Originally Posted by kenchan

you have to drive considerably at higher rpm for the battery to recharge. 5mile trip is hardly enough to charge the battery... in fact, it will drain it.

i put my dd on a battery manager every weekend as my commute is only 11-12 miles one way. it's not enough to have a healthy charge. i will add im on a 8yr old original battery and started up fine in -2F weather. i do add distilled water from time to time (once every 3yrs) when the cells show a dip in level.