Anyone interested in an AmazonBasics charger?

[y_p_w]

I can't find my old Schumacher 1.5 A battery maintainer. I have an older one without reverse polarity protection. I guess I could use it, but I'd prefer a new one. I was thinking about the 1 A NOCO GENIUS. Right now I'm using my Schumacher 3/12A charger which goes to the 3A maintain mode, but I'd prefer something with a little less for routine maintenance.


But I noticed this. Looks like it's Schumacher. The 800 mA one looks almost like the one (a 750 mA Schumacher SC1) I got my folks. However, that cost less than $12 at WM. I thought that Schumacher made some private label stuff for Sears.

Amazon.com

 

[Quattro Pete]

Yes, based on the comments in the reviews, these seem to be rebadged Schumachers.

Depending on your budget, $40 gets you this:

Amazon.com

Many BITOG members have been happy with this brand.

 

[fsdork]

It all depends on how well it performs. I have a few Motomaster (Canadian Tire house brand) chargers, and have had mixed results. I find that all too often, they seem to be pushing current to batteries that are charged, resulting in "boiling" electrolyte at the end of the charge cycle. And no, there isn't a desulphation program indicated. This includes a 2A battery maintainer. All of that to say, saving a few bucks on a charger isn't worth it to me if the charger may shorten the life of hundreds of dollars worth of batteries.

With that in mind, I just bought a Noco Genius 10. I've run it on multiple batteries, and it seems to be working much more reliably.

 

[y_p_w]

It all depends on how well it performs. I have a few Motomaster (Canadian Tire house brand) chargers, and have had mixed results. I find that all too often, they seem to be pushing current to batteries that are charged, resulting in "boiling" electrolyte at the end of the charge cycle. And no, there isn't a desulphation program indicated. This includes a 2A battery maintainer. All of that to say, saving a few bucks on a charger isn't worth it to me if the charger may shorten the life of hundreds of dollars worth of batteries.

With that in mind, I just bought a Noco Genius 10. I've run it on multiple batteries, and it seems to be working much more reliably.

I'm thinking of this one. The clamps are a little scary looking, but looks aren't everything. It supposedly has a manual force mode that may be useful in a battery that's so dead that the protection circuits won't start charging. I have a 1 A manual charger for that though. At 1 A it's not likely to damage anything. But I though the point was just to leave it for maybe an hour to force a charge, then use a more sophisticated charger to finish the charge.

Amazon.com

 

[fsdork]

I'm thinking of this one. The clamps are a little scary looking, but looks aren't everything. It supposedly has a manual force mode that may be useful in a battery that's so dead that the protection circuits won't start charging. I have a 1 A manual charger for that though. At 1 A it's not likely to damage anything. But I though the point was just to leave it for an hour tp force a charge, then use a more sophisticated charger.

Yes, I noticed that as an interesting feature. It might have saved a small trailer battery I tossed because none of my chargers would "see" it due to it being super dead.

One thing I noted in a few reviews of the Genius 10 was that the force mode times out after (I think, from memory) 10 minutes. Just pointing that out so you're aware that the force process might be a bit more manual than you anticipate. Also, will 1Ah raise the battery voltage enough for your other charger to take over? Finally, have a look at the sizing recommendations from NOCO. In my case, I needed to go to the 10 for it to be sized appropriately for the golf cart batteries I use on my travel trailer. I realize you're not planning to use the NOCO for volume charging, but something to consider.

 

[y_p_w]

Yes, I noticed that as an interesting feature. It might have saved a small trailer battery I tossed because none of my chargers would "see" it due to it being super dead.

One thing I noted in a few reviews of the Genius 10 was that the force mode times out after (I think, from memory) 10 minutes. Just pointing that out so you're aware that the force process might be a bit more manual than you anticipate. Also, will 1Ah raise the battery voltage enough for your other charger to take over? Finally, have a look at the sizing recommendations from NOCO. In my case, I needed to go to the 10 for it to be sized appropriately for the golf cart batteries I use on my travel trailer. I realize you're not planning to use the NOCO for volume charging, but something to consider.

I've had some of these chargers absolutely refuse to do anything until I used some sort of manual charger for an hour. I'm pretty sure 1A applied to a completely dead battery for an hour is going to do nothing.

My Schumacher 3/12A charger has a rather crude percentage indicator, but the display operates as a voltage meter when it's not charging. I could get it to charge if a dead battery was at about 9 V. But I've seen it a few times where it was at maybe 4 V and none of my smart chargers would begin to charge. The protection circuits would just shut if off once I tried to start a charge. But an hour of manual charging at a low current was usually enough.

That Schumacher 1A manual charger was kind of weird though. When I checked it unconnected, a multimeter said it was at about 17V, which would damage a battery if it were regulated to that voltage. But with a battery load was at about the 13V range. It must be designed around working with batteries and it won't be suitable as some random, well-regulated power source.

 

[Rand]

for 10more bux the solar charger looks alot more attractive than the noco. to me.

 

[RooflessVW]

I won't give Bezos another dollar, so no Amazon Basics for me.

Thankfully I have more chargers than I know what to do with.

 

[Pelican]

I have a CTek and it's great, the built quality inside is miles ahead of others.

 

[eljefino]

That Schumacher 1A manual charger was kind of weird though. When I checked it unconnected, a multimeter said it was at about 17V, which would damage a battery if it were regulated to that voltage. But with a battery load was at about the 13V range. It must be designed around working with batteries and it won't be suitable as some random, well-regulated power source.

Totally normal. Try this with any of your "wall warts" without a load on them, you'll get about 150% as you noted.

 

[y_p_w]

Totally normal. Try this with any of your "wall warts" without a load on them, you'll get about 150% as you noted.

I've tried checking the voltage on a typical wall wart of the kind that power a computer monitor or typical 12V device. I've got a bunch of 12V power adapters meant for small home/business electronics - rated from 1 to 4A output. The voltage tends to be solid regardless of the load (or lack thereof). But I think it's a very different requirement than charging a car battery.