Schumacher Electric 15A Car Battery Charger & Maintainer, 6V/12V – SC1280 | 3A Trickle Charge, Restores Batteries, Fully Automatic & Microprocessor Controlled – Power Sport, Auto, Marine Batteries

7/27/28 I needed this as an emergency backup to what I already had in the garage to charge my vehicle batteries. I can say this is a HUGE improvement over what I already owned. What I like most is that beyond the fact of it's charging capabilities, it's: * light weight * Displays the actual percentage of the charge process * displays the voltage * automatically cycles through each of the relevant readings - removing the guess work * the start/stop button - which means you don't have to just unplug to turn off * clamp cords are long, providing greater flexibility in moving the charger This is a model I truly appreciate and just may purchase a second one to have readily available in the other garage. Given the size, it will be easy to store.

Fantastic little charger for my purpose. Works great as a battery management charger for my mower. Plenty sufficient for a car battery as well. It’s light and compact with heavy insulation on the tables and clamps.

Charges batteries like it should with some modern options for different types of batteries. Seems faster than the 30+ year old one it replaced but it’s also all plastic and not as durable.

After writing my review of the SC1308 charger, I decided to return it and try the SC1280 instead. The SC1308 had exhibited some erratic behavior, and I was unsuccessful in contacting Schumacher for an explanation. My thought process in switching to this model was that the higher charging rates of the SC1308, in both the rapid charging mode (30 Amps) and slow charging mode (6 Amps), given its erratic behavior, ran the risk of damaging even a large starting battery in a short amount of time. I felt that with the lower current limits of the SC1280 -- 15 Amps and 3 Amps for rapid charging and slow charging, respectively -- I could likely intervene before serious damage to a battery would occur. Some reviewers of this product reported that this charger "hangs up" when the charger displays 80 percent complete. During my first use of this charger, I also observed this situation. As I recall, this is roughly the point in the process where some chargers will transition from a Constant Current to a Constant Voltage mode. I observed the voltage and current during the 80 percent glitch, using an external voltmeter and ammeter. The charging voltage had been above 15 volts, but the current had been sufficiently low (I don't recall the exact value) that I wasn't terribly concerned about damaging the battery. I ended up disconnecting the charger while it was still hung up at 80 percent. Since then, I've tried the charger a few other times. On these occasions, the charger advanced to 100 percent without hanging up. During most of this time, the charging voltage tended to remain at around 15.5 Volts. As the charger approached 100 percent, current tapered to around 2.5 Amps. I noted that even after the green "charge complete" LED illuminated, the charger continued to charge the battery at around 15.5 volts. In one case, the charger continued charging at a significant rate for 12 hours after illuminating the charge complete LED. This is something I wouldn't have known, if I hadn't had a separate meter clamped onto the battery cable. During the additional 12 hour period, I monitored the battery's case temperature, and didn't observe any significant temperature rise. After the 12 hours, the charger dropped the current to zero, at which time I assume it entered its maintenance mode. After disconnecting the battery, I observed that its voltage stayed above 13 volts for several hours. The following day, with the battery's voltage stabilized at around 12.75 Volts, I ran a test on it with a battery analyzer. The analyzer showed that the battery's state of health (SOH) had actually improved slightly, compared to its SOH before charging. Based on my testing, I believe that the behavior I observed was by design, rather than a defect in the charging algorithm. The batteries I used for the tests have been used mostly for short trips over a number of weeks, and could have had some electrolyte stratification or sulfation that the charger was trying to correct. In any case, the charger should have an additional indicator that informs the operator that it is still charging while the charge complete lamp is illuminated. I will learn more about the charger with continued use, but I've developed confidence in the SC1280 that I didn't have with the SC1308, and consider it unlikely to damage any of my batteries. However, I will not be using it as a maintainer, nor will I leave it charging unattended for long periods of time. Of course, in a perfect world, the Schumacher Company would provide an explanation for some of this charger's behavior. Based on my earlier attempts, I don't think the company's customer support organization is equipped to do this.

