Comments on: Sears DieHard 10/2/50 amp Automatic Battery Charger Review

By: rfurnival

rfurnival — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:05:31 +0000

I bought one of these last summer at Sears and when I unpacked the box, the mode switch was snapped off and rattling around inside the old-school style case. I quickly ran back to town and swapped it for another one. When I got back to my shop — yessir that one was broken as well. Back to Sears and having opened the last of the three the had on the shelf; yep — that one was broken too.

Fool me twice… I went to Tractor Supply and picked up a Schumacher multi-mode unit for about the same money. For my coin, I got a modern heavy duty case and “smart” mode-switching built it. I have since bought two additional Schumacher trickle units, as well. These are first class chargers that should be in everyone’s shop.

By: confused1096

confused1096 — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:39:01 +0000

Sorry, gotta say it. It’s a battery charger. Who cares how it looks as long as it works?

By: LK

LK — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:25:43 +0000

A couple of quick corrections:

- As others have mentioned, the 2A setting is too high for a trickle charge…you wouldn’t want to leave it hooked up for a long period of time.

- The 50A setting isn’t really high enough to start a car with a completely dead battery – though it will probably work for a lawn tractor, or if your battery still has a decent charge. Also, unless I’m mistaken it’s a temporary boost…and you’re not supposed to leave it at that setting for very long because the charger could overheat. If you want a charger that can actually start a car with a completely dead battery you need one of the larger 200A roll-around units.

- It’s pretty tough to fry your car’s computer by jump-starting unless you make a fairly major mistake. If you’re that concerned about it, hook up the cables with both vehicle’s ignitions turned off – and then start the ‘good’ vehicle after the cables are connected. I generally hook the leads on the ‘good’ vehicle directly to the battery, and on the ‘bad’ vehicle I hook the positive to the battery and the negative to a good ground – and this one should be hooked up last, so that if there are any sparks they’re away from the battery and don’t have the potential to cause an explosion. Some folks won’t hook the negative cable directly to the battery on either vehicle, but realistically there isn’t a difference so long as the last connection you make is the one that isn’t hooked directly to the battery.

I find it a bit odd that the author complained about the way the charger looked – after all, it isn’t like a charger is something I’m going to leave sitting around on my coffee table. My chargers (I have 4) generally stay out in the garage, and the kind of folks who spend time in my garage aren’t usually the type to complain about my unstylish battery chargers.

I have a Diehard charger similar to this one, and it has proven to be a pretty reliable unit. At one point I even ran mine over with a truck, and after bending the cover back into shape and checking the wiring (to make sure none of the wires were disconnected or damaged) I plugged it back in and it still works fine. However, after being run over by a 6,000 pound truck my charger is even less stylish than the one in the article.

By: Austin Greene

Austin Greene — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:22:25 +0000

After inadvertently using a ’70s vintage battery charger to boil the ten year-old Delco Freedom II on my ‘88 Caprice, I bought a Battery Tender Plus that continues to keep my Impala SS garage queen fully satisfied. It’s a shame that Deltran doesn’t make a product to satisfy the other queen in my life…

By: shaker

shaker — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:39:10 +0000

Timoted:
I agree – I use the “Gel Cell” type of Battery Tender on my motorcycle (which has a sealed battery). The “auto-shutoff” feature works great; I can leave it connected for months with no issue. I’m sure that it could keep a full-sized car battery charged, as long as there’s not a lot of standby power required by the vehicle.

By: blautens

blautens — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:03:47 +0000

Good review – keep ‘em coming.

By: Brandon D. Valentine

Brandon D. Valentine — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:42:12 +0000

I’ve got one of those jump starters that’s essentially a car battery in a plastic box with two jumper cable leads coming off of it. These work well for jumping off a car where the battery is not dead, just no longer strong enough to start the car. Mine has a built in 2/4/6 amp charger with automatic shutoff and it works like a champ. One device, two uses, $80. I think I picked this one up at a Pep Boys.

By: steronz

steronz — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:27:00 +0000

I jump cars all the time, and find the notion that it’s dangerous to do so somewhat laughable. Then again, I have half a brain, a working fuse box, and all my man bits are doing what they should.

By: timoted

timoted — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:28:58 +0000

It seems lame to not have an automatic shutoff in 10 amp mode. 2 amps will dry up a battery in a few short weeks if left on continuously. For my money, you can’t go wrong with the Battery Tender. The “junior’” version is selling for around $20. Of course this is assuming that one actually hooks it up so that there will not be a need for a 50 amp charger.

By: MaxHedrm

MaxHedrm — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 01:20:00 +0000

I’ve had one of those for over a year now. My roommate had a bad habit of leaving his XM on in his XTerra & used it quite frequently in the 50amp mode. It worked great. I’ve also used it a couple times for similar purposes.

& don’t forget the second switch, to choose between “Maintenance Free Deep Cycle” & “Conventional Low Maintenance” batteries.

By: optic

optic — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:41:16 +0000

so now it’s bad to jump a car? there’s just too much crap to worry about these days.

By: chuckgoolsbee

chuckgoolsbee — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:13:43 +0000

On the old Classic… an E-type Jag that gets coddled in the barn all winter having various projects lovingly taken care of, the ground gets disconnected every time it is parked for more than a few hours.

For the old beater pickup that is used a few times a year for dump/hay/lumber hauling I hook up the NAPA 2/10 amp charger every few months until it shuts off automatically.

–chuck

By: z31

z31 — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:03:35 +0000

vtech :
There are AUTOMATIC trickle chargers that can be left on forever but they cost too much for us!

I have the Harbor Freight equivalent of this charger and it shuts off automatically (isn’t that what automatic means?) on the 2A setting. It alternates between the two summer only cars during the winter.

Another trick to keep your battery charged is to disconnect the ground while in storage. Or stop buying BMWs :p

By: viennatech

viennatech — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:38:21 +0000

Agreed! 2A is too much for a trickle. I have read many posts from people smarter than I who recommend that you just allow the battery to run down a bit over the week, then charge it with a 2A over the weekend. This “cycling” will go a lot further on longevitity than will leaving it boiling on a trickle charge.

There are AUTOMATIC trickle chargers that can be left on forever but they cost too much for us!

By: jazbo123

jazbo123 — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:36:40 +0000

Actually, 2A is a little excessive for a trickle charge unless you have an inordinate amount of OFF-state current draw. I wouldn’t leave it on 2A indefinately (or more than a couple of days) or you will eventually dry up the battery. 0.5-1A is the most you should trickle charge at under normal conditions.

Definately don’t trickle charge at 2A if the battery is out of the car.