Customer Reviews

Black & Decker VEC1095ABD Smart Battery 25/10/2 Amp Battery Charger

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Worked great but broke in less than a year. I didn't even use it that much. Fan still runs, but display and other lights don't work.

This B&D charger uses a switching power supply which makes it quite light. The inside of this charger contains almost nothing... just a fan and a circuit board; the large outside dimensions are retained to remind people this charger is just as powerful as its big and heavy cousins. Some of that volume is used for cord and clamp storage.

This battery charger is different from most battery chargers you have ever used. Most old school chargers are built around a big iron line transformer attached to a diode bridge. Those designs rely on the voltage drop in the transformer and diodes to "current limit" the charge... but they really do a marginal job of it.

The B&D charger uses high frequency switching electronics and a tiny, tiny transformer. Unlike like "old iron" chargers, the current is actively regulated to a precise point until the battery voltage rises to where the charger switches to constant voltage mode. This allows you to charge at a maximum safe rate even as the battery voltage rises. The charge rate in amps is always displayed on a two digit LED display.

A caution: The 25 amp range is too high for charging a gas automobile battery if you wish the longest possible lifetime for your battery. Always use 10 amps if you are not in a hurry. 25 amps is good for the impatient, golf carts, deep cycle batteries, and diesel batteries.

This charger does not spark when you connect the clamps... even if you hook them up backward! Current only flows once the charger is satisfied that it is connected to a battery.

This is the best designed and most innovative battery charger I have seen. And the price is right too!

I have the black & decker unit with an F03 problem (model VEC 1095ABD). It has worked well for about 8-9 months, but now it shows only the F03 on any battery (including ones that are operating normally and are charged). I am very disappointed with this unit and it has turned me off from black & decker. The unit is made by a 3rd party OEM (Vector Manufacturing). Previously I owned a Schumacher and it worked well for 10+ years before it was accidentally broken. Anyway, I am going back to Schumacher!

I bought this unit to charge my deep cycle house batteries as well as my starting battery for my boat.

I know my batteries are in good shape...just wanted to top them off for winter. I followed the instructions to the tee and the unit just kept flashing between error code F03 and 000. This says that the batteries are sulfated (which I know they are not). It would not charge any of my batteries. I tried to call black and decker for technical support....um....lets just say I would have had better luck asking my 6 year old.

I returned the unit and bought a less expensive schumacher model 1500 which started working right off.

I also called Trojan Battery [Great Company] and asked them for recommendations for chargers....the person I spoke to listed several. Black and Decker was not on the list.

Maybe I'll post a video review too so you can see it for yourself. Had this two years & warranty just expired. Doesn't mater what battery I put it on. It just comes up F03- Sulfated condition. 1st I'm out the $80 that I paid for the junk-charger plus I'm out $80 that I just paid for a new battery. It's winter in Chicago and I didn't want to take chances with an unreliable battery. Too bad I got stuck with an unreliable-junk charger!

This would be a five star review if the thing kept working. I loved it and found all the features useful and effective.

Alas, it was not to be. The first one failed, and the dealer would not help me, so I sent it back to BD. They sent me a refurb which was intermittent, so back it went. 2 months later, I got another refurb from them. So far, so good. Maybe the third time will be the charm.

UPDATE: A year and a half later.....The third time is not the charm. The fan is super noisy and grindy, and it takes several tries to get the charger to charge.

I bought this for general use for personal cars and the boat. It is light easy to use and has a number of extra features. It tells you if the battery is bad which is very useful. It also is a 25/10/2 which is nice because the 25 will charge a battery is less then 2 hrs. I would recommend this to someone looking for a home use unit.

I purchased this charger to use on a recent fishing trip to Canada. We do a lot of trolling with an electric trolling motor attached to our 16 ft boat. It's not unusual for us to discharge a deep-cycle marine battery after a whole day of fishing. So we needed something that could fully-recharge our batteries overnight. This B&D 25/10/2 charger worked like a charm!! Easy set-up too. I give this product five-stars. It worked flawlessly and exactly as expected.

AWESOME CHARGER! BUY IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS. CHARGED MY ATV BATTERY AND WASN'T SURE IF I SHOULD CHOOSE SMALL 2 AMP 1O AMP OR 25. CHARGED AT 10 AMP AND IT SHUT OFF AND SAID TO MUCH LOAD ACCORDING TO CODE. CHARGED IT AT THE 2AMP RANGE AND IT SHUT OFF AUTO. AWESOME CHARGER!!

This thing can jump any vehicle. I had an electrical short that totally drained a battery, and this charged it up enough to start the car so that I could get a replacement. Awe inspiring.