Battery over winter storage??

[rschap1]

I just posted/commented on another thread about my 10 month old Interstate battery turning to junk over winter storage.
I assumed all the memory, back ups, and "background" electronics were draining the battery slightly when stored.
Started and ran truck for about 15 minutes every two or three weeks, but by spring it would not take a charge.
Returned under warranty, BUT...
(here's my question)
My other older vehicles, I usually unhook a cable and let the clock and radio presets go back to default.
Would a Gen 1 have enough going on to drain a battery every three weeks in winter?
I didn't want to mess too much up unhooking and hooking battery back up over the storage season.
Should I???
Anyone else have thoughts?
Just a bad battery, or does leaving it hooked up cause trouble?

TIA

 

[RdR2027]

My 23 801a sat for 4 months in my garage with a trickle charger on it. Had a buddy stop by once a month to start it. No issues whatsoever so far.

 

[downforce137]

battery tender is the simple answer if theres a electricity nearby..

 

[Braaaaptor]

I travel often for work and leave my truck sitting for 1-2 weeks at a time. Like @downforce137 mentioned, get yourself a battery tender. Super easy to hook up and you won't have to deal with a drained battery anymore.

 

[Guardrail]

I've ran interstate batteries for a long time. It seems like they don't last as long as they used to. I used to get 5 years out of them. I'm the opposite of the OP. I run my truck all winter and it sits a lot during the summer. It seems lately that after about two years the Interstate batteries start to crank slower. My load tester verifies the cold cranking amps dropping. My battery is a little over a year old now. I just replaced my starter and battery cables. We'll see what happens in the fall. If it's losing CCA's, I'm just going to spend the money for a Motorcraft battery. I used to get about 7 years out of them.

 

[mprice1234]

Starting the truck every few weeks or so and letting it run for a bit really does little to charge the battery. The best thing is a battery maintainer for long term storage. I have my wife's Jeep on a battery maintainer daily because she has the auto start/stop feature and does a lot of short in town driving. It drains the battery from all the start/stop with not enough run time to recharge the battery.