kinakoes2

When it comes to float charging your vehicle's battery... Schumacher had some of the best products on the market back in 2006, and still do today.

First, let's start with the smaller, motorsports-designed XM1-5...

This was the replacement for the older SEM-1562A, long a favorite of mine and with the larger moto crowd (cruisers and Gold Wingers), by having features and tech that the eye-bleedingly-expensive-for-what-it-is Battery Tender and Tender Jr. conspicuously don't have:

-- automatic switching to desulfation, charge, and float currents
-- when plugged in, no current to the clips/eyelets until the unit senses the battery is correctly hooked up
-- price under $20 (if you shop Amazon Prime, even the new XM1-5 is still $16)

The Wingers, who've had charging problems up the ying-yang with the earlier 1500s and related bikes (like the Valkyrie & weird but wonderful Rune)... love this thing. I remember reading a Winger forum test that a rider who was an electrical engineer, did with the Battery Tender, Yuasa, and the Schumie... and for actually preserving battery performance and extending life, the SEM-1562A had it hands down... and, it cost less than a couple of slices of good pizza. Mind you, both the engine size and battery size and rating for the 1500 Wing and a Fit, are very close.

The XM1-5 has all of this with more up-to-date circuitry, and took it a bit further by improving the desulfation feature and doing a better job of detecting small loads on cars (like clocks and tripping the interior lights on door ajar), without tripping the unit to shut off (it can only be reset after this, by unplugging and replugging).

However, at a fixed 1.5A, the Yuasa YT12A-BS Suzuki SV650 battery that I'm nursing back to life right now will take forever to desulfate (Schumie says 8 - 10 hrs, which is too long for me). That's why I bought the XCS15W, which does up to 6A with my type of battery.

The XCS15W has more features you can select on its front panel, but basically all you do is: connect terminals up and plug in --> select moto/car --> select type of battery STD/AGM/GEL --> go grab a sandwich -- it does all of the rest for you. At $50 from Wally World it wasn't cheap at all, but on Amazon they're much nicer-spec Schumies for that price, like the $33 SC-1200A/CA. I couldn't wait ten days for my charger, so settled on this one.

There are much nicer alligator clips on the terminals of this model compared to even one step down -- these will fit nicely on both moto and car battery terminals, which was the intent. 6A means the desulfation on this moto battery will happen four times faster than w/ the XM1-5 -- 2 - 3 hours vs. 8 - 12. And if I need to resurrect my Civic one it can be pumped up to 15A.

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TL;DR:

Pros:

-- for the cost, nothing can touch this unit for the performance and features
-- upgraded clips for more types of terminals with better safety
-- nice compact shell with a carry handle
-- front display shows percent to full charge, plus actual voltage of battery
-- ability to choose type of battery, as well as charging amps to match amp-hr/CCA rating


Cons:

-- only alligator clips are available; this cannot use eyelets that bolt onto your moto terminals, then stay with the bike as you unplug it (that's something the XM1-5 is for, is my guess)

-- neither display nor indicator LEDs show when the unit is in desulfation mode (it does describe when in the manual, but it would be nice to have a light telling us it may be a couple of hours wait rather than 30 mins wait)

-- when you're forced to buy this unit at a brick/mortar WalMart rather than save gobs of cash getting it from Amazon... it sucks.


My subjective rating: 9 stars of 10. Not perfect, but not far off.

kinakoes2

Links to both devices:

XM1-5

XCS15W