 Solid Quality | | Review Date: September 14, 2007 | | Reviewer: Electronic Gadgetphile, St. Paul, MN | | 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. |
Great Battery Charger/Maintainer for your auto or SUV | | Review Date: February 15, 2007 | | Reviewer: Keith Johnson, Chicago, IL USA | | 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. |
Does it all and does it well | | Review Date: January 7, 2008 | | Reviewer: G. Lite, Phila. PA USA | | This is the second unit I have purchased. I had this hardwired in my 1983 Porsche for 10 years and it always kept my battery in top condition, I just bought a Ferrari and one of the first things I did was buy this and install it.This is a must have if you have a weekend only car. |
Pleased at last | | Review Date: November 22, 2007 | | Reviewer: M. M. Tipps, Cortez, CO United States | | This is the third device of this type of charger that I have purchased. I have several old cars that I drive very seldom and want to keep the batteries charged to prevent freezing & also want it to turn the engine over when I do want to drive it. This unit appears to be the first one that actually does what it claims. I'll buy a couple more of them. |
Schumacher Battery Maintainer | | Review Date: May 14, 2007 | | Reviewer: Bill from Peoria, | | I like the short 110 volt cord and the included 12 v cords. I have had one of these installed on my old M5 for 4 years and it keeps my battery and electronic dash alive. I just bought another one for my dad to use on his tractor. I think is the the best value for a unit to be installed on the car/truck/boat since I don't pay for hardware I don't use. When I have more uses, I'll get another. |
Great Product | | Review Date: November 20, 2007 | | Reviewer: C. Centers, | Up until I installed this unit I was having battery failure every year on my hardley used truck. I had to purchase a new battery every year and this was very costly. So far, since I installed this unit - no battery failures and more money in my pocket than the cost of this charger unit.
I am a very happy camper... |
Works great with heavy duty construction | | Review Date: December 6, 2009 | | Reviewer: Method2Madness, Hampton Roads, VA | I bought this to maintain a battery in a "farm truck" and it has worked perfectly for 2 years and still going strong. This is kept under the hood, with the power cable sticking out from the grille and is constantly subjected to moisture, extreme heat and dirt, and keeps on happily charging. Built extremely well.
Would definitely recommend for anyone looking for a cheap, maintenance(READ: Trickle) charger. It's definitely not going to jumpstart a dead battery, but it's not made to do so. |
Keeps the battery charged | | Review Date: November 6, 2008 | | Reviewer: Hila Monster, Seattle Metro/King County | Works as advertised. Easy installation. May need to change terminal lugs to work correctly (depends on your battery terminals (screw in or clamp down). Keeps my truck charged. This is my second install of this product and I am ordering a third for another vehicle that doesn't get run very often. Saves time on having to jump the vehicle or get out a battery charger and let it sit overnight.
Just remember to disconnect the power to the unit before starting the vehicle. |
It works | | Review Date: October 11, 2009 | | Reviewer: W. Jones, Oregon | | Am going on my second winter using this for my 85 Vette which will discharge a battery after 30 days. Problem solved - just go out and turn the key anytime - instant start (don't forget to unlug the unit as required). It mounted easily under the hood - no problem. Nice to have a product that does what is advertised! |
OK | | Review Date: April 16, 2009 | | Reviewer: A. Dominique, LA USA | | It charges batteries fine, but is very noisy (they usually are). The pictures are a bit misleading in that the battery leads are not removable as they are shown in the second picture. Be careful with this, I dropped mine from just a couple feet and it cracked the case all the way round. |
two-time buyer's thoughts | | Review Date: December 8, 2007 | | Reviewer: Justa guy, NJ, USA | | This is an excellent product for a car that receives sporadic use. It's intended to be mounted in the car (or, more frequently, boat), but can be mounted in the garage and run via jumper cables. I have one in a garage with jumper cable clamps and in another garage I'm using the manufacturer's battery temrinal conncetors with a quick release connector. Both required elementary modification to their wiring, but the resulting installations work perfectly. |
Schumacher SE-1-12S Automatic Onboard Battery Charger | | Review Date: December 21, 2007 | | Reviewer: B. Nikrad, Minneapolis, MN | | Excellent item. Works as advertised. Easy install in engine compartment. Bought one a few years ago for my motorcycle too. |
Battery Charger | | Review Date: December 27, 2007 | | Reviewer: Karla M. Parker, Wherever we park the K'Pod | | Shipped quickly, flawless transaction. Charger works great and is currently hooked up, but we will see if it really worked this spring when we put the battery back in our Airstream and start it up! |
Well Worth The Money | | Review Date: June 12, 2008 | | Reviewer: J. Hatfield, Knoxville, TN | This battery charger is everything it's suppose to be.
