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This seems to be a great charger! I am using it as a permanently installed charger in a back-up battery-powered sump pump application. I have dual 12-volt deep cycle maintenance free batteries in series for a 24-volt system that feeds a back-up sump pump. It installed in a few minutes but I did have to install different size connectors to fit my battery posts, I configured it in a few seconds, and it has been running fine. This is obviously not designed to deliver high current under continuous operation, but it seems to keep my batteries fully charged and no worries of over-charging. I like the fact that it indicates the percent charge on the batteries, and it definitely shows the drop in charge as the back-up pump goes through run cycles and drains the batteries. I have not had it long enough to vouch for reliability, but it appears to be well made and well designed. As an electronics engineer, I am satisfied with it from a technical and functional perspective.
Update: After nearly 18 months of operation, here is an update that you should be aware of. This charger is very sensitive to power outage glitches, which we get a lot of in our area.
I was wondering what was going on but finally figured it out. The unit charges just fine, but when we get a short power glitch, the unit gets hung up. During a power glitch (lasting a second or two), the unit does not recover. It just sits there with all the indicators blinking. I have to unplug the unit and wait a minute before plugging it back in, then it works fine. I tested this by flicking the circuit breaker on and off quickly, and was able to repeat the problem every time. I fixed it by first plugging the charger into a plug-in surge protector. Works like a champ! So, not sure if it is just my unit or a general issue, but the unit I have is sensitive to power glitches. If you are depending on it to operate without checking it now and then (as in a sump pump battery back-up application like I use it for) then be aware that it might fail when stressed by the power grid. The surge protector seems to fix the problem and I have not had any trouble since. I tend to check my sump system every few days just because it is convenient to do so, so that is how I caught this issue. I am still happy with it but would be concerned about purchasing another one, especially for an unattended long-term charging application.
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A modern battery charger that is small, well-built, and works as advertised. The manual is well written and very clear as to what to do in what order, what to expect from the battery charger, and excellent suggestions to follow when attempting to bring a highly discharged, but still good, battery back to life. NOCO refers to their battery charger line as "wicked smart chargers". I'd say they're right on the mark!
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