Schumacher SP1298 12V Automatic Battery Charger and 6A Maintainer

It's been impossible to find a suitable ground connection for my 2016 Chrysler T&C battery to recharge it, and it is definitely NOT recommended to use an 'ordinary' charger on the +/- terminals of the sealed battery, so I took a chance on this 'smart' charger which can not only be attached right to the battery itself, but even has accessories to use it to recharge/mantain a battery through the accessory socket in the car itself (I'm well old enough to still call it a cigarette lighter socket).So far, it has worked perfectly no only on the T&C, but my wife's 2008 Potiac G6 GT and our 2001 Dodge Dakota (which was always easy to ground) It charges the car and then automatically switches to a 'maintain' level when the battery is full. As others have noted, a power failure does require you reset the unit, but that's a very minor inconvenience to me in return for all its magical recharging abilities. I'm very impressed and very pleased so far.

I liked the ease of using it. This is the second one I have purchased. It is great to charge your riding lawnmower battery in the spring prior to the first use. During the winter the battery could drop to less than 50%. Charging it will give you many turns to get that 1st start of the season.

I like it is easy to bump charge my battery in cold weather.

4 star because: In one case, the battery on my car went flat after sitting for 4-5 weeks. I charged it with this charger. The charger did its job and showed 100%. However, even though it showed 100%, the battery couldn't turn the engine over. I still had to jump it with a portable, which i used this charger to charge. The battery is good because after a drive around town, I didn't have trouble with it again. Overall i like this charger. The charge % display is nice and it charges fairly quickly from like 40% to 100%. I don't know why it couldn't charge fully the first time though. I had it on charge for more than a day.

I like that the charger gives an estimate of how well charged the battery is from beginning to end. When battery is full charged, the charger switches down to maintenance power. The charger always starts in Lithium mode, so you must always change it to standard. It would be better if the charger started in whatever mode it was in when last used. That's a minor inconvenience though. Everything else about it pretty easy to use.

This is a really handy float charger as well as regular old battery charger. In plain language if you don’t drive your car much the battery can die but plug this in, hook it up, choose the right setting and this works well. Easy enough for an average person to figure out. Clamps are a little small but pass on necessary charge so no major issue there. I’d hook up any auto loving neglected battery with this any time. Go get it.

Outstanding Charger/Maintainer!!!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I choose only the Best Performance Products for my Custom Bagger. Schumacher is the Best I think. I have one that’s 10+ years old and still works flawlessly. So I upgraded to this model which is working Awesome!!! Very user friendly and the display tells you exactly what’s going on during Charging/Maintaining Cycle. Will highly recommend Schumacher Charger to anybody looking for Dependability and Performance. Thanks to Amazon also for Outstanding Customer Service!!! 👍👍👍👍👍

Update:They are still garbage. In the past year I replaced three batteries for two cars and a diesel tractor, just as routine maintenance.Oct. 24 / Battery #1. EverStart Maxx Lead Acid Automotive Battery, Group Size 51 12 Volt, 500 CCA - brought it home, put in my tractor, started right up, turned it off and put this schumacher "Intelligent" charger on it to maintain thru the winter. I literally bought the battery an hour before hand. Hooked up the charger and it says""'Charging Aborted - Bad Battery"". I got one of the other ones of this exact model because I have three of them. Same issue. Took my big old charger out, put a slam 10 A charge for 20 minutes, then put the Schumacher back on, it appeared to start charging by saying 'Charging 94%", came back an hour later, the charger was flashing red, said 'Charging Aborted - Bad Battery".Oct. 24/ Battery #2.0 - My Audi S*, my Audi S8 which I don't drive over the winter was recommended by the dealer for replacement being 5 years old, though had no issues starting etc. They replaced the battery at the dealer, etc. I paid my 650 dollars and away I went. As a test, I got home and put on this charger, and it basically said Charging 99%. Came out the next morning, it said, 'Charging Aborted - Bad Battery". I took the thing off my car and holding by the cables, I walked out to my driveway and repeatedly slammed it on the ground until the plastic broke apart some and then tossed it in the trash.Battery #3, was replaced last year by AAA's when my MDX let me sit. I don't drive it too often, maybe every week or two for errands with the pets going to the vet or pulling the trailer, or if it rains. I don't drive my S8 in the rain because, you know, other drivers. lol I put one of the non-smashed Schumacher chargers on the MDX and it said 'Charing 48%. The battery would only allow the car to go click click click when I turned the key. I cam back an hour later, the charger said charging, 65% and so I tried to start it and voila, it started right up. Unhooked the charger and ran my errands for about an hour drive either way. Came back home, put the Schumacher on to maintain, and it said charging, 95%, let it go until the next morning, and voila, 'Charging Aborted - Bad Battery" was displayed when I got the MDX. Unhooked it, started the mdx and let it run for about 10 minutes to give it a good top charge. packed the schumaker away and will use it for target practice at the firing range outside if they let me. Will video that if I remember.-----Thought these were good at first but... I have two batteries and two identical chargers, the batteries are fairly new, and the chargers show the below messages:CHARGE ABORTED-BAD BATTERY - The charger thinks the following:The battery is sulfated or the battery is too large for the charger. This happens within 30-45 seconds or so after it says "Charging", after it analyzes the battery. I have an Audi S8 Plus with a huge 850AH battery and my tractor has a smaller Grp 51 battery only 500 CCA. The Audi was at 67% when it started to charge and then it gave up, and the tractor was at 48% if I recall correctly. I have two of these chargers. I even tried swapping them. They give up. So I take my trusty old Manual charger and hook it up and just set it for 10 amps, come back in two hours, and hook the the chargers back up and both say, Charging 95% and 98%). So, I bought the best maintainers they have for my over-winter vehicles and they can't do what I bought them to do. Garbage. I will go back to the old battery charger plus models that don't have the 'super smart' technology. These were replacing them but I'll just toss these units in the trash. Practically brand new but way outside the return window.