First time out it kept the battery charged and ready
for use.
What more can you ask for?
Dr James Hatfield |
Small but effective | | Review Date: June 29, 2008 | | Reviewer: D. Smith, | | I've been having difficulty with holding a charge on my '05 mini van. After suffering a regular need for jump starts, I bought one of those portable jumper boxes with enclosed battery and short cables. It did the job but having to routinely pop the hood became annoying. Then I saw this item and it sounded great. I mounted under the hood as per instructions, ran a short piece of extension cord out through the front grill, plug it in at night and unplug in the morning, and problem solved! |
Great battery maintainer | | Review Date: February 23, 2010 | | Reviewer: C. mccormick, | | I bought two of these for our scooters. They mounted right under the seat near the batteries. Now I just bring an extension cord to the scooter and plug them in. the lights tell you when they are charging and fully charged. |
Great little charger. Its been working great for my car. | | Review Date: March 8, 2010 | | Reviewer: Benny, Bay Area, CA | I had a dead battery in my weekend car twice, so that was it. Battery tender time. Since I have bought it, I only put it on the tender once a week, and it still works great. I have tested the battery with the tender on it w/ a volt meter, and it definitely has an auto shut off.
I would like if the wires were longer, both the plugin, and the output wires. I would also like an on off switch on the actual charger, but thats probably just me. Its a bit loud when charging, but then again, most auto batter chargers are.
I would buy it again or for another car, etc. |
very helpfull | | Review Date: March 28, 2010 | | Reviewer: Thomas Tarver, | | THE sCHUMACHER BATTERY CHARGER IS THE 3rd ONE I PURCHASED AND I REALLY DO LIKE THEM BECAUSE I PUT THEM ON THREE CLASSICS CARS I HAVE.I SOME TIMES DO NOT START THEM FOR ATE LEAST 3 TO 5 MONTHS;BUT WHEN I DO RUN THEM I HAVE NO PROBLEM STARTING THEM UP.THESE CHARGERS ARE VERY GOOD AND DEPENDABLE.I WOULS HAVE MORE IF I NEEDED THEM. |
onboard charger | | Review Date: May 14, 2010 | | Reviewer: cedar key, florida | | I was looking for a small onboard battery charger to trickle charge a small car, King Midget, that doesn't get driven enough to keep the battery completely charged. So far it's worked as advertised. It's small and light weight so I was able to attach it to the outside of the plastic case holding the battery. Unlike other reviews, I didn't mind the 6 inch AC cord as I didn't have to worry about a longer cord becoming undone and wrapping around the chain drive. |
Works Fine for me | | Review Date: May 15, 2010 | | Reviewer: Wirewrapped, | | I have a 1980 MGB Sports Car that is not driven in the winter. And it is only driven when it is top down weather. It's my toy. This trickle charger was easy to mount near the battery and has worked fine. Have rigged a permanent extension cord (heavy duty for weather protection of thick covering insulation) to just plug charger in when I leave car. |
exactly was ordered | | Review Date: July 5, 2010 | | Reviewer: Stanley A. Sylvain, Provincetown, MA | | i've used this product to keep the battery in the car charged while sitting idol for a period of time. This is just perfect and came in as promised. |
Gets the job done - but loud | | Review Date: January 17, 2008 | | Reviewer: Eugene A. Kozlenko, Boston, MA | I incorporated this charger into a portable PA system that I built out of an old floor speaker, a car amp, and a deep cycle battery. It really does a great job of charging the 17.2 Ah battery overnight and gives me enough juice to blast music nonstop for over 6 hours.
I only have two issues with using the charger for admittedly a purpose that it wasn't specifically designed for:
1. It is hella-loud when it's plugged in. Make sure that if you're using it project where it'll be operating indoors, that you have place to plug it in where it wont disturb anyone sleeping. It will out-humm any refrigerator.
2. The mounting bracket that it comes with is really convenient, but it does have a tendency to rattle a bit, since it's bolted down only on one side of the charger.
