Do you bring your battery inside for the winter?

[deserteagle71]

Cheap solar chargers can kill your battery...

I think a lot of people refer to a "maintainer" as a "charger" and that causes confusion. A charger feeds power to the battery constantly and can kill the battery if connected too long. A maintainer feeds power to the battery only when it is needed, then turns itself off and monitors the state of charge.

I have a Miller welder sitting in an outbuilding that has no power running to it. Years ago I bought a BatteryMinder setup that has a 15W solar panel I installed on the roof. The panel powers a battery maintainer that is connected to the battery on the welder. Don't remember how old that battery is but it still fires up the Miller just fine.

 

[John_Mc]

I think a lot of people refer to a "maintainer" as a "charger" and that causes confusion. A charger feeds power to the battery constantly and can kill the battery if connected too long. A maintainer feeds power to the battery only when it is needed, then turns itself off and monitors the state of charge.

Complicated by the fact that some of these do both. All of the chargers and maintainers sold by NOCO and BatteryMINDer are "smart": even the higher amperage ones will automatically drop into maintenance mode once the battery is charged, checking the battery condition periodically and charging only as needed.