 Best Charger I have ever used | | Review Date: March 29, 2007 | | Reviewer: Jack of All Trades, Dalton, MA USA | | I have been using this charger for about 2 years now and it has never given me any trouble. It will charge any battery i will try it on and once it completes the charge, it monitors the battery level. I would recommend this charger to anyone. |
GREAT FOR THE MONEY | | Review Date: May 12, 2009 | | Reviewer: JC, NY, USA | Schumacher Charger
GREAT FOR THE MONEY
For recharging my big 29 size deep cycle marine battery for my trolling motor, this charger was the best of 3 chargers that I tested. This higher voltage around 15.9 does a better job says Interstate Battery manufacturer (one of the biggest manufacturers). After I got a long life of 10 years from my last battery, I say that higher voltage turbulates the electrolite (boils) and stirs up the sulfates off the bottom. It prevents accumulation at the bottom of the cell causing a premature dead cell ruining the battery. This charger was the only 3 stage automatic that charged my battery to it's full capacity of 1300 specific gravity. The other chargers I tested (one even made by the trolling motor company it self) only charged it about 80% at 1265 specific gravity so it was down to 3 of 4 bars on my motor out on the water in just 15 minutes insted of 1 hour. Chargers that only partially charge defeats the hours I can fish and shortens the life of the battery down to only 4 to 5 years. After 30 years of buying batteries and chargers I try to get the better quality at a fair price. I went with the famous name brand Schumacher charger and a genuine Interstate deep cycle battery to get trouble free performance and longer life for my money. I leave it on a $10 high amperage Air conditioner timer for 1/2 hour a day. |
AZCamera | | Review Date: November 28, 2008 | | Reviewer: AZ Video, Tempe, AZ | I think this charger is great. I use it to keep my Harley battery hot and conditioned. The battery I use it on is an ODYSSEY sealed battery. I also use it on a maintenance free battery in my car. It works great on keeping the batteries peaked up. When you plug it in you know it is running by the sound of the 2 cooling fans. Why complain about the fans? It is a charger and it is in the garage, who cares what it sounds like?
I paid 25 dollars and change with shipping on the Speedcharge1200A from a vendor on Amazon. It was NEW, great deal. Wal-Mart sells it for 44 dollars and change. ODYSSEY has a charger that looks exactly like this and sells for a lot more $$$. The only difference is that the ODYSSEY is tweaked and has a better algorithm in its circuitry as well as a little different packaging.
All in all, a good product. I would recommend it
Schumacher SC-1200A SpeedCharge 12/8/2 Amp Charger / Maintainer / TesterSchumacher SC-1200A SpeedCharge 12/8/2 Amp Charger/Maintainer/Starter/Tester |
Great Little Charger | | Review Date: August 31, 2008 | | Reviewer: Keith B. Caruso, Reno NV | | It was time to replace the older charger with a more modern one this is the one to buy 1/2 the weight and very fast and everything fits inside and the handle pops up very handy used it about 10 times already and charges everything |
Good product | | Review Date: August 1, 2009 | | Reviewer: Larry Nicholson, | | I expect a good product from Schumacher, and I was not disappointed. What is really nice is how light this unit is and how well it works. It is truly an advancement over prior years |
schumacher sc 1200a | | Review Date: October 8, 2009 | | Reviewer: THE GREEN, san francisco | | have used this charger on my cars: my rv deep cycle batteries and also my motorcycles works great!!! |
Useful car battery charger. | | Review Date: June 2, 2010 | | Reviewer: Mark Jones, Portland, TN | | I bought this product on recommendation from a website I belong to for car enthusiasts with the same type vehicle. I store my car over the winter, and generally the battery has run dead for 2 seasons now. So I purchased this to head it off. The unit desulfurized the battery and then charged it. In about 3 days (charging 6 hours per day on average) my car was up and running, No more battery replacements, very easy to use and affordable. Highly recommend. |
great charger! | | Review Date: October 7, 2009 | | Reviewer: SunShine, olympic peninsula | a friend let me use his charger, which was the same model as the one i later bought thru amazon. i liked it and asked him where he got it and he said "walmart". well, walmart didn't carry it, it only carried models lower on the totem pole, and not very cheap, either.
so i googled the make and model and found one on amazon. when i went to the "used" chargers, i found my schumacher, that sells for $82 new, for $22+. $28 total, and 6 days later, i have a great charger and when i first opened the box, i found the original box was supplied, and the charger inside was pristine. it also contained the manual. i'm happy!
