Black & Decker VEC1093DBD Smart Battery 40/20/10/4 Amp Battery Charger

by Black & Decker

Product Features

• Spark-resistant design for added safety
• Reverse hook-up warning alarm to prevent damage to vehicle or electronics
• Features easy connectivity for battery clips and ring terminals or vehicle DC plug
• One year warranty
• Spark resistant reverse hook-up protection

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11 x 7 x 13 inches ; 11 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000EJQJ1G
• Item model number: VEC1093DBD
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,793 in Automotive (See Top 100 in Automotive)
  • #21 in Automotive > Motorcycle & ATV > Parts > Electrical > Batteries

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

When your car battery goes dead, a jump-start is only a quick fix for the problem that may reoccur. The solution is to recharge the battery, using a product like the Black & Decker Smart Battery Charger.

Fully Automatic Charging
The Smart Battery Charger is fully automatic and electronic, with a Digital Smart microprocessor control and an LED indicator for selecting your charging rate. The three stage automatic rapid charging operates at 40 amps, 20 amps, 10 amps, and 4 amps, with an average 5 minute engine start time and 4.5 hour full battery charge.

The Smart Battery Charger features 3-stage recharging technology. View larger.

This device also features a reverse hook-up warning alarm.

The LED display lets you know when the battery is fully charged.

Works with Any Vehicle
The Smart Battery Charger is ideal for any 12 volt lead-acid battery types, including those that power cars, boats, lawn mowers, RVs, ATVs and more.

State-of-the-Art Technology
It uses a 3-stage automatic high-frequency charging technology to build the battery back up to its normal output level, making it more efficient at charging than conventional model chargers.

Built-in Safety Precautions
The Smart Battery Charger also has a spark-resistant reverse hook-up and overcharge protection circuit built into it to insure that the clamps are not accidentally affixed to the opposite terminals, which would damage the battery. The automatic float mode monitoring tells the unit when the battery is ready to avoid overcharging.

Warranty
Black & Decker offers a full 2-year warranty.

What's in the box
The Black & Decker Smart Battery Charger unit and heavy-duty cables and clamps.

Product Description

The Black & Decker automatic Smart Battery charger is spark-resistant and features a reverse hook-up, overcharge protection, and solid state circuitry. It features three-stage, automatic, high-frequency charging technology for quick and easy charging.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY Smart Battery Battery Charger, November 12, 2007

By 

A. Cavanaugh "acanfixit" (Sarasota, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black & Decker VEC1093DBD Smart Battery 40/20/10/4 Amp Battery Charger (Automotive)

This battery charger is very versatile and powerful for its size. I am a mechanic and it is nice to have all the features of a full size battery charger in a unit that will fit in my toolbox. Looks big, but is fairly lightweight. Highly recommended.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Product, January 29, 2007

By 

Erin L. Reed (Montrose, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black & Decker VEC1093DBD Smart Battery 40/20/10/4 Amp Battery Charger (Automotive)

Very impressed so far. Used it to recondition 2 batteries and charge up 2 others and it has worked flawlessly. Never impressed with Black and Decker tools but I think they got it right this time. Time will tell and I would have given it 5 stars if it holds up for a few years.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Design Faulty, July 2, 2008

By 

kk (Hawaii) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Black & Decker VEC1093DBD Smart Battery 40/20/10/4 Amp Battery Charger (Automotive)

I bought this to trickle charge my car that I rarely drive. This battery has "Float Mode" that is supposed to do this. The instructions say it should go into this mode automatically after fully charging. I waited days but it never switched to Float Mode; meanwhile the built in fan is running 24/7. So I emailed B&D for help. The gal who replied, Barbara Barr, didn't know the product, and on top of it, insisted all new batteries, my Die Hard included, are Gel type. I went back and forth with her for days, telling her that a Sears battery dept head told me they only make Wet type. What's more, I can take the caps off the cells and see the liquid. She insisted it was a Gel type. I gave up on the online support and called the help number on the instructions. Nobody at their call center knew much about this charger. They set up a call back from someone at their headquarters. It took a couple of days to talk due to time differences. This man, Robert, was helpful and knew the product. The instructions should have explained that the charger switches to Float Mode only after the you first fully charged it, then left it hooked up while the battery slowly loses its charge. Once it falls below 12.6v then it should go into Float Mode. In this mode, as its topping up the charge, the fan comes on, but should go off in between. The design flaw is, the built in fan stays on 24/7 until the charge falls below 12.6v even if this takes weeks. The fan is to cool the CPU, but should only need that when the charger is charging and generating heat. It should have been programmed to turn the fan off while its waiting to go into float mode. Or, it should go into float mode immediately after it fully charges. Or, they could give you a manual switch to put it in float mode.
They could of had a good product. Its so close. Yet, its flawed. I'll keep it because there are no good alternatives in the same price range. But you have to tolerate the bad design.

UPDATE - Well, the charger stopped working. The fan never going off was a warning sign. Then, finally, it would show an error message within minutes of hooking it to any battery. I tried it on a new batter too. I had to ship it to Florida to get a replacement. It cost me over $25 from Hawaii, which is about 60% of what I paid for it. The woman I originally spoke to and emailed about it, quit her job. The USPS tracking number I had from Delivery Confirmation showed they got it around June 20th. I didn't hear boo from them so I called and found out it didn't show in their system as returned until July 10th so for 20 days it was in limbo somewhere within their facility. Anyway, it took until October 10th to receive the replacement. Seems to work but I won't leave it hooked up all the time. Oh, and the cable clamps don't have any rubber/vinyl covers to protect you from shock like the original one did.