help newbie with charging house/solar battery

blueh20 wrote:
hi, trying to learn about keeping my house/solar battery in good condition. My parts.
-3 renolgy 100w eclipse panels,
-renolgy 40amp commander controller,
lifeline 255ah batt ,
renolgy MT50 digital controller.

My first winter with my solar system(ford e250)sitting a little stagnant in my garage.
I do drive it just enough in the winter to keep the battery up but lately its gotten down to 12.5v so I stuck my 4 amp battery charger on it.
In about an hour the MT50 registered 14.1v but the Battery icon on the MT50 showed the battery about 2/3 full and seemed to just stop increasing.
After 2 hours the MT50 still registered 14.1, the battery icon was still at 2/3+ full.(battery charger had floated down to 2.25amps)
Not trusting that I know what I am doing,so before bed I just unplugged the charger and figured I would start over in the morning.
This morning the battery was down to 12.5v again, stuck the charger on and its on its way back up to were it was last night.

seems as though I just need to leave the charger on for a longer time,

My question..is this scenario normal?
What should I do, thanks.

I'm not a solar expert but I have Battery Minders on all my "stuff" in the garage - riding mower, tractor, diesel truck, etc. The Battery Minder will condition all my wet-cell batteries and will not overcharge, even when left on for extended periods of time. Under those circumstances I don't worry about voltage, I just make sure the water levels are good. Hope that helps.