sunshine (in washington) |
I love this | | Review Date: January 22, 2008 | | Reviewer: C. Williams, North Carolina United States | | I just got married, left home needed tools, saw this in wal-mart and pick it up. Gald I did my car battery died tested it with the on borad tester and charged it up I was happy. My alternator went out tested it with the on borad tester it was weak so I replaced it, Again very happy. My wife now of a few happy years and a son latter was on our way out the door to the mini van and it would not crank, got the changer out test it. it was dead changed it in about 5 mins. the speed/charger saved the day once agin.( A HINT for those other guys just like myself hook it up to the battery first then plug it in it will work and work great it does ). |
Shumacher SC-1200A SppedCharge 12/8/2 | | Review Date: June 22, 2009 | | Reviewer: Peter R. Carrier, | | Product was in excellent condition, just a damaged box. Problem is I couldn't tell if it charged batteries properly. I had 10 12V 8A batteries that I didn't know the condition of and it didn't charge any of them. I am still waiting to charge a battery I know is re-chargeable so that I can tell if the charge works properly. |
Great all around charger | | Review Date: March 14, 2010 | | Reviewer: K. M. Sutton Sr., | | Got this to charge kids ridable cars. Use for Rv, Truck & cars. Does Great Job. |
this a great charger | | Review Date: March 27, 2010 | | Reviewer: Debbie Absher, Richlands, VA USA | I got this charger for my husban for his brithday and
i am here to says he loves it. said it was the faster charger he has ever seen we camp a lot and this will be very handy. greatttttt product |
Exceeded expectation for the price | | Review Date: March 9, 2010 | | Reviewer: Aodhhan, Washington, DC | | Forgetting to remove the negative connector before storing my vehicle for the winter; the internal sytems and alarm drained the battery, and of course it was sulfated. This unit worked like a charm. The battery was down to 8 volts/15%. The SC-1200a properly began to charge, then desulfate, and slowly was able to get the battery back to 98% before I removed it to start the car. This took approximately 17 hours (700 CCA Battery), which isn't bad for a dead/sulfated battery using a charger costing less than $50. The plus is you can use it to maintain your battery on a vehicle you do not drive much. Keeping your battery charged above 98% can greatly extend the life. How long it will the charger last running 24/7? ...I do not know yet. I have only had it maintaining the battery for 3 weeks, but still no problems. It does have a cooling fan which probably should be cleaned/vacuumed occaisionally; and I've never felt the unit being hot to touch. Not sure what problem the first reveiwer had, or if the unit he had was defective or dropped before he purchased it. For a $50 charger which maintains and also desulfates a battery, you cannot beat it. |
Good Product | | Review Date: November 2, 2008 | | Reviewer: Nunzio Lastella, | | It Charges the battery really fast when you need it. The only problem with it it's a noise it makes when charging. |
This is not a 120/40/15/2 Amp Charger, it's only 12/8/2 Amps | | Review Date: May 17, 2008 | | Reviewer: Mike Shirley, Costa Mesa, CA United States | This is not what Amazon is thinks it is. They have confused the SC-12000A Schumacher Speedcharge Battery Charger, Model# SC-12000A
which is no longer available and substantially a more powerful unit.
This listing (this one above, SC-1200A) has the correct picture and model number, but the descriptive text in the title and details touts the specs of the the 12000, not the 1200.
I sent it back today once I saw that it was the less powerful charger. I missed the Gold Box this week because I saw this unit and thought it was the better unit. I went out today and bought locally as I can't wait for an alternate item to ship.
One of the earlier reviews (4-12-2007) alludes to this issue but it appears this was not Amazon's mistake. A model number with a single zero difference enables confusion all the way around. |
charge review | | Review Date: May 29, 2009 | | Reviewer: Mike Keilman, Illinois | | This charger is electronic. For charging batteries it works fine. As a 12vdc power supply it will not work. You cannot connect anything to it other than a battery. A headlamp or a backup sump pump, or any other 12vdc appliance will not work with this unit. Just so you know.Schumacher SSC-1000A Automatic Speed Battery Charger |
Gary Hoyt | | Review Date: February 8, 2007 | | Reviewer: Gary Hoyt, Boulevard, CA United States | Two out of two went back to WalMart $(42.77/2005)
I bought Schmacher because the present charger that I have owned since the 1970's is a Schmacher and still operational. IT has been a supurb product BUT this newer breed of Schmacher chargers seems to leave allot to be desired. |
Stay away from this charger! | | Review Date: October 11, 2007 | | Reviewer: real review, | | Stay far, far, far, away from this charger. I walked away from tested, good, low charge battery being charged on the 8amp setting connected to a 750CCA regular car battery and when I came back a couple hours later it was boiling and still trying to charge! I checked the charge voltage and it was at 16 volts (measured with a Fluke meter)! Bad, very bad, charger and not automatic or smart at all. |
Yep, Dumb Charger | | Review Date: October 3, 2006 | | Reviewer: K. Elhardt, Cary, NC USA | I was hoping to find the Schumacher model 7000A 2/20 Amp charger to review, but this 1200A is just a variation on the same thing. Looks identical too. After reading bad reviews of Schumacher and Vector it's clear these companies can't do anything right. Seems any product that has a microprocessor is programmed by the incompetent. Let me tell you about Schumacher speed chargers.
