Harbor Freight 10/2/50 Amp Battery Charger Review - FAIL
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- Опубліковано 18 бер 2017
- UPDATE: See part 2 for fail reason. Did not work well. Could not supply 50A for emergency engine starting. Relay clicks on and off. The 2A trickle charger was disappointing as well. Charger continues until senses full charge and shuts off. Not a trickle charge. The 10A setting works and charged a battery without issue. Unit seems to get very warm. Front panel is curling up.
Cen-tech item 60581 but HF also has 60653 that looks identical. Says it is a manual charger not an automatic charger. What is up with that? - Навчання та стиль
The charger is not a fail. The charger works. It's the user not knowing exactly how the charger properly functions and operates in 50 amp start mod. 50 amp isn't constantly on until the starter is engaged to start.
I have one and it works just fine for what it is.
Correct. If only he would read the comments.
My credentials: I was an Avionics Technician in the Navy for 20 yrs, worked on F-4 Phantom radars, both pulse & doppler, @ both the bench & 'field' levels!! After retiring, I worked as a Computer Tech for Radio Shack, TRACOR, & Bendix Field Engr. retiring as a Sr. Electronics Engr. Discussion: You should never use the 50A mode on this charger for charging, it's for 'Fast' or 'Boost' start mode, hook it up, set it to 50A, give it a minute or so, then try to start your engine. DO NOT leave it in 50A mode to charge the battery!!
I'm a Metrologist. I have no idea what he was thinking.
In short, RTFM.
If it doesn't detect a starter click the 50 amp quick start won't work...High school dropout.
There is something wrong here and it's not the charger,
I have had and used the very same charger for more than ten years. It has always worked in every 'mode' exactly as it should.
I bought one from Harbor Frieght and was puzzled by all the noise and flicker on the dial; you nailed it on the charge dial. Thanks for the video, it helped alot.
Bypass the 20A self resetting fuse to fix.
Thanks for the real world review on the charger. I don't consider it a complete failure as long as it charges my battery fully, though it is sort of disappointing that it won't jump a car.
I didn't think it would.
It can not jump start the car because car needs a minimum of 150A current burst for few seconds to be able to start but thing is constantly putting out 150A maximum but your battery can put out that short power burst of up to 400A for few seconds even if the car battery had only 5A of charge in it and that's why to be able to jump start your car you leave it on flat battery for few minutes and then try to start but the best way to tell if it will start is to check with voltmeter if the car battery voltage has risen to minimum of 12.3V otherwise it's a waste to try starting below that as then you would deplete battery and will have to wait another 5-10min extra depending how flat your battery was in the first place. Trust me I am an expert on this ☺️
@@michaelmedicworldoftanks33fps able to able to able to
Hi Kent, thanks for spending time to make this video to share your experiences. I would like to clear up some misconceptions you have. First, note that you did not engage the starter when the 50A starting mode was selected with your digital meter reading current. Even if you had connected a million amp charger to the battery, without the starter motor engaged drawing any current, the weak battery on its own wouldn't draw anything near 50A (unless it was shorted internally), as you have discovered. It is not the fault of the charger. The charger provides a potential difference between itself and the battery, and how much current then flows to the battery from the charger depends on the internal resistance and state of charge of the battery; the charger cannot "force feed" any number of amps to the battery. In the 50A starting mode, the charger provides the maximum output voltage it can to the battery cables (a few volts higher than in the 10A charging mode); when the starter motor is engaged at this time, up to 50A is available to help start the engine. As pointed out in the instructions, the 50A start mode should not be engaged for longer than 5 seconds, and any additional attempts should wait until 4 minutes have elapsed for the transformer to cool down. Between attempts, continue to charge the battery in the 10A mode.
Also, note that fuses and circuit breakers are not "instant acting" devices that many believe them to be. The nominal current rating is the long term (> few minutes) current that the breaker will carry before interrupting the current (called "tripping"). In the short term (under 10 secs) the trip current can be up to 5 times the nominal current rating. So if you were to use a 50A circuit breaker in this charger, in the 5 second operational period, the breaker would not trip at 200+ amps, so clearly no safety protection is provided. That is why the mfr chose a lower 20A circuit breaker, that would trip during the 5 seconds if 50A were far exceeded. You can do a search on UA-cam "Circuit Breaker Trip Curves Explained" on this topic.
