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  #1  
Old 10-11-2015, 05:49 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Avra Valley, Arizona
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shopping for a battery charger

Hi all,
I seem to find myself in the market for a battery charger about every other year nowadays, and am wondering if there are still battery chargers available that are built to the same standards as they were "in the good old days".
I've been looking at various chargers online for a few weeks now, checking reviews on Amazon, and nearly every single product out there has a multitude of negative reviews regarding its longevity and overall durability. Almost everything out of China these days is built to fail within 6 months or 6 uses, whichever comes first.

I would like to have a 2-5-15-50 amp charger with at least a 50 to 80 amp start function. Seems like everything made by Schuemacher these days has horrible longevity and low quality components, compared to how they used to be built when they were USA made. Many other companies use the same Chinese manufacturer(s) to private label their products, but inside is all the same crappy components like a PC board with shoddy soldered connections that crack or warp, and a fan that disintegrates with months, casing the charger to overheat and permanently disabling it.

Have any of you forum members bought a battery charger recently that you were actually impressed with? If so I would really like to hear your opinions and recommendations of what to buy and what to avoid.

Thanks in advance!

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Old 10-11-2015, 09:00 PM
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Wonder if you could find an old Sears charger? I have had mine for 40 years now and it still works great. That instead of buying new.
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  #3  
Old 02-09-2016, 06:15 PM
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I still pickup one or two each year at yard sales. Around a dollar or so. You expect them not to be working and they usually are not.

Usually a very easy internal fix. Then I just give them away. Not many heavy units like you mention out there for me to grab. I never seem to find them.

It is almost the same fault on all the Chinese chargers in the under 100 dollar range here. Actually they are a rip off for what they are mind the reliability factor. Built to fail is not an unreasonable expectation. They could be made much better for pennies at the manufacturing end.

My best charger has got to be 50-60 years old and besides upgrading the rectifiers and showing the handling wear over the years is as good as new. Even the current is totally adjustable. Has both voltage and current meters..
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Old 02-10-2016, 12:43 AM
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Schuemacher usually offers a 5 year warranty on their product. Why not have them send you a new one?
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Old 02-16-2016, 09:08 PM
jmk jmk is offline
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Location: Cleveland, OH
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I would love a good charger too.

140 batteries are big, and I usually have to take it to the shop to get the battery charged.
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  #6  
Old 06-23-2016, 02:03 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Boulder, CO
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I love my CTEK charger, I've used it for reconditioning dead batteries and maintaining my motorcycle battery in the winter.

Definitely recommend these.

CTEK Battery Chargers - The World's Smarter Battery Charger
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Old 09-26-2016, 09:21 PM
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I've had a $50 Schumacher 2/10/50 charger for a number of years now that gets used/abused fairly often. Its been rained on, snowed on, dragged around the block & filled with gravel and still works great even though the cover is currently just taped to the housing.
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Old 09-27-2016, 12:51 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Quahog View Post
I've had a $50 Schumacher 2/10/50 charger for a number of years now that gets used/abused fairly often. Its been rained on, snowed on, dragged around the block & filled with gravel and still works great even though the cover is currently just taped to the housing.
I have three of them in various locations. The version I have also tells percentage of charge. Terrific!

I have also bought a charger / desulfator and it works very well!

Battery chargers are important to me. I also have two large ones at 24V and another at 36V for the fork lifts.

And I have an OLD Sears 6v 9V 18V made about 1939, that still works although I have replaced the cords. It's a cool one.
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  #9  
Old 01-01-2017, 07:07 PM
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I have given up on finding charges that last. Harbor Freight for me. Watch for coupons and get a 50/20/2 amp charger for $29.95.

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