Streetwize Automatic Trickle Battery Charger – Keep Car, Motorbike, Motorhome, and Boat Batteries Fully Charged – Safe, Easy, and Reliable Indoor Charger

Often in life things get "smart" to the detriment of usability, user interface and longevity and I find myself more frequently hunting out basic devices where the ethos is "keep it simple, stupid" - this is one such device. This cheap and cheerful charger is a small, inexpensive and basic charger that just gives a constant low rate of 1.5A charge, up to the point of meeting the required voltage, when it switches off. If you keep it attached, it waits for the voltage to drop a bit and then it switches back on. The three LED indicator lights tells you at what state it's in. Being "only" 1.5A it can take a while to charge (depending on the battery size) but low and slow is better for car/bike batteries as it prevents overheating and keeps the battery in better condition. I have a posh and expensive CTek battery conditioner but it's got very limited usability. They're fine if you know in advance you're going to be not using your vehicle (ie a classic car over winter), but as a way to revive and recharge a dead battery they're useless. The problem with "smart" battery conditioners/chargers is that they need the battery to have SOME charge (around 4V in the case of the CTek) to enable a feedback loop to say "yes, I need charging". But if your battery is dead, then it can't see that there's a battery attached and does nothing. A force trickle feature would be a good addition but alas there isn't. I hooked this baby up to my scooter battery (after 2.5months of not being used) and it's charging it nice and slowly and holding charge. This has saved me buying a new expensive battery.

Superb. We came back yesterday from 3 months in Spain, we’d left the var connected to this Trickle Charger and the cable was thin enough to shut the bonnet and the car started first time. Very happy customer.

I bought this charger as it was an ok-ish price for a small charger for a motorbike battery - later turned out it wasn't the battery that was the problem, but there you go! I plugged this in & it worked immediately, straight out of the box. Doesn't deliver a lot of charge, but then no ill harm should befall your battery! There are no switches or visible moving parts, just a black vented box, your 2 croc clips to fix to battery (black to black, red to red I've always done) 2 LEDs (a red LED to let you know it's on, & a green to let you know it's done - or maybe to tell you it's charging? I forget...sorry!) & a plug to plug it in; then away you go. (NB: I like that it is simple, as I knew little about batteries & charging when I bought this product!) It delivers 1.5 Amp of power, so ok for smaller batteries. Also it has an Auto cut-off, so ok to leave your bike on charge for weeks(??) unattended in the garage over Winter, perhaps? However it's worth noting, it will do bigger batteries - Eventually, provided the battery drain doesn't outweigh the 1.5 Amp going in! For e.g: it gave the battery in my Mk 5 Golf GTI enough stored power to start easily, after it had been drained COMPLETELY by the actions of a couple of "Well-wishers" (let's call them) while I was on holiday for a month. I did have to leave the battery on charge uninterrupted for nearly a week (as the Golf takes 70 Amp to fill the battery, apparently) but if you don't mind the wait, this product does the job of more expensive ones I have seen.

I use my motor scooter occasionally so it can be parked in the garage for weeks. The alarm that’s fitted has a minimal drain on the battery but its still a drain. And, over time, the battery will run flat which does the battery no good. Leaving this plugged in and topping up the battery allows me to start the bike on the first press of the starter and the battery condition is maintained. There are two LEDs, red for power on and the green to show when its charging. The green LED goes out when the battery is fully charged which is opposite to what you'd expect. That doesn’t make it any less useful and it deserves the 5 stars I've given. It is far cheaper than,say, an optimate and (in my view) works better. I've had two other chargers, an oxford and an optimate and I'd recommend this one. The charge current isn't as high as the others I've mentioned but its not a rapid charger and never claimed to be.

This is the second of these trickle chargers I have bought. The first I was very pleased with although then they only had two lights. Red for On and Charging and Red plus Green for Fully Charged. The new improved version which I have just received provides a useful third Amber light giving you the reassurance that the unit is charging and all is well. The unit is very reasonaby priced. Infact it is really quite cheap in comparison to some others but at any price this is a very good charger. Especially if used on a classic or other vehicle which is not run for long periods as it will not overcharge and kicks in and out as the voltage drops even just a little. This process also keeps the battery in good condition. By using this product the battery is always fully charged and ready for use.

Good product

Good charger, it works as it should

Bought it this week, used it same day I got it to charge a brand new battery that - due to a fault with the 'bike I'm still trying to narrow down - had been sat for 6 weeks whilst I saved up for parts. Plugged it in at 1400hrs and woke up to a fully charged battery in the morning (I think it was charged by 2300hrs, but as I was under the influence of vodka, can't be too sure). Despite the faulty electrics, there was definitely a difference in the charge as the 'bike started strongly and ticked over strongly (on it's one working cylinder). Warning to anyone using it in the house: the charger stinks of brand new plasticy/electrical-component-goodness straight out of the box. It wore off after the first use, but initially was enough to stink out the living room and kitchen in the house! Personally I liked the smell, but the wife sent me packing into the freezing porch to start charging it...