Chargers of this type fall between the full manual types and the electronic multistage kinds, and generally they operate by charging the battery until a certain voltage (depends on selection of regular or AGM) usually around 14.4 volts is reached, then the charger shuts off until the battery voltage drops to 12.8 volts or so, at which point the charger powers up and starts the cycle again. During the time the charger output is off, the green LED and monitoring circuitry draw a small current, 23 mA in your example, from the battery (note the minus sign in your meter display). Yes, the percent charged meter is actually a current meter dumbed down for the masses. Older models from the 1980s and earlier all had regular looking ammeters and finer scales, and no "% charged" markings. If the clicking of the relay annoys, please note that this is mandated by the CA and OR green requirements to shut the main transformer completely off when not charging, to "save energy". Model 60653 is the identical looking charger without the relay nonsense.
The small float chargers you mentioned provide a constant voltage between 13.2V and 13.8V to the battery. That is a different mode of operation from the one used in the charger you are reviewing, so for that reason they don't behave the same and shouldn't be expected to.
Hunnghhh?
Thank you Weber lay Your explanation of things makes sense Appreciate the clarity to the above video. I have the Cen-tech and works fine. from trickle charge to Lawn mower to removing my Dead Batter from car and Charging on 10 AMP for few hours Really Appreciate the explanation on how the 50 AMP Works Seems so many of the Videos I have watched to explain this. Seems No one Gets it!
Amen!....someone gets it!!, now I don't have to spell it out to this guy !!
@@sceamson Agreed
Glade you said it, i would of sum it up. You checked his ass, to many people on the tube giving misinformation. I love my battery charger, i got it pro long my agm xs power batteries xp 950 and d3100
I read many reviews that said the charger didn't work but I read one review by an expert who looked inside the unit and identified the build quality (its fine) . This many was an electronic expert and he gave the unit a decent review.
See part 2. I have been told that the new models have corrected the problem. Inside the build quality is great but they have a 20A self resetting fuse that goes nuts and failed after a week.
This charger reminds me a lot of the older ones. Where you put it on charge and you could watch the charge level screen go from it's current status to down to no charge and then up to full charge. This charger reminds me a lot of the older ones.
something to reson on how long is the Extension cord and it possible not getting the amp. to charger.
I just got one and it isn't charging worth a damn. I left battery charging all night on 10 amp and the needle was in the same spot, a little above 50%. The battery is reading 12.68 on 2 amp trickle and the needle is on 75%. It seems to only work on 2 amp, but I could have got their cheapest 2 amp charger if I known this. This is a 102ah battery and it was reading 11.03 before I started charging it. When hooked up on 10 amp setting it reads 13.05. I'm thinking about returning it?
To be honest your test wasn’t fair it’s a emergency start on a battery that you use every day not a battery that’s been sitting for years
I have and did not have luck with that or one that was remaned and set on a shelf for a few months and somehow lost charge and it did not work on that one either for me.
I had it charge a really really flat battery one time on a mix of 10 and 2 amp throughout a day and another day sitting on trickle. But my biggest problem i wind up having is it flickers back and forth on some batteries saying that it is full then trying to charge then stopping over and over on 10 and 2. But the battery is dead enough to not kick a starter over (and is proper cranking amps to do so with said starter and motor and also tested on a few cars and a few batteries.) I guess i have to go to school to figure this charger out lol.
I am also not going to say i know very much about electricity or batteries.
A nearly dead battery will draw 1-2-300 amps, the clicker is a current limiter.
which one did you end up buying?
how about the gage of your extension cord?
How can you accurately measure the draw when it's still connected to the car?
You cannot reliably without a amp clamp.
Can't measure amperage that way!
I agree with some of what you are saying and less so with other parts. If the user is primarily looking for a jump box that can start a car with a dead battery I would look for something else. It doesn't really have the clamps and wiring to provide that kind of current. I liked how you were using the meter. What would have made this video really good would have been having two meters so you could see the current and the voltage at the same time. I think it basically goes up to about 14.25 with the lead acid setting and then declares victory. It then lets the battery go down about 12.75 before it starts charging again. Just because the term "trickle" charge is used doesn't mean you can endlessly charge the battery. How fast it goes down depends on the what vehicle it is in. I have had cars that can drain a battery in a week if they don't get run. I agree the green LED is hard to see in sunlight. I agree the percent meter is confusing. Higher end devices like those in service shops might have some ability to input battery type and made some judgement on the battery. I agree that the meter seems to be proportional to charging current. Once the LED is green and it stops charging maybe it is proportional to voltage? I have no idea. I think it is a good solution for home users to charge batteries. If you need to immediately start dead cars you need to get something more powerful.
I believe the charger is suppose to be unplugged before connecting to the battery. Is that a GEL battery or a regular battery?
To start a car with a dead flat battery on 50 Amp is pretty unrealistic anyway,seeing the starter will be wanting to draw around 300 Amps and don't forget as the voltage drops the starter motor will try to pull even more amps(current) to compensate the low voltage. This test was a non runner from the start and not what these small chargers were designed to do.
how long was your extenion cord when you tried the 50 amp jump start?