They won't charge batteries that don't already have a significant charge. If your battery drops below 10 to 11 volts, forget it. You'd have to have a manual battery charger as backup for when this won't charge, which eliminates the need for this thing in the first place. The explanation from the company is that the charger has to feed off the voltage in the battery, blah, blah. The purpose of a battery charger is to charge batteries, period. Then I was lied to by the tech and told if I hold down a certain combination of buttons when plugging the unit in, it would go into manual 2A mode (where the processor doesn't decide it won't charge your battery), but I sat there on the phone with him doing just as he said, and turns out no such feature exists. The manual doesn't mention anything like that either.
The charger is totally unpredictable. It almost always goes into desulfate mode. It has never completed a charge after coming out of desulfate mode, but ends in an error. Needs to be unplugged and plugged back in to start charging again to "completion". However completion doesn't seem to get the battery to 100% power, more like 80%, if that. Sometimes it won't charge at 20A and drops down to 2A. Don't know why. And according to the manual, desulfate mode can take up to 10 hours. So much for speed charge. Need to get into your car and go somewhere? Well you may need to wait until the next day.
It has a retain mode where the charger can sit there and monitor your battery and charge when needed. Figured I'd just leave the thing on my car almost permanently. But those who programmed the thing don't understand setting upper and lower thresholds. What it should do is charge up to the upper threshold, then when the battery drops below the lower, it charges to the upper again. I therefore expected it to turn on once a day or whatever. Instead it's turning on and off every several seconds, with the fan and relay clicking on and off. That's a good way to ware out the unit in no time.
It has a 70A engine start feature just incase you don't have enough juice to quite start your car, but if the battery is low enough where the charger won't charge it, the engine start feature won't work either.
My last car battery was probably only 1.5 years old before it wouldn't even take a charge. I'm beginning to suspect the damn charger might be responsible. When going into desulfate mode for instance, I see the voltage climb up to well over 16 volts. I don't know if that's good for the battery.
The simple act of charging a battery can be turned into a stressful nightmare with this crappy charger. Stay far away from Schumacher. It's clear they can't build a realiable charger, nor does it appear they've actually tried out their own products before dumping them onto the public.
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'Dumb' charger | | Review Date: June 1, 2006 | | Reviewer: W. Sandifer, Washington, NC | | I bought the charger on closeout at Walmart for $41. The 'smart' function apparently goes to sleep after the battery charge is complete. I watched the voltage indication on the charger drop below 12, and it never resumed charging. After unplugging/plugging back in, the charger got 'smart' and showed my battery was down to 80 percent. It took 5 hours to bring it back to 100 percent. The same thing happened on the second cycle (deep cycle boat battery). Last time around, the charger aborted and had to be plugged/unplugged several times to finish the charge. I emailed Schumacher for help and got no reply. This is my second defective out-of-the-box Schumacher charger in a row. This one is going back just as the first one did. If I had left the boat for long, the battery would have run down, and the bilge pump would have quit -- not good on a wooden boat. Buy a real charger. |
stay far far away | | Review Date: October 21, 2008 | | Reviewer: B. timko, Florida | | Have used this charger for A year to charge my boat batteries. Never completes A cycle without having to un-plug and restart. Charged battery overnite, and found battery was boiling. Had to replace. Bought new model(walmart) and returned old in same box, and still having same problems.My life depends on dependable power offshore. This charger is garbage, going to sell at fleamarket and get real operational charger. |
charger | | Review Date: April 13, 2007 | | Reviewer: Roy K. Duve, | | charger is ok but the number of charger is too close to the 12000a. Wanted 12000a got 1200a. Pay attention, seller home & beyond are not customer friendly. |
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