Battery removal over Winter?

[Kenty]

Does anyone remove the leisure battery from their caravan over the Winter? Is it necessary?
I would have thought a 24hr charge every month would be fine.
I ask because the caravan instruction book says remove when winterising, although it is German (Dethleffs) and the temperature in Germany is probably lower than UK.

[bristolracer]

I have just had a chat with my local dealer who suggested a solar panel to keep our camper one topped up.
Apparently its bad to let them fully discharge as they wont hold charge very well after, he said 50% was a minimum safe level.
Any battery will suffer if left in the cold, my old mini 1275 gt had its battery in the boot and i used to have take the battery out at night or it would not go in the morning!

[Watchman]

For a slightly different reason, I've just done some internet research into leisure batteries, as noted here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

What I gathered from all of that is that leisure batteries don't like:

1. Being discharged fully for long
2. Being discharged partially (50% or below) for extended periods
3. Being cold for long

All of the above can shorten their life however you can use them in the cold, fully discharging them, as long as neither the cold nor discharged-state continues for long.

[Kenty]

Thanks for that guys.
I will keep in situ and fully charged I think.