Makes no difference with low power, devices. Its when the power used goes in to KW when the cable length makes a difference.
Question, for this battery charger to work, does it have to be plugged in to an outlet, or it will work without it being plugged in to an outlet.
That was my first question. I figured it's not a jumpstarter it's a charger so it does need to be plunged in to an outlet pass the charge to the battery
@@yoguttier3324 this one has to be plugged into do an emergency start although you can buy the portable batteries that you charge and you can get up to 12 emergency starts with one charge although I recommend for Kent to just take his battery to a professional.
I have two of these chargers, one that i bought many years ago and the other i just bought it. I noticed that they don't work the same way. the old one doesn't click continuously as the new one does.
It doesn't matter how low the battery is, the older charger just kicks in and starts charging without clicking. in 2, 10, amp mode. Also it seems to start the car (50 amp mode) without the relay clicking when the battery is considerably low but not completely dead. The new one on the other hand, starts clicking for a long time when the battery voltage is low. It also don't start the car with the same low battery voltage, instead, the relay starts clicking like crazy. Definitely the old one works way better that the one i just got.
The new one is defective design. See part 2 video. There is a 20A self resetting fuse on output. My unit quit working after using twice. I moved output wire to other lug of self resetting fuse to bypass and now it work great.
Papua could you please measure the weight of each unit (old x new)?
Might be also the transformer capacity, not only the electronics. In fact, the electronics different behavior might be a Consequence of transformer cutting costs.
From what I learned...2 IS SLOW..."OVER NIGHT" charge ! The 50 setting was said to NOT even be apical ?
It has a 35 amp self resetting fuse on the DC side. It actually lacks a fuse on the AC power side. I got one in to fix and shocked it lacked a fuse on the mains. The 35 amp fuse was also burned.
One thing is it might charge faster if u take the battery out. U still have it connected to the car that means you have your car computer working to that will draw power. I was alwasy told even in the old cars the best way to charge the battery is take it out of the car if it is cold out or at least undo the cables as long as u got things going in the car even the radio is off it still is drawing power in the memory you got a computer in your fuel part you got one in the trasmisson I do on my 1995 van I think the fuel pump is drawing power that is why the parts stores make u take it out of the car and plus this is not a fast chager it is a slow charge that really is better any way. My friend he works for AutoZone he said he never does his battery on fast not good on the battery maybe once if in a bid but just in the old days I remember my dad use to have to charge his truck battery over night 12 hours 10amp is about the size in the old days now my battery is 650 amps add up a dead battery at 10 amps Id say between 6 to 10 hours if all the way dead cause it is going to take more time just to get the little bit in at 1st after that it will go as planed. I have never seen in the old days a charger not get hot they have always gotten warm that is the transformer heating up cause it is like any tarnsformer even in a LED tv the AC is going through it the flow of the AC is what makes it warm just like wire the gage of the wire is importine and if u dont have the right gaue say the wire is rated for 1200amp pull but u have more pluged in it is going to take more AC going thru the wire that will make the wire warm that to is what causes fires over rating the wall plug now if your real worried on the chager getting hot charge it for a while then turn it off let it cool then do it again once u get more juice in the battery it wont get hot but this is not a high $$$$ charger if u want a really top charger spend about $300 or more they to will get hot the ones that r on wheels> Im going to buy one tomorrow it is on sale I have a battery that has sat for 1 month in cold went to start it it tunred over a little but it is real cold out Im going to bring my battery in let it warm up for an hour or so before chargering it they say thew hot weather is harder on a car starting it then cold but cold can affect the battery and the oil is thicker in cold weather even if it is all season oil
We have a snap on battery charger that charges up to 30 amps, it's completely a smart charger, but it costs $800. The quality is 2nd to none and it works great, even charges it at if the battery is at one volt.
Probably not even actually made by snap on just rebranded.
Are you from Michigan Sir? Haha thanks for your review. Really helped me with my cÅr battery!
I have this charger and the case gets so hot during charging at 10 Amp. setting that there is no way I would leave this hooked up
at night or when I'm not around it. As a Career Firefighter I have had garage/vehicle fires that were total losses due to trickle chargers and high amp chargers. I use them but don't trust them when I'm not around them.
I've got one just like it and mine works perfectly !!!!
Glad to hear. After a few uses mine quit. Had to bypass the 20A self resetting fuse on output to fix.
@@KentDiego in part 2 u showed the breaker, so were all those just wired together 4 yur bypass?
@@dewaynemaiden Disconnect the wire from one side of breaker and attach to other side to bypass. So yes, wired together.
Do you need to plug this charger to use? If so, you cannot use this on road emergency.
Must be plugged into wall AC power.
