Battery maintenance

[dom14]

Hi all, hope someone might point me in the right direction.
i work away from home for 4 weeks at a time and i have noticed that when i get back my car is getting harder to start.
sounds like my battery doesn't like me been away for so long (either do i for that matter..lol )

so i am in need of a battery charger/maintenance to keep my battery alive.
so i have been looking around but not sure what way to go.
solar is no go as the panel would be knocked off by some one to easily.

so i need a plug in type..
and can i leave the battery connected to the car during this process?

any ideas would be greatfull


thanx in advance

I use these ones.
The first one is a pulse charger. Second one is a three stage smart charger.
They both have been doing a good job for nearly two years now.
I can say the pulse charger is a really good one for trickle charging as well
. It goes to trickle mode once the battery is fully charged.
Or if it's already charged, it goes to trickle mode.
The smart charger also goes to trickle mode once the battery is fully charged.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12-Volt-S...item1a02b7c8fc

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12V-240V-...item1c4670d91e

The above are budget ones, but they are pretty good for the price. They do the job for me.

Above.20 amp one charges a battery fairly quickly.

There's also a 40 amp one on fleabay for around $80 or so.
I haven't tried it, so I can't recommend it, yet.

Multi stage batteries that employ more than three stages are better.
They are usually lot more expensive, but may worth the money depend on how much you spend on your batteries. CTek ones are usually good stuff, but a 20 amp one can be pretty pricey. Ctek ones are worth the money for expensive deep cycle batteries. Those batteries can go for 5-10 years with a good charger.

I've been pulse charging(with the above budget pulse charger) one of my 4WD cranking batteries that I bought second hand for $70 over two years ago. The battery still cranks like hell. I pulse charge is once a month or so with the above pulse charger.

So, it's obvious that maintaining with a good charger makes a hell lot of a difference for the longevity of a battery, both cranking and deep cycle.