Clore Automotive PL2320 20-Amp Smart Battery Charger - 6V/12V Auto Charger, Maintainer & Stable Power Supply with Temp Compensation - Perfect for Cars, Motorcycles, Boats & Seasonal Vehicles

OK. Lets get this out of the way: I am an ASE certifed 15 cert master, a trainer, and lead diag tech/foreman of multiple shops for the past 40 years. (4 total, if you are good at what you do, you dont move much).I have owned and used chargers by Associated, Midtronics, Schumacher, Opti, Clore, and the 3 major tool companies (80% of which are subcontracted by one of the above, though some of their chargers have been unique to themselves).Lets start with what this does. Its a "Smart charger". Meaning it has various methods of checking a battery it is connected to and it self determines if and how to charge it within the parameters selected if the battery doesnt fail testing. Though it claims to have a POWER SUPPLY mode, It is NOT a power supply charger and should not be depended upon as such. If you need something to power your motorhome or maintain a charge while programming, this is not the best choice. (Sure on a ford or a GM it probably would manage, however on european cars there is significantly higher current draw during programming, some exceeding 75 amps! This charger does not make 75 amps! It makes 20 on high speed mode)That isnt a knock, it is simply a statement, dont buy this thinking you can watch TV and cook microwave popcorn while sitting in the trailer with an extension cord. It doesnt do that and may be destroyed if you force it to try.NOW, what it DOES do. It medium speed charges car batteries. I specifically tried it on a battery with a shorted single cell (Dont ask how I know this, or how youd know, call it a bad battery). What this means is this battery will hold a charge, but weakly, it may self drain (The shorted cell drains voltage from the other cells). I have previously been able to charge similar batteries to 10 or 11v using a standard non-smart charger and brute force charging, but they still dont last, they may drain in a day or a week, and they wont supply full current load when needed. This charger refused to start charging the weakened battery. If left in sulfation mode, it eventually charged to 2.5v, and always stopped there and eventually ended with an ERROR display. This is normal and correct for a smart charger, they dont like trying to charge defective tested batteries.Where that can be an annoyance is old lead-acid batteries. They develop sulfation, what amounts to deposits (Think of it like mold on bread) and it prevents them from taking in a charge. This material can be burned off with a high intensity charge and the battery can fully recover, but a smart charge will sense the battery as not taking enough current in the test phase and refuse to engage a charge (like this one did) so you cant really desulfate batteries well with a smart charger unless they are only very lightly sulfated and still taking a relatively high current load.A very few smart chargers have a "Manual mode" that is not smart. It lets you select a timed or constant charge at a voltage you select (Usually 13.5 or 14 or whatever preset number) and the charger puts that amount into the cables for the time selected. This is what we call manual or brute force charge, there is no testing, no safety shutdowns, no idea if the battery is overheating or boiling its cells. Its useful when needed, but for the most part it should only be used when needed. AGM and GEL batteries cannot withstand high amp charges for very long at all. Smart chargers know this (when the proper mode is used!) and will pulse the voltage in and pause at times to allow the battery to cool and prevent damage. This charger seems to do that, as I watched it engage and disengage every few minutes in AGM mode, it was longer and more stable in lead-acid mode.I was trying to decide which charger I would go with, the extremely highly rated Schumacher, or this one (about the same price). I chose this one because of several reviews and a few videos showing the schumacher's smart mode preventing a 0v battery from charging almost always. This again is normal, if the battery is asleep from long sitting at 0v, or badly sulfated, the smart charger shuts down. Both chargers have desulfate modes, but from the reading this one seemed to work more often down to 3-4v, the shumacher almost universally would not charge a battery that wouldnt stabilize at 5v before charging begins. I charged 2 -DEAD ZERO- volts batteries using this charger. the 3rd (a known defective but barely chargeable battery) did NOT charge and would not begin the process UNTIL I manually charged it for 45 minutes with jumper cables on my idling car. Then it came up to 10v, and the charger attempted charging finally. I let it sit in sulfation mode 3x as a test and NEVER did it command full charging until I manually charged the battery. It would sit in sulfation trickle mode several hours then end charging with error. Even though with some help it would begin charge on the same battery the next day. After charging this battery tested bad both with a conductance tester and with a load tester, but according to load, it was capable of passing a 240cca load (which means capacity of a 480cca battery). The battery was in fact a 650cca unit so it was significantly compromised. I keep it for test purposes.The high rate of 20amps on the Clore charger is what Id call adequate. Its not a speed charger, 30-50 amps are fast, but fast charging comes with its own set of issues, the best way to charge a battery is long and slow. Better for the battery. fast charging heats it, and heat shortens life.Its light weght which may be fine, but doesnt impress me. heavier probably means more metal, more heat sinks, more quality. But its not a featherweight. The Shumacher is heavier.Ive had it a week, so testing is still in progress, but so far, it is a good basic smart charger with fewer features than the competitor (Schumacher) but it seems to do what it claims pretty well.The Shumacher also claims to have a boost mode of higher amps (they use it as their desulfation mode) and a cranking mode of 50amps. 50amps cranking assist isnt much at all. If a battery is SLIGHTLY weak, say 10v charge, where it cranks slow already, that might be adequate. But starters draw 150-300 amps typically. 50a output may come in low and if it does, then the starter will demand whats missing from the battery and the charger, and the excess current draw can be destructive to a charger. Hence why jumper packs state 800-1000cca, they can deliver 200-400 amps at once, and have room to spare.At this point, Its doing what has been asked. No complaints yet, but gonna try another battery on it tomorrow, and also some current probe measurements during charge.