JaxDad wrote:
Our tractors run 4D and 8D batteries, big honkin’ FLA batteries.
They typically get parked about this time of year until around Easter.
Most are never touched or have any charger on them that whole time. Some of those batteries are well over 10 years old.
The 2 tractors we do use in the wintertime have a cheap 6 or 10 amp charger on them plugged into a cheap lamp timer that powers the chargers for an hour a day, around 3 or 4am usually.
No need to make stuff complicated.
On older tractors this was what we do. On our newer tractors the parasitic draw will drain the battery down after a month or so. One of the newer tractors has a built in switch so you can shut the battery off. On the other one we have to put a battery maintainer on it.