3A Car Battery Charger and Maintainer, 3-in-1 Solution, for 12V Power Sport, Automotive, and Marine Batteries, SP1297

This works great. Maintains my golf cart battery perfectly. Schumacher is always good quality and the display makes it easy to use.

My John Deere lawn tractor sometimes sits long enough that the battery becomes weak enough that I have to jump start it. I just don't like having to use jumper cables, this charger/maintainer keeps the battery charged so I'm not bothered with jumper cables.

I'm a retired auto tech and have lots of experience with battery chargers. Just got this today to replace the Die Hard model # 71239 which is made by Schumacher and is identical to this SP1297 with the exception of this one being red and the Die Hard being black. Nice digital readout banner, walks you through hooking it up and getting it charging. Reads out the charge rate and once fully charged, the unit goes into automatic float mode and the unit's green indicator light slowly pulses on/off to indicate it's in "maintain mode" I had the Die Hard model for several years (bought it from Sears) and used it on a classic car that was mostly garaged. I gave the Die Hard charger to my daughter for use on a new Generator's battery to keep it fresh. I tried the NOCO genius 1 as a replacement but was not impressed and returned it. This Schumacher comes with accessory hookups ( Alligator clips, Hoop type attachments for permanent installations and a cigarette lighter style plug in adapter) It's great for light use and maintaining batteries. If you need to recharge a dead battery, this will do the job albeit slowly. At $40 this charger is a steal! I have another heavier duty charger (Stanley brand/also made by Schumacher) that is more powerful with more features. Schumacher makes the majority of battery chargers which are sold under different brand names. No surprise there as most electronics are rebranded with different colors and labels. I hope this review helps in making a decision regarding this charger.

Purchased this over a month ago. Have used it off and on in that time to keep motorcycle and other AGM batteries topped off for the season. This puts a top charge on (as expected) in a fraction of the time of my trickle chargers. It's so much easier than pulling out the big charger. The unit has a nice design and the hanging hook is very handy although it feels flimsy, it works fine. Like the digital display. There is no visual charge level status except at the very beginning to tell you the initial charge level in the battery. It would be nice to gauge how much longer the charge may take when checking on it. Not a deal breaker by any means. It does what it's suppose to; charges batteries well. Comes with many connection options in the box. All are great quality. This has become my #1 charger. Update after a year of ownership: This charger has an ongoing issue charging AGM batteries. Will only charge partially. Green light fading indicating full charge when Batt is only at 83%. Also has aborted charge for no reason on newer AGM. Have to unplug and restart to continue to get a full charge. Happens the same each time. Average use is once a week during the colder weather. It became nuisance having to check on it all the time because it has no state of charge indicator. Learned to work around the quirks for now. The scrolling marquis display is nice but seems more of a novelty. Having 4 batteries (2 AGM and 2 MC batts) to maintain, it can become time consuming waiting for it to cycle each time Except for these issues, it still works and gets the job done.

I really like the Schumacher battery chargers. I have two of them, one for each car. I hang them at the front of the garage in front of each car, and using an extension cord (https://www.amazon.com/SPARKING-Extension-Connect-Harness-Waterproof/dp/B0746DX2L1?pd_rd_w=dlDwu&content-id=amzn1.sym.cfc0e7a6-c58f-4345-944f-e34fcbad5a71&pf_rd_p=cfc0e7a6-c58f-4345-944f-e34fcbad5a71&pf_rd_r=YQ0MJXMYECM9PMQERGE6&pd_rd_wg=ykNhG&pd_rd_r=8fad6d97-1669-46b4-a18f-8a8202df93ee&pd_rd_i=B0746DX2L1&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_hxwhrp_sspa_dk_bia_0_1_ec_t) to connect to the cars to keep the charger off the floor and out of the way. I connect the chargers to the cars using the provided quick connectors that you attach to the battery (actually attaching the negative to another part of the car), then it’s just a matter of mating the plug from the connector to the plug on the charger. The charger first analyzes the battery. If the battery is bad, it’ll tell you that. Otherwise, it gives you the charge level of the battery and begins charging. When fully charged, the charger switches automatically to maintenance mode so as not to overcharge. Both my cars have the higher powered lead acid absorbent glass mat (AGM) batteries, for which this charger is appropriate. AGMs are necessary if your car has the auto off feature when you come to a stop, automatically shutting off your engine then starting back up when you release the brake pedal. Since the AGMs are substantially more expensive, I connect my cars to the chargers almost nightly as today’s cars have a LOT of electrical stuff going on even when the engine isn’t running. This contributes to a shorter battery life, so I figure it’s worth the cost of the charger to extend the battery life. My first AGM lasted 10 years, fwiw. Regardless of your type of battery, I highly recommend using a battery charger for your car even if it’s driven daily, and I highly recommend Schumacher chargers.

