UPG D1724 Sealed Lead Acid Battery Charger (6V/12V Switchable Single-Stage With Alligator Clips)

I've already ordered a second unit - and it is just as good as the first. Pros: (1) Durability: The main reason for failed chargers as they age/get used is a broken wire in the lead from the unit - and the charger ends up in the trash or the clever DIY dude spends an hour or more cutting open the case to fix it. Not so with this unit. Even IF the wires break on this unit, all it requires is you replace them as easily as you first attached them. (2) Versatility: Those two attaching screws allowed me to use one of my units as a universal charger with alligator clips, and the second unit is a dedicated charger for my battery-operated street amp. (3) Usability: This is the perfect float charger for a big battery, and the perfect all-around charger for a small one. I kept mine on a voltmeter while it was charging the small (12v 7Ah) battery for my street amp. It cycled between the 14.6 volt fast charge and the 13.6 float charge - which, by the way, is just about perfect for a standard or SLA lead acid battery. They are "rated" at 12 volts, but a fully charged batter in good shape will measure at over 13 volts. From my reading, I've discovered that the 13.6 volts is just right to prevent sulfation on your battery plates. (4) Viability: Lead Acid (12v) batteries do not do well with huge amperages when charging. 500 milliAmps is slow - but just like your NiCad and NiMH batteries - the slower charge seems to be easier on the longevity of the battery. So while it will take a few days to bring up a dying car battery - that's not really what this is meant for! But it will work wonders for a tired battery that needs to be kept topped off in cold weather - and it is glorious for charging up an extra 12volt SLA for your computer standby power or battery-powered street amp. That's what I'm using mine for!

I bought this to recharge the battery I have for my FIOS installation. It extends the life of my FIOS battery. I bought a ExpertPower 12V rechargeable battery in March 2018 to replace the previous one that had died. At the same time I bought this charger. In April 2019 the FIOS box in the garage started that annoying chirp, which drives one of my dogs crazy btw. So I pulled out the battery and pressed the button to silence the chirp. I connected the battery to the charger and let it charge for 24 hours. That was about 2 weeks ago. The garage is silent, the dog is calm and my wife is happy. This was my first time to use this charger. I will update the review when the FIOS starts chirping next to report how long the charge lasted and how effective the second recharge is. I paid $19.99 for the battery and $8.86 for the charger so I’m about $10 ahead so far. UPDATE: October 2019 the beep came back. So I got about 6 months out of the charge. Pulled the batter and put it back on the charge for about 24 hours. Put the battery back in. No beep. SECOND UPDATE: The second charge only lasted two months. I put the battery on the charger overnight and put it back in the FIOS box and everything is working fine but I think it is time to replace the battery. My conclusion is that I spent less than $9 to extend the life of my battery by about a year. The fact that the charge hasn't lasted longer could be on the battery or it could be on the charger. Either way, I feel like the charge is paying for itself and that's the reason I bought it.

Those who have complained about the lack of a charge indicator LED, this review is not for you. This review is for the 14.8V fast charger, NOT the switchable 6/12V model. This model DOES have a charge indicator. I've had one of these for several years, and it's done a fine job. Until last week, that is, when I finally carelessly connected the leads in reverse polarity. Just for a second mind you, but that was enough. The old one is now worthless. So I bought another. My old one came with leads, so I was surprised when this one didn't, but the old leads are still OK, so they will work just fine. I use this to maintain the batteries for my fish finders when I'm not using them. I had rigged the finders to use the same batteries as my computer UPS's so those batteries double as backups. It all works very well - as long as I pay attention to what I'm doing. Giving this four stars instead of five, only because the original failed to protect me from my own folly, and because from what I read, that hasn't changed..

Great charger. If connected to a SLA, starts bulk charging at about 1.1 amps, up to about 14.7 V (on Fluke DVM). Once the battery voltage approaches 14.6, the current starts to drop off rapidly, and when it hits 14.7V, the red light switched to the green, and it goes to standby Constant Voltage maintenance. I have two of these, and one settles in at 13.7V, and the other settles in at 13.75V (measured on same DMV over a few minutes time). Current required to maintain that particular SLA I was playing with was about 40mA, again on both chargers, but the 13.75V charger was hovering around 45mA. I didn't open the 1AMP units, but I did open the 1/2 amp. The 500mA version has two pots...one sets the open circuit and standby voltage, the other pot sets the peak voltage. The 1/2 amp chargers I have were a bit low for standby...one was 13.25, the other was 13.4. I raised them both to 13.5 V at room temp, which is still a touch low, but without temp compensation, it's fine for standby on generators, etc. QC could be better on the set points, but they are under 20 bucks....anyway, just observations on the 1A and 1/2A. YMMV.

Wall-wart style 2 stage charger works as advertised: charges at ~ 0.5 A until 14.6 volts reached, then red lite goes off and green goes on, and it then floats at ~13.7 v. If battery voltage drops below that, charge resumes, etc. So it could be used to maintain a batt that has some steady / intermittent low power load. What some buyers don't understand is that low price usually indicates poor quality control, so some percentage of failures is expected. So, any user would be wise to test its performance by monitoring the charge cycle on first use and periodically thereafter. Also use with caution on SLA batts < 5 Ah. My unit got a little warm during charge phase, but nothing unusual. I'd say quality of this unit appears above average; and if some component fails, at least you can easily take it apart and possibly replace what has failed.

Bought this along with a rechargeable battery for a Verizon backup unit.It came before the battery did and on time.the only con with this is the alligator clips. The insulation is loose fitting and moves around when trying to squeeze the clips open to install on battery.. Took a while of trying to get them on as because only squeezing them is hard and the insulation rolls sideways when trying to place on Battery male spade connectors on the battery, But once you get them on no problem battery charges. Also should have been made with female to male coupling, and have a spade connector for spade connections on batteries and another spade connector with alligator clips that do not have loose fitting insulation on the clips.. That is why the 3 stars for the difficulty ofhooking up.

La compré hace bastante tiempo y hasta el día de hoy la sigo usando, me salió buena

Works great charging my SLA battery, pulls about 15 watts charging, 1 watt or less when battery is charged. This can also be used as straight 12v DC adapter as long as there's load. You can likely leave this on 24/7. This is not a quick charger, figure overnight or longer to fully charge a 9ah SLA battery. Gets a little warm charging, slight acrid electronic smell, but might go away with time. This is designed for the DIY crowd. Screw on connectors only, clearly marked + -, you supply cables, and comes in plain box with no instructions, however very simple to set up. Red light- charging, green light charged, no lights sometimes when it's near charged.