Battery storage - trickle charge?

[MeatyCrab]

Hiya,

As some of you know, and to most of you who don't care, I will be going away soon.

What this means, is that my beloved Fjord Explore-her will be lain dormant for the better part of a year.

As such, I will not want my brand new yellow-top Optima to follow the same destiny of my (previously) brand new red-top Optima (it died last time I went away).

Herein lies the query: Once I take the battery out of the vehicle, can I simply leave it sitting in a box somewhere and forget about it until I come back, or must I leave it hooked up to a battery charger?

Bearing in mind, that although the truck et al., will be stored at my parent's house, they have no knowledge nor the desire to do anything related to the truck, even turn a trickle charger on every month.

Any suggestions regarding battery storage?

Cheers,
BK

 

[mrboyle]

The best thing would be to put the battery on a float charger. A float charger is a very small battery charger that only puts out 2-3 volts and can be left connected to the battery. The current is enough to keep the battery charged, but not enough to worry about over charging if left connected for extended periods of time.