most RVer's assume that if the RV is on shore power that all the batteries will be kept charged.

Desert Captain wrote:
Your condescension aside, I understand battery systems to include parasitic draws and yes I know that starting batteries are not deep cycles.

Sorry, I didn't mean to be condescending--many RVer's know very little about batteries and chargers. From your original post I wasn't sure how much you knew.

If you would go back and read the entire thread you would see that we have been talking about starting batteries not the house banks. I never said a few miles of driving would recharge a house bank.

I only mentioned my house battery as an example of how long it takes to recharge a battery. You did say, "Drive a few miles and you are back to square one." My point was that a discharged starting battery is not likely to be fully recharged after a few miles of driving. Further, a discharged starting battery has been permanently damaged and that can be avoided by keeping it charged.

If your vehicles electrical systems are working properly a thoroughly discharged starting battery will acquire enough of a charge to start the engine after about 15 to 20 minutes of normal driving. This is why jumper cables are so popular.

I assumed that when you said, "back to square one" that you meant it would be fully charged. I expect others thought the same.

Obviously, you have not had any battery problems, and that is great. However, others less knowledgeable about batteries, parasitic drains, and charging have had and/or will have. My intent in posting was just to clarify some of the issues for anyone reading this thread.