Customer Reviews

Vector VEC1093 Smart Battery Charger (2/10/20/40/100 Amp)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

This charger makes use of an inverter type power source which is more efficient then old transformer type chargers and much lighter too. This compact unit not only does an excellent job of charging but also includes a means to evaluate the battery condition. The digital display shows charge amperage along with a number of codes that can tell you if the battery has internal short, open cell or sulfated plates and more. If the battery shows sulfated plates this unit will run a 24 hour battery conditioning cycle to remove it.
1. You are getting with this unit a battery charger that will handle the charge time for you and shuts off when done automatically.
2. Checks for proper alternator output voltage.
3. Checks overall battery condition.
4. Will recondition sulfated batteries.
Clips and cables stow neatly in a compartment built into the charger. Both battery clip leads and 110V power lead are six feet long. 5 year warranty. I am very pleased with this unit.

This is an update as of Aug 15, 2006.
My unit is still working great, and my clamps are holding up just fine. Some of the negative post about breaking clamps, I wonder if they changed from the unit I have?

I own an auto repair shop. My technition put his lab scope on this battery charger and said its output is the purest form of DC power he has ever seen, evan better than a cars alternator. Best battery charger I have ever owned, and I have owned a lot of them. I just ordered another one for home.

I received my Vector VEC1093 this week. And tested it in the garage with my 12 year old son today. I have a car and a motorcycle that have 12 volt batteries. My car battery was just replaced and I want to get more life from this new battery (Sears Diehard Gold). My motorcycle sits usually except for weekends and this is very hard on the battery, but this one needs a low ampere charge. The VEC1093 surprised us with it's ease of use and performance as advertised. We put the motorcycle on two amps charge and the three stage process with beeps at each stage started quick and ramped down within a minute to what read 0.00 amps, then at a very low charge rate completed the charging. Green light signaled complete charge and FUL appeared at the digital readout, which read 0.00 two minutes before. Essentially the same result starting at 10 amperes for my car. It will also re-condition batteries ( my next test on my motorcycle). This replaces a Sears 2/10 charger that I have had for 15 years, but never seemed to help my batteries. And could not start a car. This one has starting power at 100 amps and extremely fast three stage charging up to 40 amps. Awesome clean DC charging and state of the art diagnostic features with re-conditioning. I searched and this is the BEST charger I could find. And it did work perfectly.
Now, my son is confident he could use it on both our car and our motorcycle. Better product than I expected.

I'm an electrical engineer working in power electronics and also an old car buff. I got this about 2 weeks ago after my old charger was damaged by water. At 40 amps it charges faster than many roll-around chargers. I haven't used the 1 minute start feature yet. So far I'm really pleased. I read a couple of reviews complaining of the clamps breaking and I can only say that they seem very heavy duty and work great. Some people probably think it's made cheaply since it is so very light. Older battery chargers had heavy iron core transformers and sheet metal cases so the contrast to this plastic case and aluminum heat sink is very dramatic. Small, light and automatic 40 amp charging.. Hard to complain about that. LED display is hard to see in direct sunlight. Cord and Cable store in the rear compartment so no tangled cords. I got it directly from Northern Tool online for the same price as amazon. I like being able to phone if there's a problem with an order. I like amazon but you CANNOT phone them and talk to a human. You can read the specs at vectors web site called battery-care. Overall...a great charger.

I bought this charger based solely on the advertisement...Big mistake....Had it a very short time and both the clamps broke. I called the manufacture and they said to send it back and they would replace the clamps. Shipping cost would be my responsibility of course. They told me they will replace the clamps with the same cheap ones the broke when I had it. As far as I am concerned, customer service on this charger stinks. I would not recommend anyone buy this charger if dependability is a requirement.

Upon receiving this charger I though it would prove to be quality product. Unfortunately not the case.

I have had this charger for a year. All of the labeling has come off the unit. The lableling is barley better than a soup can. The worst thing is that both of the clamps broke at different times.

Called Vector and they said to send the unit back to them. I asked if i could just send the broken clamp back for a new one, the girl on the phone said no. If I changed them myself it would void the warrenty. Bogus !

Pay $15.00 to send the unit back for a broken clamp.

Very poor customer care policies on such an expensive charger.

The charger is still charging but would not spend the additional $$$ it costs for this unit. There are many other 3 stage chargers that would perform equally or better.

I have yet to get the 100 amp quick start to work.

Hope this is helpful

This battery charger is much better than a standard manual charger in so much as it properly charges a battery through stages. It will not charge a battery that is "dead" without faulting. Best to give your battery a boost from a manual charger, then switch over to the Smart charger. The battery clamps are very poorly made and will easily break. Replacement parts are not available through the manufacturer.

I purchased a model VEC1093 at Sears three years ago and have been very happy with the unit. It performed as advertised until the negative terminal clamp broke a couple of months ago.

I have read other reviews that say that the unit will be repaired if the purchaser pays for shipping. I would like to inform all that that option appears no longer available.

I began by calling Vector at 800.618.5178 they said I could send it to any Black & Decker (Dewalt) service center for repairs. Called the nearest Dewalt service center and they informed me that NO parts are available for my $1 part on my $100+ charger. I spent two days following this vicious circle and finally called Noble Direct. They are the company that currently sells this product on Amazon.

The person I spoke with two days ago said they would attempt to help me. Today I called them back to find that NO parts are available for the Vector charger.

Great product but with NO support it is worthless so I recommend that you avoid this product and all other Black & Decker items!

This battery charger lives up to it's name; it's smart. And if you use it correctly it's very rewarding. I charge an 80A deep cycle outboard battery with it on the 40A setting and it's usually done in an hour.

It's desulfating cycle is highly effective, it can literally bring a car battery back from the dead and save you the cost of a new one. There's only a few things necessary to make this charger work well: make sure the battery is on a level surface, and heed the somewhat non-traditional grounding methods such as using a 6ft extension cable from the neg. terminal if the battery is unmounted and plugging the neg. to the chassis if it is mounted in the car. You also want to follow the error messages as it will tell you what your battery needs, to be restored or the connection adjusted.

One more thing, watch for Amazon to put this one on special; when I bought it less than a year ago on a promotion it was a real deal at 90+. Also the model I have looks different than this one (mine has no yellow colors). But it has the same model# and as far as I can tell is the same charger.

I was first using a charger (for an power inverter) that couldn't charge my batteries. I have 2 bank batteries (4 each), a 3 years old one, and a new one. The ancient one gave me performance that I never thought it could have given me : they are 3 years old !! and they keep working ! I haven't tested the new one performance yet !

It's a smart charger. It gave your batteries the good charge at the needed rate ! and it automatically stops when the batteries are full.

The only problem is that I thought I could charge my batteries at 100 Amp rate ! but I was wrong : this is an engine start system...