I am fortunate enough to maintain two houses one in the mid-West for the summer and a second one in the Palm Springs area for the winter. Rather than drive 1500 miles each way I have a couple of cars in each location so each set will sit idle for six months of the year which means I usually have two dead batteries when I arrive for the season. I tried a cheaper brand of trickle charger in the desert last year and it worked but I was afraid that if it burned out I would still return to dead batteries. I really like the quality of the Schumacher products having two of their multifunction battery chargers that have worked well for over 10 years. When I saw that they offered high quality trickle chargers I bought two of them to make the switch to worry free charging. The chargers are well built and heavy for their size and the build quality is typical Schumacher. The chargers are intended to be installed in the engine compartment with battery connections that are permanently connected to the charger and for power a short plug comes out of the side of the unit and is easily connected to a grounded extension cord. I really didn't want to install these under the hood even though they supply the mounting brackets and screws required but I did like the idea of the permanent connection to the battery as opposed to a clamp which could fall off in the middle of the season and leave me with a dead battery. Remembering how the chargers connected in the Power Wheels toys my sons had several years ago, I was able to find polarity keyed plug connectors in the trailer wiring section of the local auto parts store and now have a short pigtail permanently connected to the battery and the ability to plug and unplug it into the charger when I want. Now I have the best of all worlds, the security of a solid connection to the battery and the flexibility of being able to plug and unplug the charger with ease. I like this a lot.
I installed this in one of my SUV's that is not driven for weeks at a time.
The Schumacher unit keeps a perfect charge and does not overheat or dry out the battery. The clock, radio, and GPS settings are all preserved and the charger does not seem to draw much power when the battery is charged. I am very satisfied with the operation of the unit.
The installation was a breeze with the included hardware and the instructions were clear and easy.
I do have two small complaints, however:
(1) The battery lugs were way too big for my vehicle and all other cars that I checked.
(2) The AC plug is too short to run anywhere. I wanted the plug to reach to just outside the vehicle's grill, so that the unit could be plugged in without opening the hood. I had to install an extra extension cord for that purpose.
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Good product. 4 stars b/c the manual is misleading. There is a table that tells you what the lights mean, but it is hard to understand. I'll translate: If top light is green and bottom if off, the battery is charging. If the top light is green and the bottom light is red, you battery is charged. If the top light is off, then the unit isn't getting power from the wall. Funny how this crucial info is so messed up in the instructions. Happy charging!
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I had a problem. A very bad car accident left me partially disabled. So these days I do very little driving. Just getting to and from the store and that's about it.
The problem I had is that I seldom drove long enough or far enough to fully charge my car battery, and on more than one occasion I'd get in it to go somewhere and the battery would be dead.
I've used a number of trickle chargers in the past. But there's the problem of digging them out and unhooking them when the battery is ready.
This charger, however, has been perfect for me and my situation. It's mounted permanently under the hood so I always know where it is. It charges the battery fully then shuts itself off. I can leave it plugged in for weeks and it shuts itself off automatically. When I'm ready to use the car, I unplug it and go. When I park the car in the garage for what always turns out to be extended periods, I plug it in and on my next trip the battery has a full charge. My days of getting into the car only to discover the battery died are over.
If your situation is similar, or if you own a vehicle that only gets occasional use, like a truck for errands or an RV, this could be the thing for you.
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Works great to keep your battery topped off on cold winter nights, and for days of long storage. Instead of dragging out your conventional charger and cables, then putting everything away when finished! Just mount this small unit under your hood, plug in a small AC extension cord, and close the hood. (not affecting alarm operation). It can charge a dead battery (not recommended) but it can take 24 to 36 hours.
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When I ordered this hybrid controller I ordered it to furnish "automatic" charging for my homemade solar and wind power setup.