It takes all night to charge a battery on trickle most Time
I was told if you leave the charger hooked up while your starting the car you can hurt the alternator?
People say a lot of stuff. The alternator is protected with diodes so nothing on the output matters.
Mines never did that......my battery was flat dead.....hooked up my battery charger on 10 amp for 5 min.....then did 50 amp & it started right up........something must be wrong with your charger
Seems odd to me too. There are different model numbers for identical looking chargers. Likely different designs inside. I just posted a part 2 for this. I took apart charger and found out why is did not work at 50A. There is a 20A circuit breaker that keeps tripping and re-setting. Cannot possibly supply 50A.
@@KentDiego that is because the patent number which at one time probably was an American patent that keeps being sold off to countries cutting the cost of manufacturer for example China in fact I challenge everyone on this feed and on the original feed look at everything you buy I guarantee you that it will be made in China. Some items will say designed in the USA but still will be made in China. Seriously look at everything tools Electronics car parts everything is made in China now so learn Chinese and get used to it if you have kids them because when China takes over they will be made to work in the factories.
The next time you see one of those "little plastic chargers" buy it, especially if it mentions phrases like "bulk", "absorption" and/or "float", "maintenance mode" and/or has "squiggly lines" on the box showing current and voltage against time and/or perhaps phrases like 3 or 7 stage etc. Many of them have tell-tale lights to let you know at what stage the charging cycle is at.
I made a review for the HF trickle charger. Very nice product that uses modern voltage regulation circuitry (unlike this one).
Yes, the mode 50A isn't for charging, it's made for starting. SO you have to crank the starter for the 50 A works. But don't use this mode for more then 3 to 5 seconds
Correct. He needs to use it as intended.
I thought mine had a problem with the start setting, but it didn't. Mine has a 35A breaker in it so it is a newer model possibly. Sometimes they use parts that are left over that are thought to be adequate from previous designs. The 25A breaker was a problem, but the way these were designed does not allow for a full constant 50A to be available all the time. For best results a battery that is very discharged does need some charging. The Start mode is not designed properly or beefy enough to guarantee a start right off the bat in my opinion. Also if your battery is discharged enough it won't sense it and if you do get it started it may die because your poor alternator is giving most everything to the battery. I use Optima batteries that can be harder to jump compared to standard batteries. I know this because even jumping from another vehicle it won't stay running without a sufficient charge.
Its a bummer this is not a manual charger. Best to get one of the old fashioned ones on wheels, those ones can actually supply over 100 amps which is enough to actually start the vehicle, even with a completely flat battery.
You can also try disassembling this charger and bypassing the microprocessor and current limiting and it would probably work; However it will likely fail in short time because the components will likely not be able to handle all the current.
Yes those old fashion wheeled manual chargers work great...they are heavy duty due to the large copper windings and internal cooling fan....My dad bought a unit 40 years ago...cost $120, bought another 10 years ago $540...looked for one today...Just over 1k...
García mi amigo 🤠 muy bien trabajo su Video
Podrias qie la esplicacion sea en español grasias
The trickle charge might still work it might only kick in when it needs a little might have a safe gaurd to keep from over charging it shuts off when it doesnt need power then when it drains off maybe after 2 days or so it will kick on then chagre it to full again then off say what is the point to always trickle charging something that doesnt need it so it shuts off tell it needs a charge might even be a week before it kicks on if it drops 1 to 2 volts it might kick on but if it is kept in the car hooked up that is when u will see it on a lot cause the car is using power even not started computer, radio even when that is shut off the memory still takes power just like a cb radio even if it isnt on it still darws 0.5 amps a day same as those USB things for chargers u have to charge your cell phone the LED uses power not much but it still adds up my van 1995 has a computer for the transmission and one for the fuel systum they draw power I think about 1 amp when not in use like they use to say in very cold weather turn your lights on for a while before starting the car gets power going it warms your battery I have seen batteries crake cause they froze from not being started for a long time once you start your car it is a good thing to use lights get the flow of power going thr your battery cause after u start your car the battery is not use the alt. takes over then when the battery needs a little power the alt. will kick in it doesnt charge the battery it just like a trickle charger is not like the old days were the gen. charge the battery from all most dead if you drive it on the hyway for 100 mile or let it run for a hour at high idle my dad use to stick a brick on the gas pddle idel it for 2 hours at like it be at 30 mph not have anything on then it will charge it this is new school now dont work that way in fact if you let your battery run down then jump start it it might even hurt the alt. cause it is sending out more prower to the low battery then it can handle in most cases I have ever been in had to get jumped and never went right to a parts place to get it recharged just went home it killed the battery had to get a new one just like when the alt goes out 9 times out of 10 your going to have to buy a new battery. This to is why u dont keep trying to start the car when it just clicks if it drains to were it click trying 1 more time isnt going to help any it is going to hurt the battery. I broke a belt one time on the Hyway I had the idot lights by the time the light came on the truck just stopped I didnt even know it put a new belt on just to find out my battery was dead took it to the parst store they tested it it said it had a bad cell may be 2 took a part charge not a full got about 3 starts out of it then dead they can only g dead so meany times I will be lucky tomorrow if my battery is still good mine is 4 years old had a 3 year warrity so i say 5 years tops it was the cheapest battery wallmart had I lived down south tell 6 months ago not so clod down there but Im north now it has been cold so far and it has set for 4 months started about 3 times but they are calling for snow tomorrow and cold so i might just as well try to get it going my mistake is after I got it charged I shound have brought it in for the winter it only takes 10 mins tops to hook it up when needed.
