Car battery chargers are essential for maintaining vehicle health, especially in climates with extreme temperatures or for vehicles used infrequently. I’ve been using a Schumacher ‘smart’ charger, similar to the ProSeries 125A model, and it’s surprisingly effective for basic charging needs.
This charger smoothly increases voltage, which is gentle on the battery and seems to prolong battery life. It takes about a day to fully charge a completely dead truck battery, but it does a surprisingly great job at reviving even deeply discharged batteries. I even successfully used the ‘boost’ mode to jump-start a battery that was too low for normal charging, which brought it back to life. Beyond charging, it also functions as a battery maintainer, providing infrequent voltage bursts to keep the battery optimally charged during storage.
However, the user interface is a significant drawback – it features only three indicator lights and a single button. This rudimentary design offers virtually no feedback or control over the charging process. Without using a multimeter to manually monitor voltage, you’re essentially operating in the dark. For a truly Best Battery Charger, I wish for a fully instrumented device with features like a real-time voltage graph and ideally, wifi connectivity. This would allow for detailed monitoring and ensure the charger is performing optimally and safely. While this Schumacher unit gets the job done, the market needs a best battery charger that combines reliable performance with insightful, user-friendly data feedback.
