Customer Reviews

Black & Decker VEC1087CBD Smart Battery 10/6/2 Amp Battery Charger

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I just got this charger - *beware* Amazon has falsely indicated that this unit supports battery reconditioning - It doesn't - that is why I got it! I can't tell if the other units have it or not as I don't believe amazon's site and B&D's doesn't say so - however the review on the VEC 1093 says it reconditions. AMAZON please update the desciptions and picts on these products to be more clear!

That said - the unit is well enough designed although I wish it didn't have a noisey fan running all the time and the control panel feels cheap - but it works. The readout of battery voltage is a nice touch. I would recommend this IF the VEC 1095 doesn't support reconditioning - otherwise I would spend the extra $ and get that one.

I still may return this if I can find out what the VEC 1095 has

Good battery charger that tries to do the least damage to the battery when charging while also trying to post the least risk of fire hazard. Most battery chargers can be annoying, especially these smart chargers but they do what they do mostly to protect the user and the battery. Most batteries have issues with charging because the voltage is too low and or you choose too fast of a charge rate. Charging severely discharged batteries is difficult whether it be a smart or a dumb charger.

Here is the procedure for charging 12v batteries that are very discharged with a standing voltage of less than 9V. First you attach the battery charger to the dead battery. Then, with some jumper cables, attach a mostly charged battery (around 12v) to the dead battery in parallel using the jumper cables (Positive to Positive, Negative to Negative). The charger should detect a voltage of 12v, then charge at the lowest rate (2 amps) with this configuration for at least 3 hours. After 3 hours, you should be able to disconnect the "good" (charged) battery and be able to continue charging the "bad" (discharged) battery at the lowest charge rate. If you're desperate to get things up and running ASAP, wait until the battery is charged up to 11.8V then if you want, you can choose a higher charge rate. Don't choose a fast charge rate when bringing a severely discharged battery up to 11v otherwise you'll receive error codes.

Error codes are very common and you pretty much have to play around with it until it begins to charge.

Battery chargers don't allow for charging of severely discharged batteries as a precaution because they don't want people charging 6V batteries accidentally or creating sparks by having it output 10a of electricity when there isn't anything hooked up. I've successfully charged about 15 car batteries with about 8 of them below 3V, some as low as 0V with this method. These chargers work great, it's just that you have to understand how they work in order to get them to do what you want.

I bought this charger over a year ago and use it a lot for 2 trolling motor batteries of 80 Ah each. It charges them fast and efficient and keeps their Amps in maintenance mode.
The clamps don't look like the ones on the picture, they are cheap clamps, that's why I take one star off, but that doesn't influence too much.

The first thing I noticed about this charger is that it was much smaller than I expected. This is actually a good thing, in my opinion, since it takes up little space and doesn't actually weigh very much. As another reviewer noticed, the positive and negative battery clamps are not the same as in the photo. The ones in the photo appear to be made of copper and seem to be of higher quality, but that said, the ones that are on the charger are just fine and get the job done.

The charger rates are roughly 10, 6, and 2 amps, but there is definitely variance during the charge (perhaps these rates are averages during that stage.) I noticed on a couple EverStart Marine lead-acid batteries that the initial few hours of charge were at over 12 amps (according to the charger's LED readout.) This is definitely a plus as it should facilitate faster charging.

Of the 5 batteries that I have charged so far, 1 was a car starter battery, 3 were flooded deep-cycle/marine batteries, and 1 was a glass-mat "solar" type.

The only battery it sort-of had trouble with was the "solar" one. When I initially tried to charge it at the 10-amp rate, the charger reported an "Open Cell" error. So I tried again at the 6-amp rate, same error. Then again at the 2-amp rate and it worked fine and fully charged the battery.

I'm assuming that this "solar" battery is heavily sulphated. I suspect a new glass-mat type battery would work just fine.

The "voltage check" function works fine, but only when the unit is powered. It would seem to me that the volt meter function should be able to work without needing to be plugged in, but this isn't a big deal.

The only real disappointing feature was the "alternator check". While it does appear to work, according to the manual, it only works properly when your battery is pretty much fully charged. And let's face it, one really only needs to check the alternator when it's discovered that the battery in your car is dead for some unknown reason. There's probably a good technical/engineering reason for why the alternator check works this way, but it wasn't explained in the manual.

Performance-wise, it appears to charge fully depleted batteries in 8 hours or less. Half-discharged batteries in considerably less time, naturally.

Normally, I'd say this only deserves 4 stars, but at forty clams, it's a great value. So I say it's worth 5 stars.

Do not waste your money! 9 out of 10 good batteries it gives a "fault code", meaning it stops charging on its own. There you sit thinking your battery is being charged, only 3 minutes after you left it stopped itsef from charging. Not to smart. All the basic older chargers simply charge what you want when you want without over-riding your actions.

The fan is loud, but it usually charges fine. Sometimes it displays a false "open cell" or "shorted cell" fault code. Restarting it usually clears the fault. Also it draws a lot of start-up current when first plugged in (a loud arc / spark from the plug is the result).

Works as expected, easy to use, a life saver for a dead battery.

As someone noted, the fan is a tiny bit noisy but, who cares? It's in the garage with the car.

I bought this little charger from Wal-Mart 4 years ago because it was a "smart" charger. I hooked it up to my seldom used Lexus as a trickle charger (if you let a Lexus sit for 3 weeks, the battery is drained due to all the electronics that remain live even with key off...learned the hard way...hence the purchase). After 4 years of continuous use, only disconnected when I used the car, the charger finally gave out. During this time, I never awoke to a dead battery. I have since purchased another one and its humming, yes the fan does make a little noise, away out there in the garage keeping my new Lexus battery charged and ready to go. To say the least, I'm completely satisfied!

I wasn't expecting a whole lot but this battery charger delivered to my expectations. The only thing I didn't like too much was the fact that the charger is a little loud for my taste, but that's just me being a little picky. All in all the charger did what it was supposed to and was a good deal for the money in my opinion. This charger isn't go to wow you with a lot of functions but it does get the job done for me.

1. Page 4 of the instructions booklet - "Preparing to Charge" item # 2. "it is necessary to remove battery from vehicle to charge..." - seems like "If" is missing in the front of the sentence, perhaps? Later on they give instructions how to charge a battery which is still in the vehicle...

2. Then when you follow all the instructions and connect POS (+) to POS (red) and NEG (-) (neg is grounded) to the chassis, the charger gives FAULT when 2/6/10 AMP button is pressed.

3. The AC power cord supposed to have a triple fork (grounded) yet the fork has no grounding nor an adapter enclosed. I suppose it's ok, yet not safe as per instructions. Some inconsistency in the instructions.

4. Just a few seconds into charging (battery removed from vehicle, all instructions followed precisely) the "Smart Battery Charger" displays "FUL" (Battery Fully Charged) yet battery is not charged much. When "Battery Voltage" check button pressed the unit displays 14,5 Volts (fully charged) yet the vehicle just makes a rattle noise when connected to the "fully charged" battery.

5. When left on "FUL" the battery charger does not automatically shut itself down as promised on the packaging and in the instruction.

6. Later on if still left on "FUL" it started displaying "F03" (Internal Open Cell), which is not true. The battery is fine, just needed charging.