It looks like the charger is clicking on 50 amps because it has an automatic reset circuit breaker inside which is hitting its limit, tripping and resetting over and over again.
Yes. See part 2. I open up the charger and there is a 20A self resetting fuse. This fuse quit working so I bypassed and charger is working fine. I have heard reports that newer models have higher amperage fuse to fix this problem.
My Harbor Freight charger (just like this one shown), will not even register / spark on a recently drained, dead battery - shows no sign of charging it, at all. I think it's because the battery is too dead to make the charger realize there's something to charge and it's auto feature is keeping it from doing so. I'm not happy about that. If it was a strictly manual charger I don't think I would be having this problem. I''ll try to jump start it with cables from another vehicle and maybe that will give it enough charge to the battery for the H.F. charger to then recognize it and then charge it..we'll see. Automatic chargers such as this one, suck, IMO. I wish I had a completely manual charger.
It would be interesting to see if the charging current is 50A when the battery is 100% as once they get some charge in them it's harder and harder for charger to keep pushing 50A because of resistance and therefore the charger heats up and amperage drops below 50A also to be able to push 50A in I would say it would have to be a much bigger battery like truck battery compared to that one
The self resetting fuse is 20A. I noticed meter full scale is 20A. Now that I bypassed the self resetting fuse the charger works great. Still the max I ever see is around 15-20A,
I have this charger. Its cheap, however for the price you pay, its a great idea to pick one up. You will have problems with completely dead. The problem you see at 3:15 with a completely dead battery is to trickle charge the battery for a while,disconnect and switch back to quick charge and that wont happen anymore.do this at your own risk
You do know that the starter mode don't work or put out the up to 50v until the starter is engaged since your car was to dead to engage the starter it didn't start the car... Smart chargers suck in that capacity, if you had one of the old style 200 amp starters you could leave it in start for 15 be minutes or so and t it would probably start your car at that point this charger/starter is more for a car that's broke down doesn't have enough juice to crank the engine but enough that the charger and what juice the battery f does have left will crank the car
50 amp emergency start worked perfect today. Purchased the unit this morning plug it in followed the directions. I also watched the video
I have been told that they fixed this problem in the newer units.
The charger is supposed to reduce the voltage as the battery builds up a charge. Set a multimeter on 20dcv then hook it up to your battery. It should read between 12.4 and 12.6. Now start your car and the multimeter is reading the alternator. It should be 14. Something. 14.4, 14.7. Etc.
As the battery charges you will see the voltage on the multimeter drop down to around 13.7. That is how it works
It would help if you knew how to use the charger. 50 amp is working properly when it was clicking. It was waiting for you to start the car. Don’t wait for it to settle down. 50 amp is for jump start not battery charging. As far as the gauge goes, read the face of the gauge. It tells you it’s function. Also you don’t understand (battery maintainer) great review.
50 amp works fine for me. I've jumped my dodge full size pickup plenty of times along with my son's jeep Cherokee
The "50 amp start" setting is just for starting assistance. 50 amps could never start an engine all by itself. Car starter motors draw hundreds of amps when you turn the key, so the battery does need to be somewhat charged up before you can start it even with assistance. I once had a dead battery, so I charged it for about 20 minutes and then started the car and left for work. At only 20 minutes of charging, my battery was nowhere near full, but it was enough juice to start the engine. My alternator took over charging for the rest of the day.
I bought one of these and starting charging a standard battery. After an hour, I went into the garage and the charger was hot and the battery was smoking. I have never seen smoking battery nor charger getting that hot so promptly returned it. I'm not knocking down Harbor Freight products, just this one. Good luck......
I had the same problem,charger was very hot to the touch.Battery was very hot .That was the last time it worked.Went to Harbor Freight to get another one,it did not work.Would not charge.Returned it for another one ;same problem,would not charge on any
setting.
Just go on to auto zone and get you a dura last battery ,and give that piece of junk to your next door neighbor!!!!
