Schumacher battery charger

Delawaresurfman · Dec 4, 2016

I have a newer Schumacher battery charger. Can it charge my 6 volt battery? It has settings for 2amp, 8 amp, and 12 amp. Large battery, small battery, AMG style battery. It has no setting for 6 or 12 volt battery. Will it know or does it not matter?
Also if it will work hook it up positive to positive and negative to negative correct? It is a 6 volt positive ground original system on a TO30, thanks.

chuck machinist · Dec 4, 2016

You have selected a good manufacturer. What model did you buy ,and then we can give you a definite answer. Chuck

DeltaRed · Dec 4, 2016

No. You must have a battery charger made to do 6v batterys. Chargeing a 6v with a 12v charger will damage your battery.

Delawaresurfman · Dec 4, 2016

Here's a picture, it does say on the bottom right side 12/V

Delawaresurfman · Dec 4, 2016

There's a ton of knowledge here that's why I thought I should ask, thanks

MoMike · Dec 4, 2016

it should have a setting on the charger for 6V if it will charge that type battery. Mine has both 6V and 12V charge and jump start settings.

JMS/.MN · Dec 4, 2016

Only way to do that is to hook two 6v batteries together, in series, then put the charger on, one lead to each battery, maintaining polarity.

mozark · Dec 4, 2016

If it is the same one as I have it is 12v only. It supposedly will not spark when hooked up, and if memory serves me correct, you can hook the leads up backwards without destroying it, but will not try to charge unless the leads are hooked up correctly. All this safety stuff, will also prevent it from charging a completely dead battery. I don't especially like it because if you disconnect the unit before the battery is fully charged and then try to reconnect it to the battery, it detects the surface charge on the battery, declares the battery fully charged and goes into float mode. You can download a manual online
SC 1200A manual

D beatty · Dec 4, 2016

Schumacher is making battery maintainers that charge 12v or 6v and you have to throw no switch and they work. I have several of them. Sears is also selling them which by the looks of them they are made by Schumacher.

Andy Martin · Dec 4, 2016

Always connect + to +.

If it were mine I'd set it on 2 amps and let it run a couple of hours. It's not going to hurt the 6v battery until you let it try to charge it up to 12v. At 2 amps it won't hurt over two hours.

The other way is to charge it through a suitably sized resistor.

jeffcat · Dec 4, 2016

You can walz into wallie world, Sears, or Lowes and pick up a Schumacher maintainer that will charge and maintain. They are fully automatic for 6 or 12. READ the box. I have like eight of them now all over the place and the folks farm. Hook em up, plug em in, and walk away.

guido · Dec 4, 2016

Hello delawaresurfman,

Product assistance at 1-866-713-4401 as posted by you with the picture of the charger,

Guido.

john *.?-!.* cub owner · Dec 4, 2016

Schumacher makes several chargers that will automatically select 6 volt or 12 volt on their own. The only problem I have ever had with them is that if you run a 12 volt battery down below 6 volts, such as leaving it on a fencer, etc. too long it will only charge the battery to 6 volts and stop. The only way I have found to get it above 6 volts is to use an old manual charger for a while, or hook it to your car with jumper cables for a bit.

Texasmark1 · Dec 4, 2016

Well Andy makes a point. Heat is what kills you and 2 amps on a couple of hours is 4 amp hours. So what if the circuitry allows the current to double due to the half voltage charging resistance. Ok so it's 8 amp hours, big deal. Obviously the size of the battery matters. For a size 24 or larger I wouldn't give it a second thought.

Lest we remember that a given engine requires so many hp to spin it up. Back in the day, the HP (746 watts....dc volt-amps/HP) was produced by 6 volt batteries using twice the current of today's 12v batteries. So what if the current doubles from the 2A setting on the charger.

I have a couple of size 27 6 volt batteries out back. I'd have to partial charge them before I did the test. I think I still have a 2/10 amp 12v charger on the shelf. Might take that on tomorrow and check the charging current between one and 2 across 12 v.

Texasmark1 · Dec 5, 2016

Well I didn't get to it today. Had to get ready for our first freeze......24 Friday night . Maybe tomorrow.

Fatjay · Dec 5, 2016

I have 3 of these: https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SEM-1562A-CA-Charge-Battery-Maintainer/dp/B0009IBJAS/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1480994784&sr=8-5&keywords=schumacher+battery+charger

Two on tractors and one on my jaguar. They have worked flawlessly and auto-sense between 12v and 6v batteries. Never had a problem, one tractor has the leads wired to the battery so I can plug and done. They come with both clamps and hardwire leads.

BarnyardEngineering · Dec 6, 2016

This charger is 12V ONLY. The telling sign is that there is no 6V designation on the front panel. They would not keep such a feature "secret."

Schumacher battery charger

Delawaresurfman

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chuck machinist

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DeltaRed

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