Event date: 22 June 2021

At the June Member’s meeting held at Makulu Vehicle storage, I was lucky enough to win the lucky door prize! That prize was the 12 Volt Battery Charger and Maintainer made by Century Batteries.

First thing the next morning, I decided to give it a test drive. I didn’t have a flat battery to properly test it out on.  So I just hooked it up to my car to see what happened.

There is a little bit of homework you need to do beforehand. I won't go into too much detail because there is an excellent guide on how to use it on the Century Batteries website.

And if you’re not 100% sure of your battery’s specification, you can look up your car on the Century website.  It will tell you the composition and Ah rating of the battery.

But as long as you know your battery type, and the correct charging rates; it’s as simple and connect, set, and forget!  Charging took longer than expected on my daily driver - testing, charging, testing again, charge some more – but after 4 hours, the FULL light was illuminated, and I was ready to disconnect.

Like most battery chargers, this isn’t a tool you’d use often unless you have cars that remain in storage for a long time.  But on that topic, my favourite feature of this charger is the second set of leads that have lugs instead of alligator clips.  So, if you have a car that spends a lot of time on charge, you can simple bolt these leads to the battery terminals, and you’d never need to worry about them unclipping or being bumped off.

Overall, it’s a great product!  Super easy to use, fool-proof, and cost effective at $159.99 at most major automotive and camping shops.  Especially when you consider the price of a replacement battery for a modern auto start/stop car (which is a whopping $450 for my little F20 125i).

Thanks again, Century!

Scott Long | Member #588
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne