Type S | Automatic Car Battery Charger with LCD Display, 5A Battery Charger Battery Maintainer for 6V DC / 12V DC Pulse Charge Auto-Voltage Detection Smart Battery Maintenance Trickle Charger

I use this to keep the battery charged on my husband's Mercedes. I used to have to go out every few days to run the car so the battery would not die because he rarely drove the car. Since I bought this, I don't have to worry about battery being dead anymore. It is a total lifesaver. When he does want to drive it, I take the leads off the battery, start the car and no problem. It is music to my ears. Thank you

I've really gotten in batteries the last year or so. Kind of obsessed some times. But I can always use a good charger and for me this is a good one. Some what.It is a good looking charger. Comes with everything you need to hook it up, including more permanent terminals, like for riding mowers, quick disconnect. It does charge between 4-5 amps, though that goes back and forth, it varies, but I don't know why. Gets a little warm, but you can touch it no problem. Does not get hot.One thing I found, it states it can be used with LifePO4 batteries. While it does, it did not correctly detect the battery I hooked up. It came up as standard. So much for automatic detection. I switched it with the Mode button, but should do it on it's own, that is what they claim.While I don't see using it to keep on a battery, like my rider, what the other reviewer mentioned, about the trickle, might not be the best.Up to you if it works for you. I just don't want to say get it or not. On the fence right now.

Type S has been producing jump starters for a while, I believe this to be their first charger maintainer.Like their other products, this is a nicely styled product. It is well made and the materials are of nice quality.This charger has a large display that is easy to read and provides a lot of information. Most of its operation is fully automatic which may be of benefit to some less familiar with their battery. It auto detects voltage (6 or 12,) and battery type (standard flooded lead acid, AGM, Li-Ion.) If very low battery voltage is detected, you'll have to put the charger in "Push" mode by use of the M (mode) button. Also, if the charger is trying to determine if you have a fully charged 6 volt battery or a partially charged 12 volt, you can either wait for it to "figure" that out or you can select the voltage. One feature I liked is that you can select the amperage at which you want to charge...5 amps for larger capacity batteries, 1 amp for smaller capacities. If I am simply maintaining a battery, I would actually prefer the lower amperage as I believe that's easier on the battery long term.Because it so automated, unless you have a very deeply discharged battery, you can simply connect it and it will select everything for you. I can see this a great benefit to the owner that doesn't know what type of battery they have, etc. with the following caveats.This has the usual multi-step charging algorithm that goes through various testing, bulk charging, desulphating, etc. modes. It can attempt to repair a standard flooded lead acid battery. They charging steps are set out in the listing.I do, however, have some issues with the device and especially with Type S' "tech support.". One is very common: Optima Red Top AGM batteries do better when charged and maintained at a slightly higher voltage than other AGMs, but charging/maintaining regular AGMs at that higher voltage will damage them. If you have an AGM battery, therefore, it is critical to know at what voltage the charger charges and maintains them. I reached out to Type S "tech support" inquiring about the voltage it charges AGM batteries. The response I received was 12 volts. That was ridiculously incorrect. A standard lead acid battery has to be charged to 12.7 volts to be fully charged. A charger that only charges at 12 volts could never fully charge a 12 volt battery. I wrote back and pointed that fact out and received a somewhat curt response that it charges at between 12-13 volts, "no more no less.." That would work with a standard flooded lead acid battery, but it is not optimal for an Optima Red Top. Without knowing the actual charging voltage, I would not use this charger with an AGM battery.The second issue is troubling if you intend to use this for long term battery storage. Once the Type S enters maintenance mode, it trickle charges at a continuous 0.3 amps according to the owner's manual. While that is quite low, it could damage a battery being stored for a longer period. Other higher end chargers will stop charging in maintenance mode until the battery drops below a certain level and then bring it back up again. This is the better approach for long term storage. Short term...it won't matter.In the same contact I inquired of "tech support" whether or not it charged at a continuous 0.3 amps in maintenance mode. That question was ignored. As such, I would not use the Type S charger for long term battery storage, either.This is a nicely built, very automated charger that works well for standard flooded lead acid batteries. It would not be, however, my choice for long term battery storage or for use with AGMs.

We recently had a dead battery issue and as we also expect to be a single car household in the near future, it seemed wise to look into options that did not rely on having another car available for a jump start. This device is even simpler than hooking up to another car battery with jumper cables, and a lot less fuss to do so for us. And of course, it's worked perfectly, recharging our (apparently still healthy) battery in minutes. Several times! It took some time to figure out our battery drain problem, so this got real use daily for almost a week.But first, this is not a jump-starter. That's a related, but separate type of device. This one requires a corded AC power connection and on a very drained battery will take at least a few minutes to recharge enough to start a car. I never tried to hurry that, and would let this work until it reported full charge and switch into "maintenance" mode. That ranged from 5 to 15 minutes.So, this may not be an option if you're in a parking lot away from home (or your home parking doesn't have easy AC outlet access). A jump-starter or jumper cables with another car to assist would still be the likely fix. But we've always been a low-mileage family, and Covid has only decreased our car travels. We are not new to thinking about how long a car has gone without use, and now can use this charger to keep batteries ready to run.The charger's display is easy to understand and its voltage numbers match a couple of multimeters that were also involved in our recent battery fun. After babysitting it closely the first couple of uses, I would mostly leave it be and check back in on it 30 or 60 minutes later. It automatically switches from charging to a maintenance mode.Mine never went into a repair mode - I was a little suspicious that our battery was fine. It's only a little over 3 years old, but our usage pattern is not ideal. But an auto shop tested too and agreed - our battery and alternator are both fine. That was after some use of this charger, and I wonder if it might have done some repair that I didn't catch.

The media could not be loaded.  I'm really impressed with this charger. It's very well built. The case is made out of very thick durable plastic. It has a plug that's about 4 feet long and then the extension leads are about 4 feet long as well. It also comes with a set of charge leads that are "i" let style and can be bolted on to a battery. These would probably be used as maintainer leads. You could bolt it onto a battery and it has a quick disconnect attached to it where you could plug and unplug it very easily from the charger.This charger/maintainer only has one button on it. This makes using it simple. The LED screen is large and easy to read. It displays the current and voltage I have the battery. There is also a display showing how fully charge the battery is.This charger is a smart charger and I really appreciate that. The only thing you really have to do is select standard (if it's a normal car battery) and it will automatically turn on and do it's thing. It will automatically sense if it's a 6 V or 12 V battery and start charging at the right current immediately.This charger also has a repair mode function. It is easily selected with the one button on the charger. The repair mode can be used if you have a battery that is very low on charge and may have been damaged because of this. It will try hard to restore the battery to all its glory while it's charging. I think this is a great feature.I think for the money this is a very good value charger/maintainer. I will definitely recommend it to family and friends.