Why can i not slow charge a lead acid battery?

calvingloster:
So can I use two LM317 voltage regulators to do this? One will limit current and one will limit voltage? All in one circuit?

Actually, it is easier than that if your charger does not need to have the same negative rail as the battery, you only need one regulator.

You put a resistor calculated to drop 0.65V at the current limit, in series with the negative of the battery, and connect an NPN transistor with a 1k series base resistor, across this resistor, its collector going to Vref on the LM317. This transistor switches on as the current comes up to the calculated value, and pulls down the regulated voltage.