"Hank" wrote in message
...

Could I be right in thinking that using a battery charger to recharge
a run-down car battery tends to reduce the life of the battery? On
more than a couple of ocasions, car batteries I have owned have not
survived long after I have used mains plug-in chargers to recharge
them.

The reason the batteries needed charging was not due to any fault in
the battery; it was due to the cars having ben standing, undriven, for
a long time.

The problem you experience has arisen through leaving the battery in a
discharged/part discharged condition for a length of time. The cells will
have sulphated up and the battery is scrap.

Buy another one, batteries are consumable items and are cheap! Next time you
lay-up a vehicle, pull one of the battery leads off (negative is best) and
trickle charge the battery periodically or invest in a little 'wall wart'
style battery charger that can be left connected permanently.

Julian.