Schumacher SEM-1562A 1.5 Amp Speed Charge Maintainer
 

Got one of these on Amazon for less than $20
"Schumacher SEM-1562A 1.5 Amp Speed Charge Maintainer"
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

Put on some PowerPole connectors http://www.g0hwc.com/images/AndersonPowerpole2.jpg
just in case I forget the charger is plugged in, and back out of the garage! :eek:

It runs the battery (on the Ford Escape) up to 14.4 volts while charging and holds it at about 13.2 while in maintain mode.

It doesn't use much power in maintain mode(2.8W), but in charge mode it uses 7 to 10 watts.
It only stays in charge mode while the battery is recovering from a discharge,
caused by a discharge usage (vampire load) or plain old self-discharge that occurs naturally with LA batteries.

I have not yet measured the vampire loading in the Escape.
When first connected to the battery, the Escape boots-up and flashes the running lights. Zapping the 8A fuse in my little meter.. :mad:

Why do you need a charger for the escape?

If I let it sit for a few weeks, the battery goes too low to crank the starter.

I used the Escape to haul a water heater from HD. About 3 weeks later, it couldn't be started for a short pizza run.

We've been using our new Prius C2 for almost all our trips (since May).
It's fun to drive and gets great MPG.

Anyways, the Escape will need to be available on short notice during the winter,
when it gets cold enough to give us battery problems..

~~~

I've been thinking this charger is a lot cheaper than buying new 10W PV panel & charge controller. (Which will not work at night).
So, if you wanted to have a 6V or 12V Lead Acid battery kept charged up and ready to use by some LED lighting, alarm system power or to run small battery chargers during power failures etc, this little charger is could be just the ticket..

I have one of their 1.5amp charger/maintainers too. It gets hot and doesn't seem to be very efficient when charging at 1.5amps. I use it to top off my jump start pack since the charger it came with shorted out. I've also charged a few car batteries. It doesn't charge too high in voltage so it seems safe to use with AGM batteries. My only gripe is that in order to get it to top off a car battery I need to put a load on it first such as turning the headlights for a moment to get it into bulk charge mode so it will go above trying to stay in maintain mode at 13.2v and actually go into charge mode which brings it up for 14.8v(if I remember right) until the battery is full.

Instead of charging the battery, I'd disconnect the negative lead of the battery so the parasitic load doesn't drain the battery. Reconnecting the negative lead isn't much more work than disconnecting the charger.

My battery was a bit low when I first used the SEM-1562A charger, but the case only got a little warm, never got hot.
I understand that folks with over-discharged batteries, had to charge them up with a regular hi-amp charger before connecting up for long term standby.

Don't really want to disconnect the battery, since that really wouldn't help with Self-Discharge.
Generic battery technology comparison 20% a month? Wow!
Plus, they are really fast at the local pizza shop. When I gotta go, I gotta go.. ;)