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Hi,
Most people don't have a clue as to the consequences of deep-discharging of a Lead-Acid battery. The SAE conducted tests and found on average that a Lead-Acid Battery loses 15% of it ability to fully recharge with each deep-discharge (such as through power drain from infrequent, or non-use).
To put that into perspective, if you have a battery which is not maintained, but infrequently used, on average, the Battery will be incapable of holding a charge after only 6-7 discharges.
This is due primarily to sulphate crystal formation and the shorting of plates within the Battery due to the sulpahte crystals which fall from the grids in the plates to the bottom of the case, eventually bridging a pathway between plates shorting them out.
Given this, the $25-$75 purchase price of a quality low-amperage maintainer w/ Float capability seems both very economical and prudent...
Happy Motoring!... Jim'99
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