Costumer review about Ring Automotive RSC504 Smart Charger, 12 V, 2/ 4 A
I bought this charger 2 years ago. I fitted it to my Land Rover with permanent connections to the battery. My LR is goes for long-ish periods (several weeks at a time) without use, so the idea is to keep the battery fully charged. It works. Never had a flat battery since, and the LR starts every time, even in cold weather. I'm old enough to remember the days when mains battery chargers were crude things with rippling dc where the peak voltage could be high enough to kill alternator diodes. Therefore we always disconnected the battery earth cable before charging on the vehicle. I was worried about alternator damage with this charger, so I called the Ring helpline. This is an excellent service – no waiting in a queue, and the person I spoke to knew his stuff. He assured me that permanent connection was fine, and indeed it has been. Absolutely no problems. I leave the charger set to the 2 amp setting (there is a 4 amp setting as well), plug it into the mains when I've finished with the LR, and forget it. Battery stays fully charged. Ideal. Two small niggles: there are no mounting lugs ( I had to fit it to the LR using cable ties), and there is a tiny torch function powered by a "pill" battery. Might be useful in some situations, but seems pointless to me.