I have a wheeled Shumacher battery charger that won't charge, any thoughts? It is a 2amp / 20 amp / 40 amp / 200 amp with a timer. The fan comes on but there is no output voltage to the cables. It doesn't look like there is anything fried in the transformer and the breaker on the ground cable is ok.

 

does the rectifier have two round plastic holders on it. if so i bet it the diodes are open, to test you need to disconnect the wires from the plate and use a multimeter with a diode setting. good luck.

 

My last/current charger is a benchtop type and it was the board....did basicly the same thing only I didnt have a fan...I replaced the board installed a fan on the outside and it has been golden...ugly but golden. Your fan may come on directly from the power supply.

 

I had one that gave me problems... The cable was broke right where it crimped to the clamp. I took the opportunity to put longer and heavier cables on it since I was going to have to redo one anyway.

 

Those Schumacher units have a cheapo rectifier assy in them. They are mostly junk. They are repairable if you find the right parts but if that rectifier setup is blown it is probably better to buy a new unit that is not made by Schumacher. Some other name brand units are also made by Schumacher so look closely.

 

What brands do you suggest?

 

I have not bought a new unit for years. I have a couple of those Schumacher units in the junk pile tho that were purchased by friends. Just take a look inside your unit, then when you go looking for one. Peek inside with a flashlight at the rectifiers and don't get anything that looks like it.

 

My Schumacher charger died recently as well.It works on the boost setting but not on charge.I was looking at the battery chargers at Wal-mart and noticed that the Schumacher ones are made in Mexico now, but the one I have was made in the USA and is only a couple of years old so they must have just recently moved their plant.Wal-mart had a charger called a Smart charger for $18 that uses some sort of new technology and only weighs a couple of pounds so I bought that one and it seems to be working fine so far.

 

The problem may be on the transformer. It may not show any physical problem, but usually repairable with a soldering iron. All the spade connections from the power switch use a cheap push in wedge style connection to the wires in the transformer.
It doesn't take much to get a bad contact and lose either one setting or all the power out. Mine lost all the power as they tried to use one wedge spade to connect the over temp unit to the transformer wire. (2 wires at once). there was a small
melted spot near where the 2 wires touch. I had to remove a few pieces of plastic and connect the wires vis solder. For single wires, you just solder the spade clip to the single wire.

 

this thread is over 19 years old. i am quite sure he either got it fixed, or threw it away since then