Were you sure about the water in your cells? You need to figure out what your water and your cells are unless you have a maintenance free battery?
Seems like the charge rate on the charger seems like it takes forever to charge a gel battery I have an electric wheelchair my electric wheelchair battery charger that came with the wheelchair just refuses to charge the gel batteries the brand new so I went and bought the same charger that was The illustrated in this video and at this point I haven't had any problems with it.
In 50 amp mode it seems to be charging and then shutting down (as in circuit protection) over and over, very fast.
it is supposed to be 50a for short periods , some people bypass the thermal limit switch , but be careful
That's what mines doing
50 amp mode is NOT for charging...it is for emergency start ONLY....it only WORKS when it detects a car starter.....it is suppose to click on and off as an indicator....to begin to start cranking over the motor. Why doesn't anyone read instructions!!!!
mine kept clicking on and off and then nothing and harbor wouldnt take it back when i finally got back there im done with harbor freight
Mine quit so I bypassed the 20A self resetting fuse and now it works great.
@@KentDiego thanks 👍🏻
If you read the directions you will see the 50A start mode does not stay in the 50A mode continuously. It clicks on and off looking for a draw from the starter. If the vehicle is in working condition and not a junk heap that has not run in 5 years you would do better with jumper cables and probably a different battery because not all batteries can be jumped to start a vehicle. Anyone with real world experience in automotive repair knows that much.
One small comment: I noticed at the end of the review that when you were testing the 2 amp slow charge setting, you commented that it shouldn't be sending 1.5 amps to the battery. I disagree. This was a battery that had been allowed to sit and go dead for months, and it's predictable that it's going to need extended charging. Car batteries are kind of funny. One charger will say it's fully charged, and another charger will say the same battery can take another twelve hours of trickle charging, as long as it's a slow enough trickle. Then you said the unit clicked off after a while, however if you watch the video closely, the unit wasn't set at 2 amps anymore. You had switched it back to the 10 amp setting again, and I think maybe you didn't notice you had done it. I have the exact same charger, and what I have observed about mine is that when it's in 10 amp mode, it's an automatic shut-off charger, but when it's in 2 amp mode, it's a manual shut-off charger. That's consistent with what you saw. If you had left it in 2 amp mode, it would have slowly tapered down to a quarter amp over the next couple days (again, due to how dead it was for such a long time). But when you switched it back up to 10 amp mode, which at that point the battery couldn't take (you've already eaten three hamburgers and someone tries to cram a forth one down your throat) it shut off immediately. The 2 amp mode functioned just like I would expect it to. I will say this, however: Considering how inexpensive these chargers are, I wonder how long they're going to last us before they break. Maybe I better buy a second one.
I have this same charger! It's faults for me: it's brain wants too shut off charging changing light from red to green, when I want it too charge? Power wire broke right at the rubber support going into back of unit, shorting against each other! Fixed an silicone much better wire support!
50 amp is used for jumping something off with a battery that is not completely dead. It's not a jump box. It's a charger and it's only charging state is 2amp which is trickle charge and 10amp regular charge. Really not a fast charger.
I am glad you did this review, but you are so milk toast on your review. I did not do what I hoped for? This is not a girl you went on a date with. It says it does 50 amp jump start. You say they lied it failed. Trickle charge did not work right either, it does not do that right either it failed. The meter on it is not a proper indicator it is miss leading. This is not what it says at all. They lied. But thank you very much for doing it. I have 2 of them, the meter did not make sense to me. I was glad to hear someone converm I am not crazy and thing thing is waked.
See part 2. It shows the 20A self resetting fuse. I bypassed the 20A fuse and now works great. The meter is just Amps. Full scale is 20A. There is no way this thing could ever do 50A.
I believe the -.023 A is the amount the car draws for it's basic electronics. All car do that.
I bought this same charger today . Took home hooked up to battery nothing happened no lights no buzzing nothing .. assuming it was bad to it back got another ..2nd one works on 2 amp but won't work on the fast or emergency start...Girrr..lol I'll see what tomorrow brings wen I take back and get a 3rd
See my Part 2 video. I had to bypass the 20A self resetting fuse. In video you can hear it clicking. Second time I tried to use charger did not work at all so bypassed.
Good commentary. Would be better if UA-cam WOULD STOP WITH THE COMMERCIALS... So I downloaded the vid with no interuptions.
Be sure to see Part 2 to see the electronics inside the box.
will do
Get ad blocker - well, you can if you are on a proper computer (not a mobile device).
