NOTE: If the charger has to provide its maximum maintain current for a continuous 12 hour period, it will go into Abort Mode (see Aborted Charge section). This is usually caused by a drain on the battery, or the battery could be bad. Make sure there are no loads on the battery. If there are, remove them. If there are none, have the battery checked or replaced.
Maintaining a Battery
The SP3 is a battery charger/maintainer that maintains both 6 and 12 volt batteries, keeping them at full charge. It can charge small batteries and maintain both small and large batteries. If you are maintaining a fully charged large battery, you are properly utilizing the battery charger. However, if you were to use this battery charger to charge a large battery, such as a marine deep cycle battery, that was not fully charged, you may lose some of the battery’s capacity. This would cause the large battery to be unable to hold a charge and become useless. Therefore, we do not recommend charging a large battery with this unit.
NOTE: The maintain mode technology utilized in Schumacher chargers allows you to safely charge and maintain a healthy battery for extended periods of time. However, problems with the battery, electrical problems in the vehicle, improper connections or other unanticipated conditions could cause excessive current draws. As such, occasionally monitoring your battery and the charging process is recommended.
Desulfation Mode
If the battery is left discharged for an extended period of time, it could become sulfated and not accept a normal charge. If the charger detects a sulfated battery, the charger will switch to a special mode of operation designed for such batteries. If successful, normal charging will resume after the battery is desulfated. Desulfation could take up to 8 hours. If desulfation fails, charging will abort, the yellow LED will blink, and the display will show
“CHARGING ABORTED BAD BATTERY”.
Aborted Charge
If charging cannot be completed normally, charging will abort. When charging aborts, the charger’s output is shut off, the yellow LED will blink, and the display will show “CHARGING ABORTED BAD BATTERY”. To reset after an aborted charge, unplug the charger from the outlet, wait a few moments and plug it back in.
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