I inadvertently left a dome light on for 3-4 days.

The batteries were very low and provided about two rotations before completely stopping.
I put a charger on last night and all seems fine.

These are traditional batteries; does running them down and re-charging cause a big concern w/ the life expectancy?

I need to check the date code, I'm unsure of the age.

Is it time to be pro-active and buy new batteries?
Or, assuming no other problems, just charge them and keep on truckin'? Seems to start just fine right now.

On a side note: I need to get a new charger.
Any thoughts on this Vector from Northern Tool?
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...2555_200322555

 

It is hard on conventional batteries to full discharge them, but I would just keep using them until you see signs of problems. No need to replace something if it is working well.

The slower you charge a battery the better it is.

 

Yup! It's real hard on a car battery..
On my wife's previous minivan, the dome light would frequently get left on and I'd get a ph call saying "the van won't start!".
I'd get home and find the dome light, or one or more of the reading lights were left on and the battery would be ZIPPO!... Not even breathing!
That is really hard on batteries to be taken down to absolutely nothing by a light load.. It converts ALL the available electrolyte and active lead into juice and when that's gone, there's no "recovery minutes" left...
Every time this would happen, I could usually count on having to replace the battery within a couple of months or so of that deep discharge.
Like Geico said, if possible, charge it slowly... Especially from the initial charge from completely dead. Maybe you'll be lucky and recover it to last another season.

K.