Schumacher Battery Charger Reviews

Imagine you’re on a lonesome road and the battery of your car gives up – spooky, right? Such situation can be frustrating especially if there’s no automobile shop nearby.

If you are scared of being in such a situation, there’s a simple solution – an automatic battery charger. When you have a portable automatic battery charger by your side, you can breathe a sigh of relief and get your battery charged without any trouble.

The beauty of a portable battery charger is in its ability to revive a dead battery in a state of emergency.

There are tonnes of such chargers available out there, but you need to be careful when picking one.

It is important to consider a few key aspects before purchasing a battery charger for your vehicle. These include charging speed, charger lifespan, automation, safety features, precision, portability, ease of use, and most importantly, a device that is compatible with cars, motorcycles and other vehicles.

Considering these factors, there are two battery chargers that pack quite a punch. These are the Schumacher SC-1200A-CA Automatic Battery Charger and Schumacher SC-600A-CA Automatic Battery Charger.

Both of these automatic battery chargers offer:

• Easy to use control switches.
• LED indicators to display charging status of the battery.
• Long battery life.
• Auto adjustment settings as per battery type.
• Ability to charges 6V and 12V batteries.
• Overcharging protection.

This is not it! There’s a whole lot more to know about these automatic battery chargers. Keep reading to learn more about how it can benefit you at the time of need.

Compatible With A Variety Of Battery Types

It goes without saying that you should buy a battery charger that is compatible with your vehicle. For instance, if you have a large vehicle such as a truck or an RV, you would need a stronger battery charger as these vehicles have bigger batteries.

Apart from this, there are smaller vehicles such as motorcycles. Since they have smaller batteries, they do not require a very powerful charger.

But what if there are more than one vehicles in your arsenal? Would you buy separate battery chargers for a motorcycle and a car? You don’t need to because The Schumacher SC- 1200 and SC- 600 are a perfect fit for almost all types of vehicles.

They have the tendency to provide charging as per battery needs and storage capacity.

First, let’s have a look at the Schumacher SC 1200A:

Schumacher SC-1200A-CA

It offers 3 types of charging modes, 12/8/2 amp charging modes.

12 Amp Charging Mode:

Ampere charging rates decide how fast a vehicle is charged. For vehicles with larger batteries in them, a 12 amp battery charger is ideal as it works at high speed and gets the job done quickly.

This battery charger can detect bigger batteries that require a 12 amp charging and enable 12 amp charging mode automatically.

A full-sized battery holds about 50 amp hours and requires a 12 amp charging mode. It takes about an hour to charge a battery, but it may take longer for batteries that are completely drained.

Also, the charger stops charging the battery once it is completed to prevent overcharging.

6 Amp Charging Mode:

This charging mode is suitable to charge batteries that require daily medium charging. With 6 amp charging, the battery is charged quickly making it a better option than the traditional charger.

3 Amp Charging Mode:

This mode charges vehicles slowly by passing less amount of current. It is suitable to charge batteries of smaller vehicles such as motorcycles, lawn mowers, tractor batteries etc.

Since the output power is less, the chances of damaging the battery are less as well which is why this setting is suitable for smaller batteries.

Schumacher SC-600A-CA

The only difference between the 1200 model and the 600 model is of power. While the 1200CA model offers 3 charging modes (12/6/3), the 600CA offers only two (6 amp and 3 amp). This means that the 1200 CA battery charger works at a faster pace.

Features (Schumacher 1200 CA and Schumacher 600 CA)

Both of these models almost have the same features except for charging modes. The features are:

Microprocessor Controlled

Both the chargers are microprocessor controlled which suggests that they will provide safe, rapid, and efficient charging to a wide range of battery types. This also helps in monitoring the charging process.

When the charger is connected to the battery, it provides continuous charge until the battery charging is completed. It then switches to float monitoring mode in which the charging is stopped enabling maintenance mode.

When the battery is used and the charge drops a little, it then again switches to charging mode and charges the battery to full potential.

In simple words, this feature keeps an eye on the charging status of the battery and keeps adjusting the current to a suitable value so as to prevent overcharging. This removes the need to take care of the job manually as the automatic system manages your battery quite efficiently.

A lot of battery chargers claim to charge the batteries faster, and they may actually do so. But since not all of them are microprocessor controlled, the battery may get damaged due to rapid charging.

Another key aspect is that these battery chargers take health status of each battery type into consideration – whether it is AGM, gel cell, marine, deep-cycle. Each battery type absorbs energy in a specific manner, which is why a microprocessor controlled charger is a good choice since it ensures that the health of a battery is not compromised.

