I wondered how people preserve their batteries over winter or during infrequent useage.

I was always told never leave a battery charge switched on or 'unsupervised' due to the fire risk but now I have a Battery Conditioner which claims to be designed for "prolonged use". I'm still building my car but have installed my battery and tend to stick the battery conditioner on for a few hours each weekend when I'm about. I'm interested in what others do to stop their battery deteriorating.

Do you use of standard charger?
Do you use of a battery conditioner?
Do you leave your conditioner switched on 24/7?
Is my approach of a few hours each weekend sufficient?

By the way, I have a C-TEK battery Conditioner and a Powervamp battery.

I use a battery maintenance charger on my two bikes and they are left on almost all the time during the winter (occasionally unplugged if I need to use the socket for something else!). These are designed to be left connected to the battery and switched on unlike normal chargers which would boil a battery dry very quickly.

Mines on and I'm away from home for 2 weeks. If there's a fault the fuse with blow long before a fire breaks out.

I use small solar charging panels on both mine and they work brilliantly. Also got one on the lawnmower.

You can leave on a C-Tek charger on 365 days a year but 1hr every 2 weeks should be more than enough.

I have the Banner Accugard Bike. Whilst it would not doubt be quite safe to leave on 24/7, I don't. If I don't drive the car for more than a month, then I put it on and it says its fully charged and then begins the maintenance mode this usually occurs within about 5 minutes of switching it on, if I were working on the car and used some juice without the engine running I would put it on for a short time again. Finally if I have only been on a short journey and had to make many start/ stops along the way ( calling into the shops, getting petrol etc etc) I would throw it on when I get home. Battery is just a Yuasa 20ah SLA type.

I dont see the point in wasting the electric charging it 24 /7( yes it might not be much - but every little helps as they say), I guess it would be useful if your car was in storage away from your property for extented periods.