Flasher Battery Care?

So… in anticipation of receiving my new Marcum LX-5 from Wade at Jollyannmarine… posing this question to all of you on the best way to keep a battery at its full potential. Many devices you buy now a days says best use is to run the battery “dry” before recharging. Then again, I have heard to throw it on the charger after each use regardless of how much it has drained. What do you all think? I generally follow the boy scouts motto of “be prepared”… so, when I get back from fishing… I leave connect the battery to the charger and leave it there until next fishing trip. I like to go out with a fully charged battery… just in case I hit that hot spot and decide to spend the next 2 days there. What do you all do? Wait until the battery is drained? Keep a spare around? Interested in hearing thoughts… or if you have a “professional” opinion or have insider information from the manufactures.

The best thing to do with a LX-5 is to charge after each fishing trip…the charger is a 3 stage charger…basically plug it in and forget about it!!!I don’t know what the proper way to handle a battery right out of the box, though! I am sure Wade or Scott could answer that one for you!!! In my expierence I have just used the battery then charged it back up right out of the box!!!

unless the lx5 charger is different than others and it has a “smart charger” (meaning it will shut off when fully charged) it should be fully charged after each use even if not drained, and then disconnected from the charger and unit. I would guess that the manual will for sure tell you the proper way to charge.

Here are the comments from the manual for the LX-5.

Quote:

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The “Digital Charging System” (DCS) is another MarCum Technologies proprietary design.
This product was designed to address the need to both accurately monitor batteries while in the field as well as provide
a battery-friendly charging and maintenance system. The DCS utilizes a small LCD panel to display battery charge remaining in increments of 10 percent. To utilize the charging and maintenance function of the DCS, plug the male DC jack from the 1-amp wall transformer into the female DC receptacle. Then plug the wall transformer into an AC outlet. The LCD panel should display a flashing percentage and the letters “CHRG” should appear, indicating the system is in the charging mode.
The DCS is a three-stage charger providing an initial bulk rate charge, slowing to an absorption charge, and finishing and maintaining with a trickle charge. This sophisticated charging and maintenance system allows you to leave the battery unattended without concern over damaging effects from overcharging.
NOTE: It is recommended that you disconnect the DCS from
the battery during extended periods of non-use. The LCD
display will draw a small amount of power needed to activate
the display and may discharge the battery over long periods of non-use or storage.

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Out of the box, I charge everything to full charge, before using them. On the ice, I’ll run it all the way to dead if I plan on charging it again later that night, but if I were to be icefishing somewhere where I didn’t have a chance to charge the battery again right away after running it all the way down, I would switch batteries around the 40% mark or so, so I don’t leave a dead discharged battery sitting that’s hard on a battery, leaving one at 40% or so shouldn’t really hurt a battery, leaving a dead could potentially kill a good battery.