I already own four different name brands of battery chargers. From an old Sears 10 amp charger from the 1970’s to more modern ones purchased within the last five years. I’ve found not all chargers are meant for todays battery applications. My RV takes marine batteries in its living compartment area. Unfortunately, some chargers say they are good for marine applications, but they are not. I’ve dreaded buying another battery charger for over a year now when I noticed back then the Schumacher brand of chargers. I thought to myself, another company making a charger that looks good, but what of its performance. I found one on Amazon Prime I felt was a decent price and felt, oh well, if its another typical charger, I wont feel so bad over the money spent. According to my so-called other charger I already had, the display showed I need to replace the one marine battery in the RV and the dead marine battery that was sitting in my back yard that was taken out of the RV over a year ago. The Schumacher charger arrived. I was blown away of hoe light the package was. My mind began to think, another charger that looks good in the picture but performs horribly. I read the directions fully (I truly did), and began to hook up my RV marine battery. The layout of the charger seemed simple enough. The display was easy to understand. Ok, the moment of truth was at hand. I placed the charging mode into fast charging, I activated the mode for the marine battery application and began my charge. When the charging began, the display showed about 9% starting charge. I returned to the charger later and it was at over 50%. Later it showed 80%. Since this is a marine battery, I stopped it at this point. I loved how this Schumacher charger display changed back and forth from the percentage rate of charge to the volts of the battery. I began using different things in my RV and was totally amazed the seemed newness of how things inside were now working. The lag time of certain things working were no longer there. The lights were brighter than ever. Best the all, my charger never seemed to overheat. Believe me, I constantly checked the casing of the charger for smell and overheating. Note, to you future users. What I didn’t realize at first was, when you first hook up the charger to a battery, it does not immediately turn on for charging. The display comes on so you can see the initial percentage of the battery and the display of mode selection. Press the on/off button, the display will say ON. Press the desired charging mode and desired battery type, and the Schumacher Battery Charger does the rest. Oh and BTW, remember the dead battery in my back yard!, The Schumacher charger brought it back to life. It’s now an extra inline battery in my RV. I used the Schumacher to charge my auto batteries to peak performance. I salute the Schumacher company in making a great product. Now wish I had purchased it over a year ago. For anyone willing to purchase this item, it is my opinion, this will be an essential item to your automotive work bench. I highly recommend this product!

2 boat batteries died from crappy pump, my 40 yr old charger took them separately to 10.54V, that's a sure sign the charger is no bueno. Bought this charger, set up bat type, start with slow charge, shows if polarity is correct, charge level in % and voltage - really good piece of equipment, took them both to 100%. Used it again on an AGM that was in the garage [I know] and it does the task to 100% after 8-10 hrs, depends on discharge level. Excellent charger!!

I bought this in 2024 and it's been working well to date. It was a good value at that time. However, the price has gone up almost double and I would probably not purchase now. Still, it's a good product if you're willing to be price-gouged a bit. I am giving this item five stars because at the time I bought it, it deserved five stars. At it's current price, I would rate it only three stars however.

I have an older Schumacher charger and it still works great. This charger has features the older charger doesn't have, such as not blowing a fuse, that is soldered directly to the circuit board, if the terminals are connected in reverse or are accidentally touched. The new charger will tell you when the batter is fully charged, where the older one has an analog meter that always reads a slow charge so you don't know when the charger can be removed.

I need to change this item

Excelente producto funciona muy bien mantien mi batería de la moto cargada cuando no la uso por dos o tres semanas y se comporta excelente solo le agregaría la función de ciclo profundo que no lo tiene pero buena relación calidad-precio y además Schumacher es garantía de equipos

Very poor instructions Charger trip my home circuit breaker waiting for Amazon to pick up return item Not recommended

Practico y muy fácil de usar, lo indicadores de carga son de gran ayuda. Tenia la batería de la camioneta totalmente descargada y le dio carga sin problema

Its 120 Volts, you need steep down transformer for 220Volts power supply which is not mentioned or I didn’t see its 120v🤣