Its not UA-cam, this user has selected that the commercials and the ads run in the hopes that someone will click on them. so he will get paid. That is of course if he had previously had met the requirements when Google screwed up everyone's opportunity to make a little money
@@dallaspilotcar9293 he used one button to add the ads
It is called SUGGEST PLACEMENT
If you read the instructions, the 50 amp jump does not ingage until lit senses the starter. That is why the needle is jumping. Learn how to use it before doing a review
The 22mA is just the car's sleep mode draw.
1st off, I hate the new youtube and all the ads, I never noticed those ads until recently. My charger will not even charge that low of battery, it will bounce the needle on 10A on a fairly charged battery and has done that since day 1, it eventually charges the battery... 3 ads while typing this, I think youtube is dead to me...
I will replace this charger and possibly modify the circuit if there are mods out there to do so..
but I am afraid to hit 50A or higher on any battery off a jump starter, I would never hover over or be near a battery as I have seen 2-3 blow over the course of 40 years working on cars from igniting the charging gases, that could happen when you hit that 50 and it arcs at the terminal, right next to the expelling gases... danger...
I have a fix. See Part 2 video. The clicking is a 20A self resetting fuse at + output. Mine died very quickly so I screwed both wire onto one stud to bypass. Now works great.
Even though is says 50A the maximum is can supply is near 20A. Just bypass the the self resetting fuse and it will work fine. The recommended connection is to first connect + positive to battery then connect - negative to the car body away from battery to avoid sparks near battery. With modern sealed batteries I did not think where was much risk anymore.
I'm going to have to go back to school and learn Chenglish! The Chinese instruction sticker is very confusing!
This charger pretty much sucks because the manufacturer's failed to put in a manual / automatic mode switch period. That's all they had to do and it would be adequate.
The charger sounds like a switching mode power supply. A cheap computer supply would do the same thing, it would only supply about 3 amps of regulated 12VDC. Sometimes we Ham operators will stack two or three computer power supplies connected in parallel to power our 12VDC equipment. A switching mode power supply battery charger can only be a "trickle charger", and can be dangerous when it gets a little moisture in it. They are cheaply made in China which is where your Harbor Freight battery charger came from. I would have chosen a battery charger from South Korea or Japan for a quality "boost charger", or, more rarely, made in the U.S.
to get a reliable boost charger. It WILL cost more than the Harbor Freight charger, but if you go there, you really get what you paid for it.
The 50 amp function should only work when the charger senses the starter being engaged, It doesn't work for charging.
The only thing the switch does is adjust the tap on the transformer. Raising the voltage should raise the current. 50 year old technology. Mine had self resetting 20A on the positive output that was continually tripping at it's max current. That fuse quickly failed and when I bypassed the unit worked great. The 50A rating is just a marketing lie and it can realy only supply near 20A.
You know I had a friend had a battery blow up in his face. He was missing around with it didn’t know what he was doing, so don’t miss with it. Take it to battery mart they’ll check it out for free..
Fuccckkk ...ouch
No I say let him just keep messing with it these type of people that just start flipping switches because they don't know what they're doing end up hurting themselves but more importantly people around him. It'll be a lesson well learned.
i have one, after 9mo, doesnt work anymore
See my part 2 video. There is a self resetting fuse at output that went bad. Unscrew wire from one terminal and attach to other to bypass and fix charger.
I've have one of those same chargers for at least 8 to 10 years and I've never had a bit of a problem with it!! One more comment, people think that they can hook a charger or even jump from another vehicle and their car should start up immediately if the battery and your vehicle is dead you need to leave either their charger on or the jump vehicle cables on for 3 to 5 minutes to build your battery up as starting a vehicle draws up to 300 amps and drawing that amount over cables requires a little assistance
tengo un cargador igual lo conecto no ase nada solo lo use 2 veses
Trickle charge will take about 24 hours
My battery charger dose the exact same thing. I changed the batteries in my semi truck. It has four batteries wired in series 12v.
I disconnected them and started with 10 amps and showed 50 percent. Switched to 2 amp and went to 75 percent. It does change but the charger is goofy.
See part 2. There is a 20A self resetting fuse at output causing trouble. This failed on mine so I bypassed. Put both leads on same terminal of fuse to bypass. Now charger works great. I understand HF has fixed this on later models by changing fuse to higher value.
Whoa, watch out. That charger is not safe for a sealed gel cell. Don't do that.
Car test good tho.
I like Harbor Freight, but I wouldn’t trust this.
What a shitty charger. I bought a projecta intel smart charger and it's nothing short of perfect. It cost $200au but is worth every cent. Fully automatic and conditions the battery according to what is required. Many things are worth investing in for quality and user friendly/time saving devices, I have an 11 year old marine start battery of which operates and tests fine after being charged by the projecta unit.
MOST NEW battery chargers are useless. if they don't detect 12V (more or less) they will not provide ANY charge. so a dead dead dead battery cannot be tickled and slowly charged unless you trick it into thinking there is some voltage there. stupid.