Maintain Mode

The charger contains LED indication feature that is switched on once the battery is fully charged, after which the charges goes into the maintain mode.

This mode ensures that the battery is kept charged at full by delivering a smaller amount of current to avoid charge dropping.

Electronic Push Button Control Switch

Charging different type of batteries is not an issue with this product since it provides ease of use. The electronic push-button control switch lets you choose the charging speed as per battery type.

Portable And Easy To Carry

Battery chargers can be quite and transporting them can become a problem. However, such is not the case with the Schumacher battery chargers. These are lightweight when compared to other chargers on the market. Plus, they are quite small as well, making it easy to carry them.

Other than that, the retractable handle at the top offers a firm grip making it easier to move the charger around freely.

You can easily store these chargers under the seat or in the trunk of your car. They do not take much space and can be used anytime. This will give peace of mind as you will not have to worry about the battery dying even when you have to travel for hours or days.

The clamp cables are 50 amp each and ensure that the required amount of current is passed into the battery. They can be both top and side mounted. Further to this, the power cord of the charger is 6 feet long which is enough to ensure that the charger can be connected to the battery from a good distance.

LED Indicators And Digital Display

The LEDs installed on the charger serve as a great way to know the battery status. The LED indicator helps prevent reverse hook up.

Reverse hook up is when you connect the clamps in the wrong manner. This may damage the battery as the current is not passed in the right manner.

Energy Efficient

Thanks to the voltage detection feature (6V / 12V), energy isn’t wasted at all. The battery charger detects the amount of voltage a battery needs and provides it accordingly. This makes it one of the most energy-efficient battery chargers of all time.

Safe To Use

One of the main reasons that this battery charger is currently the most popular product on the market is due to it being Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) compliant.

When a product acquires RoHS certificate, it means that it is safe to use as there are no hazardous responses involved with the product usage.

That’s not all. The product is also an UL/CUL certified, which means that it is tested and marked safe for use, storage and is also validated in all possible ways.

Pros

• Energy efficient.
• Compatible with different types of battery and sizes.
• Safe to use.
• Certified.
• Lightweight (Schumacher 1200CA = 1 pound, Schumacher 600 CA = 1.55 pounds).
• Portable.
• Rapid charging.

Cons

• Poor Instruction Manual.

How To Use The Product

1. Switch off all the vehicle accessories first.
2. Open the hood and clean the battery terminals carefully.
3. Keep the battery charger on a safe, non-flammable surface and ensure that the AC-DC cables are kept at bay from fan blades and other moving parts of the vehicle.
4. Connect the positive clamp of the charger to the positive terminal of the battery and negative clamp to the negative terminal. The LED will indicate if you have connected the clamps in the right manner or not.
5. With the electronic push buttons, select the battery type.
6. Connect the main plug to an outlet and switch it on.
7. Charging status will be displayed on the LED display box.
8. When fully charged, take out the plug from the socket and remove clamps from the battery.

Schumacher Battery Charger FAQS to Know About

Does it charge a dead battery?

Answer: Schumacher battery chargers have an automatic decalcify mode to makes sure your battery stays charged for a long period of time, however, it won’t charge a battery that has fallen below 2 volts. So make sure to charge your battery at the right time.

Does The Charge Have Desulfation Mode?

Answer: It does. If the battery is sulfated, the charger will detect it automatically and go into the desulfate mode for 8 to 10 hours to repair it.

Can this charger be used for overnight charging?

Answer: Of course. The float monitoring mode ensures that once the battery is fully charged, the current supply is stopped. This feature helps keep the battery in good condition by avoiding overcharging.

Can you charge two batteries at once?

Answer: Quite surprisingly, you can if both the batteries are in a 12V system altogether. The trick to do so lies in placing the batteries parallel to each other and connecting the battery charger. However, it will take a lot of time to charge both the batteries simultaneously, which is why you should instead charge them individually.

Can you charge other batteries too?

Answer: You can if they have positive and negative terminals. But most importantly, they have to under a 12V system.

Final Verdict

Both the Schumacher SC-1200A-CA Automatic Battery Charger and Schumacher SC-600A-CA Automatic Battery Charger are commendable as they are far superior to their rival competitor battery chargers on the basis of features, price, performance and safety.

Pick one keeping your requirements and budget in mind.

If you want to charge your battery rapidly, then go for the SC 1200 CA model as it offers a 12 amp rapid charging mode which the 600 CA model lacks. Also, the 1200 CA model is lighter than the 600 CA model.

Last update on 2023-06-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API