so it groaned but wouldn't turn over. I called a friend & he had a booster... not enough initially but after a few minutes of charging, it lit right off. I took it to town & it seems ok now. But I gotta get a Booster. Good ones? Bad ones?

3 weeks and it didnt want to start? might need new batteries or check electrolyte levelsi can let my truck sit for weeks and it will start no issues

... or pull the IOD fuse out and not worry. There is a reason why Dodge designed the fuse with that funky clip so you can pull the fuse out and cut the power so not to drain the batteries. Batteries will naturally discharge over time still so you will need a trickle charger to maintain the charge state. Personally I like the RV converters because after 24 hour it will re-bulk the batteries back up full and reduce the charge rate again to 13.2V or so to keep the water lost down. But still in all all batteries will lose water if hooked to a battery charger so you'll have to check the batteries once a month.

http://forum.mopar1973man.com/threads/7048-Went-out-to-move-the-truck http://forum.mopar1973man.com/threads/5117-DEAD-Batteries http://forum.mopar1973man.com/threads/5182-Not-Starting-as-Before So now you guys can see what has already been said and start where the other threads left off..no need repeating everything. As for you Russ You said the sears guys didn't take the terminals off or looked like they didnt, so did you ever get them load tested properly? Have you tracked down any more crappy grounds? Have you used a multimeter on it to see what the voltage is lately? If they didn't test them properly and you have to keep a trickle charger on them to get them to have any kind of power then I would say the batteries are toast. Take them to a real battery shop that will take them out and hook it up to a fancy machine.

The battery terminals Don't have visible corrosion but are grey oxidized outside. I will fire up the multi-meter & see what the battery voltage is. Come to think of it, during my hour drive, after jump starting... battery voltage meter read pretty normal. It was too hot outside & I was getting MS-brain (inability to focus thoughts). Surely the first step is to pull & clean the battery terminals.

Why does a battery charger make the batteries vent out water and driving doesn't?I replaced my OEM batteries in Sep '10 with 1750 engine hours, and the way the voltage runs on the truck it's rarely below 14.0v. 1750 hours is only 72 days, but there was zero fluid loss during that time. I would think that keeping something on a trickle at 13.2 wouldn't cause venting, but????

Why does a battery charger make the batteries vent out water and driving doesn't? I replaced my OEM batteries in Sep '10 with 1750 engine hours, and the way the voltage runs on the truck it's rarely below 14.0v. 1750 hours is only 72 days, but there was zero fluid loss during that time. I would think that keeping something on a trickle at 13.2 wouldn't cause venting, but????

battery chargers put a forced charge on the batteries causing heat and some chemical reaction causing bubbles to form on the plates that directly displaces water. gas also vents too. when the vehicle is running, the alternator "floats" the vehicles load over the batteries. the batteries are not being drained as the power is going to the vehicle through the battery. this is why you see on DC power plants with battery backup a "float" or "charge" switch. if the batteries are discharged below 100% the rectifiers will increase output to supply a charge current to batteries plus power the equipment tied to the battery string. same thing happens with a vehicle but its controlled automatically by the ecu and alternator. clear as mud?

Hey Russ, is your solar charger rated for your batteries? We have one on an old Gruman van with a solar charger that literally will sit for weeks or longer, and fires right up everytime. The battery is pushing 10 years old.

The solar is just a cheap dashboard maintainer... but irregardless of the engine or batteries, the TRUCK's draw ought to be similar (If who ever drives the truck last, remembers to plug it in.) It's worked fine for extended periods in the past. I really should drive the truck more but it's the effort of moving my stuff and the fact the AC is still out on the truck in this heat.