Otherwise, does what it should, and does it well. And the indicator light saves you the embarrassment of thinking your batteries are charged when in fact you had a loose contact or something. |
Vehicle in Storage | | Review Date: February 13, 2008 | | Reviewer: dj, Los Angeles, CA | | Works great for battery in vehicle used for recreation that's not used often. It's nice to know that it will start when you decide to use it. |
Battery Charger | | Review Date: January 7, 2008 | | Reviewer: Scooter, Pittsburgh, PA USA | | Schumacher SE-1-12S Fully Automatic Onboard Battery Charger - 1.5 Amps Used for emergency generator. No more overcharged or dead batteries. |
Quality unit, reasonable price. | | Review Date: December 11, 2007 | | Reviewer: John Locke, | 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. |
If you need this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you need | | Review Date: May 24, 2008 | | Reviewer: John Snell, Beaverton, OR USA | 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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A Note on the Lights | | Review Date: June 16, 2009 | | Reviewer: Matthew Schechter, San Francisco, California USA | | 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! |
Know this: NO 12 ft. cord!! | | Review Date: January 30, 2009 | | Reviewer: A. Wolf, | | I just installed this unit so don't have any long term experience with it. However, potential purchasers should know that there is no 12 ft. cord. Instead, the cord is closer to 8 inches. Another potential problem: make certain that there is enough room next to your battery for installation. Fortunately, I could squeeze this into the VW Eurovan engine compartment but not without removing the plastic faring over the battery area. I do wish the cord were 18 inches. |
Boat battery charger | | Review Date: December 26, 2007 | | Reviewer: Frank J. Bornhoffer, Cincinnati,Ohio | | Purchased for my son-in-law to install in his boat to maintain the boat battery while at dockside...Have one to maintain wife's car battery while away during winter months...This has performed well and has "alligator" type clamps for the battery terminals...The new model has circular terminal connectors that in this application are TOO LARGE for the boat's "accessory terminals"...We will have to modify the connectors to properly fit this batteries terminals...Have no doubts when the modification is complete the unit should perform as the manufacture states. |
Great charger | | Review Date: March 26, 2009 | | Reviewer: Charles M. Pitts, | | This charger works great, I installed it on my boat batteries and they stay maintained. Every time I take it out on the water I dont have to worry about running out of juice. |
A good charger at its price | | Review Date: June 8, 2009 | | Reviewer: Kelly Liu, Boston, MA | | We used a lot of this kind of charger for our equipments. The price is good. The price went up a little from what I bought though. |
automatic battery Charger | | Review Date: October 1, 2009 | | Reviewer: newt, | | This the second unit I have purchased for installation on my vehicles. The battery monitor continually charges the battery when needed and you avoid the difficulty of coming out to start your vehicle after sitting for a week or two and finding out the battery has gone dead due to it sitting for an extended amount of time. It is very easy to install and the plug allows you to have it ready to be energized when the vehicle is parked with access to an extension cord and electricity. |
WORKS GREAT, BUT | | Review Date: March 9, 2010 | | Reviewer: Jack R. Harrington, | | The charger works great. It is small & permanently connected to car - just plug in an electrical cord. BUT the cords that connect to battery are too short. There was no space within the cord length. Had to put on my own cords. |
Se-1-12S float charger | | Review Date: February 8, 2010 | | Reviewer: A. Bundley, | | I've used this unit for about a month with pretty good results. Does keep the battery up, although the cranking power is a little low in extreme cold. But it does start everytime. I use it on a compact utility tractor that is outside covered only by a tarp. |
Be aware - does not include quick connect plug | | Review Date: December 10, 2007 | | Reviewer: B. Kibler, Boston, MA USA | | Although the picture (from Electronic Gadgetphile, read his review) shows a quick disconnect plug, it's not part of the package. If you intend to use this charger with a late model motorcycle's built-in battery plug, get one of the Deltran chargers instead, which come with a quick disconnect plug as the default wiring method. |
Where's the 12ft. power cord that's supposed to be included? | | Review Date: November 17, 2008 | | Reviewer: R. Cartagena, Corona, CA USA | | Although this charger works as descibed, it does not come with the 12ft. power cord listed in the specifications. It should probably be listed with a 12" power cord. It is also very noisy for its size, hopefully that's normal? It does keep my BMW 740IL charged when it sit's for weeks at a time. That's impressive considering how BMW's are notorious for eating batteries when they sit! |
schumacher battery charger | | Review Date: June 14, 2008 | | Reviewer: Capital One, raceland , la usa | | i purchased this charger for my boat motor,because my battery usually goes dead from not using it enough. my boat already has one on my trolling motor battery. i am not sure of the brand name, but it is compact,and very quiet. the schumacher charger is noisy,and i mounted it with the brackets recomended to use. the problem with this is the plastic on the charger has already cracked using there required brackets. i would deffinately recomend shopping for a more compact,and quiter charger. |
No 12 ft. power cord! | | Review Date: February 9, 2008 | | Reviewer: James Clarke, Palm Beach, FL | | The product description indicates that this product comes with a 12 ft. power cord which is why I opted for this model. Alas, I am now stuck with a 6 inch power cord. |
Schumacher battery charger | | Review Date: September 21, 2009 | | Reviewer: Will Berninger Whitewater Aviation Inc., Ohio | I purchased 3 of these units and two of them went bad within a year. I use them to maintain small tractor batteries.
I have another unit offered by this company that is not sealed that one seems to work well. |
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