Schumacher Electric Car Battery Charger and Maintainer SC1280 4-in-1, 15 Amp, Fully Automatic for 6v and12v Automobile Batteries - Ideal for Motorcycles, Cars, Trucks, SUVs, Marine Batteries, and More

My car battery was new, but completely dead. I left an interior light on! I put this charger on, in less than 45min. fully charged!I like the display, easy to use and understand.

The Schumacher 1280 is an automotive battery charger, but it is also much more.First, like most battery chargers in the $50-100 range, it allows you to charge your battery at 2 "speeds": the first, at 3 amp, is intended as a traditional "trickle charger," one that can be used to keep your battery in optimal condition and thereby extend its life and reliability. I live in a cold climate (Minneapolis) and tend to use my car only to get around town, sometimes not using the car at all on some days. This combination means my car doesn't get the sort of highway miles to keep the battery fully charged month after month, and the demands of getting it to crank up on subzero mornings is demanding. Buying this charger is bringing me peace of mind and will be financially rewarding over the long haul.Second, my Schumacher has allowed me to get my recently drained battery up and running in impressively short time. I bought it largely for this purpose--after I drained a 4-year twice this summer, replaced it, and then did the same recently with the new one. In its 15 amp mode, my Schumacher successfully desulfinated my current battery (i.e. a necessary first step to clean up the crap that accumulates inside a battery) and then charged it fully in about 6 hours. I had read that this process might well take 24-48 hrs. if done with a lower-amp charger, or might involve leaving a car overnight at a shop if I'd done it there.Most importantly, though, my Schumacher did this while giving me detailed information that let me follow the process and let me an important bit of information about the state of my battery once it was fully recharged. Its well lit LED display tells you when it begins the desalination process, the % charged as it does its thing, and the final voltage of the battery once it's done. The first two of these eliminate the guessing you'd experience with comparably priced charger. (On others you plug it in. . . and blindly wait). The voltage at the end of the process gives a good assessment of the state of the charged battery. In optimal condition, a battery should have 12.6-12.8 volts (mine was 12.6!); if its losing its abilities as a battery, it will have 12.0 volts or less. In a nutshell it tells you what to expect from your battery going forward.Going forward I'm planning to keep track of how my battery's charge and voltage change over time. For me, I'm hoping the pattern will provide clues whether something beyond my forgetfulness with inside lights has been at play.)The display also tells you if it can't successfully complete the desulfation process, in which case you'll know your battery is a goner; if you improperly hooked up the charging cables; when it's completed charging and successfully shifted to standby mode, thereby assuring you its not overcharged your battery; and more. The whole process more or less proceeds seamlessly. You simply turn the charger on (or wait for it to come on automatically after 30 seconds), choose the amperage (3 amps or 15 amps), and indicate the type of battery you own (most of us own standard wet cell batteries with fill-up ports on the top; this isn't hard to figure out).I should also note that I chose the Schumacher 1280 only after going online and looking at a couple of websites that I knew and trusted (Car and Driver; CNET). Both spoke glowingly about Schumacher's reputation and the advanced-for-its price range features that its 1280 and near sib 1281 offer in their price ranges.

I have had to use twice already. It has done the job very well. It is light weight yet durable. It is easy to setup and use... it actually does everything for you

It is a decent charger but I wish that i had paid more attention to the product specs instead of price and ship time (I was desperate at the time) it does what it claims and is a good value. my only complaint ALL ON ME BTW is that it is only a charger. No jump start function.

Will charge and maintain a good battery. The maintain function works well. Will stay charging over winter in maintenance mode.

The car battery for my 2016 Honda Fit had recently started going dead from being unused for months at a time. Got some other charging device that worked for a while, just pumping juice back into it at the rare need. However, that solution eventually stopped working. The battery had "gone bad" and would no longer start despite being charged.Did a bunch of homework on the subject which eventually led me to this Schumacher charger and the whole "Desulfication" battery repair function that it advertises; there's a subject worth googling.Plugged it in and let it sit. In a few hours it had finished "charging" and automatically detected the battery's woes and set itself to "Desulfication" mode. Instructions said this would take 8 - 10 hours and I let it sit overnight. Of note, while it does this, the battery was sort of cooking in its own juices, getting hot, making little hissing noises and emitting nasty odors from the tiny vent holes in the top of the car battery. While slightly alarmed, I checked it several times, saw no harm come of it and concluded that this is what it is supposed to do. Next morning, the device had automatically stopped and had set itself to maintain charge mode. Unplugged it all then started the car without issue.This $45 device saved me the cost of summoning car repair and getting a new battery. I am exceedingly pleased. Of note is the great ease of use. The only actions I had to take is attach the clips, select the "Standard" battery type (directions say this for car/motorcycle batteries) and hit "Start". Everything else was automatic, it's pretty idiot proof. Instructions mention that if it cannot do anything to fix your battery, it will tell you.I happily recommend this charger to anyone with long idle cars that have battery issues.

This is an affordable, easy to use battery charger with a jump start feature. Both options work well. I mainly use the 3 amp trickle charge. The jump starter works well too if you need it. Good brand. I have had several and they last a long time.

This charger was easy to use and worked perfectly. My truck doesn't get used much in the winter and the battery was dead this spring. When I put this charger on it, it read 19% charged and started charging. Within 15 minutes, the bad battery light came on and the charger automatically when in to repair mode showing SUL for Desulfurization. The directions said this could take 8-10 hours so I left it on overnight. When I checked it in the morning it showed that the battery was at 100% and there was a green light for fully charged. Worked great!