I have several of these on all my vehicles and anything with a battery that you don't wont to have to replace next spring. I have them on my lawnmower, quads, motorcycles ect. This is the best trickle/maintainer I have found.

In the World of Charger Maintainer's this is the Cat's Meow. I wanted a 3amp charger so I could use it on the Lawn Mower as well as the Truck and Tractor Battery. Also I didn't need a 6V Charger so I chose this one because it can charge lead Acid Flooded, AGM, Gel, and 12V Lithium Ion Batterie's. This Charger Show's the Current Batterie's State of Charge in %, and then proceed's to charge it, while showing in Real Time the % of Batterie's State of Charge! When the Battery is at 100%, the Charger will stop chargeing and Automatically go to Auto Maintain and Display that message. I use this on my 650cca AGM Truck Battery, 840cca Lead Acid Tractor Battery, & 250cca AGM Lawn Tractor Battery. Schumacher Customer Tech's will tell you that it can't be used on Large Batterie's but they don't know their Product's. I guess they don't know much about their Battery Charger's because they don't use them; the Charger's are Made in China, and I'm guessing the Engineer's that make their charger's are Chinese as well, and probly cause the Chinese now Own Schumacher and are just letting the American Customer Service keep their job's as a Good Will gesture. The woman answering the phone didn't even know how to navigate their own Website! The Tech's said that this charger wouldn't charge my 840cca or 640cca batterie's. I've been useing their 1.5Amp charger maintainer's on my 650cca, 840cca, and 250cca Batterie's for over 20 year's, so I knew that the 3Amp charger would charge fine and now I have one that will display the Batterie's State of Charge. This Charger Maintainer is the Best that I know of. The Slower that a Battery is Charged the Better it is for the Life of the Battery ***UPDATE 2/7/23*** My old 3A SP1297 is still functioning good. According to the Senior Tech @ Schumacher the New 3A SP1297 DOES NOT HAVE THE DESULFATEING MODE now. Also the 6A SP1298 DOES NOT HAVE THE DESULFATEING MODE. Just for added information in case you wanted a charger that has the ability to desulfate a battery. However according to the Senior Tech @ Schumacher the 3A SP1356 DOES HAVE THE ABILITY TO DESULFATE A BATTERY. ***UPDATE 1/3/24*** Led Display was starting to miss part of the Display so I decided to get a New one after 3 year's. Stumbled upon the FRO1542 4A Farm and Ranch Charger/Maintainer. According to the FRO 1542 User Manual @ SchumacherElectric.com (Farm and Ranch Charger FRO1542),,, It does everything that the SP1297 will do and a Lot More includeing Charging and Maintaining Small Lawn Mower Batterie's as well as Larger Batterie's UP TO 1000 CCA'S!!! AND IT IS ONLY 20 $'S ON AMAZON!!! Ordered 2 and seem's to work better on my 800 cca battery than the SP1297!!! I just ordered 2 More before they discontinue them. Schumacher doesn't seem to know much about them or Believe the User Manual ~ GO Figure. Schumacher seem's to only recommend a much more expensive charger. For 20 $'s these FRO1542 Charger's Should be Flying off the Shelf's. Don't be a Day Late and A Dollar Short, Get'm While They Are Available..

If you don't know what type of battery you have and you don't want to make a mistake, many of these are not automatic selecting, you need to select what battery type with this one which can easily be mistaken like I did, my battery was old so not a big deal, I needed a new one anyway. After talking to the guy I bought my battery from, he said Battery Tender is the brand he trusted, so I looked, I got one for under $30, only does 12v and it is smart enough to auto select the battery type. (Gel, AGM, Lead Acid). If you must know, I got the Battery Tender Junior P/N 022-0328 12v 800ma $28. One feature I did not like about the Schumacher SP1297 is that if your power goes out, when power returns it does not start back up maintaining your battery because you have to select the battery type. I assume the Battery Tender Junior just cranks back up because it determines the battery type automatically, it has no switches or buttons to push. Something else I picked up on Amazon. autowit SuperCap, these things are pretty awesome. They can jumpstart your car and charge from an almost dead battery in your car with a 30% charge, so I tested that theory, fully charged in less than 10 min which allowed me to crank my car. They say the shelf life for the SuperCap is over 20 years but the warranty is only 10 years so who knows. Now these SuperCaps cost a pretty penny $$$ but worth it if you are stranded in the middle of nowhere with no way to jump start.