The clicking stops when you turn the ignition on as it was designed to do. 50 amps on this charger is for starting your car, not charging the battery. There are other UA-cam videos that explain this. The battery may have a dead cell if it won't charge to 100%.
This needs to be taken off UA-cam. Reviewer needs to be educated on chargers. Horrible information.
Agree with Jim, this fellow knows nothing, it's just simple math, what is your amp hour rating on your battery? Take the rating divide it by the amps you are charging at and you know how long it will take to fully charge the battery when it is dead. Your car probably takes around 350 to 550 amps to turn over your engine, so how many hours would 50 amps need to be on there to crank your engine over? Now this is a temporary function, there is no way that charge wire could carry 50 amps for a long period of time let alone the circuitry inside the box. What size is the wire in your house again, and it's got 9 times the voltage going through it? A little common sense is needed here.
Exactly! It works as intended.
"50 amps" undoubtedly means "peak" amperes... and the duration of a "peak" can be anything more than zero. One milisecond of peak current won't blow a 10 amp fuse, and sure as hell won't charge a battery... but legally and technically, it could be right. Practically, though, it's a damn lie.
Just bought one of these machines thinking you can plug-in the charger then when it's fully charged you can take it to your car and jump it. Silly me uh. It needs to be plugged to an outlet the whole time otherwise it won't work. You can't get jump start
Used mine twice then it broke
Mine broke too. You need to bypass the self resetting fuse at the positive output to fix. Works great now.
Some of harbor frieght not all is Garbage
It looks like you've got a mighty dirty negative battery terminal. Your charger is hooked to the battery cable so the full current from the charger is going to have trouble overcoming the resistance. It's one reason your charger could be heating up.
You need more commercials.👎
This thing has been a piece of crap since day one. It pisses me off every time I try to use it
According to another test, the needle bouncing around is the way it tells you it's no start mode and it won't go into high amp unless it detects a starter. ua-cam.com/video/09ZDG4Rf1iw/v-deo.html&ab_channel=ScubaMoto That's odd, I guess it detects the battery drain and then responds by raising the amps. Maybe that's a good thing because 50 amps all the time on a battery might do damage. The odd part is they could put that in the instructions or have a $1 LED light saying "Waiting for starter to engage...".
I understand that 50 amps isn't going to start an engine, IDK, I guess it's just a boost to a battery that has some juice already.
I wonder if they have a battery tender mode on that when it's in the 2 amp mode. A 2 amp battery tender would be great and I guess it's different from the trickle or automatic because they just came out with a new charger. Seems to me they could have put more features into that one to make it an automatic tender.
its junk
It doesnt dump the 50 amps till you try to start it your supposed to move over to start and then start. Another channel took it apart and explained it as well. Its whatever harbor junk
Here's the thing Kent you have it in AGM mode and it is supposed to be in regular mode when you are trying to do an emergency start. The normal sound is tick tick tick tick tick tick tick steady. Hey Kent.. Kent... Kent... Kent just stop bro you are just sliding buttons toggle switches connecting things and then you started the car with the lead still hooked up to the machine and not in the 50 amp selection that will just and that will Jack it up even more. Can't just put the leads down and step away slowly from from your car go ahead and toss the charger because you've probably messed that up already starting it in the wrong mode. And take your car to a an AutoZone the clerk will come out and test your or jump start whatever you need. The lesson to learn here folks is when you have a frantic person frustrated with something that's not working they get even more frustrated and they start pushing buttons and sliding toggles up and down and just randomly connecting things which is making matters worse. Read the instructions and if you still don't get it then let a professional help you.
Parasitic draw
Your extension cord is far too light to use high amperage devices.
For God's sakes reading instruction
Man, read more please
So you get what you'll paid for.
The Chinese do not care to get you back on the road. Warning do not trust harbor freight with and power product you just might see a vehicle or house up in flames. Their products or to cheap and poorly mad for me to trust charging something through the night
Did you check the specific gravity of each cell with a hydrometer prior to your test? And did you check the water level, since you said the car had been sitting around for a long time?
Very bad practice, connecting charger clamps with charger plugged in. You are risking explosion from the battery giving off gas if you get a spark.
Nice try on the video. It was genius to do a test/review of a charger with a battery that is obviously in bad bad shape. Use crap gear for a review you get a crap review. Try again with a known good battery. I laughed my ass off when you said you didn't want to ruin the battery. You left it in a discharged state for 4 or 5 months already BUT now, you are worried about damaging it. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought this was an April fools joke video. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!! As we Engineers always say to other Engineers. "RTFM" Read the fucking manual. You were guessing about how this thing was working and how to properly use it. It just doesn't work that way. Merry Christmas.