In addition to a Battery Tender Junior (http://goo.gl/OfQefc) maintenance charger, we own a Schumacher Ship N Shore SpeedCharge Battery Charger (http://goo.gl/FsOTJs). We’ve owned our Schumacher for several years and have been pleased with its performance.
Why do we own both battery charging devices? Because they each serve slightly different purposes.
For speedy battery charges, we use a Schumacher Ship 'N' Shore. It's a well designed piece of kit. (Click the pic for more info.)
The Battery Tender Junior is designed to be constantly connected to a battery. It’s the tool of choice when you are putting an RV battery into storage. You can “set it and forget it,” as the saying goes.
But suppose you want to quickly get a car or RV battery up to a proper charge level? You reach for the Schumacher. If someone (and I’m not naming names) left the vehicle lights on and drained the battery, you don’t want to wait on a trickle charge.
The Schumacher Ship N Shore is a well designed piece of kit. The cord folds neatly inside the body of the unit, and there’s a built-in retractable handle. This makes it compact and easily portable, and also easy to store. Even in our relatively small Airstream, we always find room for the Schumacher.
The power cords fold into the body of the Schumacher unit, making for easy portability. (Click the pic for more info.)
As you might have guessed from the name, the real benefit of the “SpeedCharge” is speed. The Schumacher includes three different charging options that are appropriate for a wide range of lead acid vehicle batteries. Anyone who has ever waited – and waited – and waited – on a car battery charger to do its job will appreciate the speed.
Speed demon! This chart shows what kind of charge speeds you can expect from a Schumacher. (Click the pic for more info.)
There’s a 15 Amp charger that quickly charges large batteries such as those used in RVs and boats; a 10 Amp charger for normal car batteries; and a 2 Amp trickle charger for small batteries.
The other notable feature of the Schumacher is the fact that it is microprocessor equipped. Yes, there’s a tiny computer on board that monitors and modulates the charging process. It also is capable of detecting problems with the battery. So if you see the words “BAD BATT” you know you’ve got issues.