A dead battery is never a good thing, but when it comes to off-road toys, they may sit in the garage and not be used every day to charge the battery. To prevent a headache when it came time to go have fun.
We tested out Shell’s 1 Amp/4 Amp Automotive Battery Charger and Maintainer (SBC400). The charger and maintainer is able to charge 6-volt and 12-volt lead-acid batteries including Wet, GEL, AGM, VRLA, and MF, and 12-volt Li-ion (LiFePO4) batteries.
“Shell’s battery charger and maintainer offers seven levels of protection,” Claudia Lai from Camelion North America Inc. explained. “Including short-circuit, reverse polarity, over temperature, over-charge, over-voltage, over-current protection, and defective battery prompt.”
Chargers can be a little intimidating for some owners, but the Shell charger and maintainer offers a worry-free operation. The charger stops automatically and will not over-charge the battery.
The product features an LCD screen that displays the charging rate, charging status and battery mode. Having multi-stage charging the charger and maintainer can perform desulfation, soft start, bulk, absorption, battery test, and trickle charge.
“The 11-stage charging optimizes the battery charging performance, reduces the wear during charging, and prolongs the battery life,” Lai said. “The charger has a cold-weather mode which enables batteries to be charged at temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit.”
“It is a charger and a maintainer with two charging currents for selection,” Lai continued. “Select 4A to charge the battery whenever you need it or use 1A charging to maintain the battery and make it always ready to go.”
Overall, we used the Shell battery charger and maintainer on full-size trucks to side-by-sides with no issues. The charger was straightforward to use and we weren’t worried about walking away from it.
The Shell Battery Maintainer can be purchased on Amazon, through Shell’s store. What project could you use this on? Tell us in the comments!