This review is for the Sear's DieHard Battery Charger and Maintainer, model number 28-71219. I have owned several of these over the years and I currently have 3 of these... I recommend them and have used them for 40 plus years. The info I will share comes directly from the owners manual for the latest generation/version.
This item is meant for all 6 volt and 12 volt batteries for ATVs, motorcycles, cars, marine, personal water craft, farm equipment, lawn tractors, RVs, snowmobiles, and trucks. It is for 6 and 12 volt lead-acid, Gel, and AGM rechargeable batteries but not for any home appliance dry cell type batteries.
It comes with a connector type cord and with connectors for clamp connections, 12v accessory, and permanent ring connections. It is fully automatic with automatic volt selection/detection, automatic mode operations, and with fault detection. It has a float mode and automatically changes modes as needed. It has LED lights to let you observe the mode of operation.
These sell for around 19 to 29 dollars depending if it is on sale or not. They are available anywhere that sells DieHard or Craftsman products.
Operation: You just plug it in and it does everything with it's own microprocessor. Fully automatic as stated earlier. It detects the charging mode and switches to a maintenance float mode by itself. It continuously analyzes what is needed to keep the battery fully charged with it's own chip. It even has a reverse hookup protection circuit.
In my youth, DieHard was the only brand and the only thing for quality for electrical items and for batteries. I have found this to be as true today as it was then... I have used these chargers and other DieHard chargers my whole life and I have never had a battery hurt or ruined by one... I have permanent connectors on all my cycles, my lawn tractor, and former applicable items. You can leave these connected for long periods and they will operate in float mode maintaining your battery fully charged.
I like this as much as lots of folks like their Battery Tenders. There are several good tenders out there, just make sure it has the float maintenance mode...
DieHard Battery Charger and Maintainer 28-71219
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Re: DieHard Battery Charger and Maintainer 28-71219
Have 5 of these now... Put pigtails on each of the cycles and plugged these into a powerstrip... Liked that idea to encourage using them more, even year round... Now I just pop a side panel and plug in... Turn the strip switch on or off whenever I feel the need...