Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The instructions are VERY hard to follow - because they made a lot of assumptions. This is to try and help those who were wondering. You've got 3 things to verify first. 1: What KIND of battery are you charging? This is critical and you can only know this by searching the label on Google to figure out if it's AGM, Lithium or other. (For purposes of this writeup I am assuming you got rid of your old clunker years ago and thus your car came with an AGM battery. Most cars sold after 2012-ish are going to have AGM and if it's a hybrid it's almost certainly an AGM. If it's not AGM you'll want to research your specific type.) 2: What problem are you trying to solve? Sounds simple but it isn't. There's a difference between a DAMAGED battery, a DRAINED battery (as in there's no charge at all) and a LOW battery. A DAMAGED battery is unlikely if this is the first time you've had an issue. A DRAINED battery is likely if your car (or whatever device) hasn't been driven or even turned on in at least two weeks. A LOW battery may indicate the battery needs to be replaced. This device can help with all three, but it's critical you understand what YOUR situation is. If you don't know, don't just buy this, get it towed to Autozone or whatever; they test batteries for free. 3: How urgent is your problem? Meaning, if you're stranded somewhere, you need to be calling a tow truck instead of researching this; it's not going to help UNLESS you're very near a power outlet. If you're at home you're probably fine, but you'll likely need an extension cable depending on how your place is laid out. OK, so after that, here's the run down. 1️⃣ connect the charging cables to the device, then attach the charging cables TO THE BATTERY - DON'T PLUG IT INTO THE WALL YET. If you have a hybrid I know they say jump it from under the hood - don't. Just attach straight to the battery (for hybrids it's likely in the trunk behind a side panel). The reason for this is that there could be a defect in the line (thus why your battery's in the state that it's in). There should be one "pole" or post that has a (+) sign, that's positive, or look for it under a red colored rubber cover. Connect positive (red) to this, then connect negative (black) to the other post, BEFORE plugging the device into the wall. Attach to the battery first. If your battery isn't dead, you may get a spark, that's fine. It's a clue that your battery still has at least some juice. 2️⃣ plug the device into the wall outlet. The device should get an amber standby light (the power symbol). If you don't get this check if your outlet is one that has a fuse breaker (the two buttons) and see if you can reset it. Also verify this outlet has power; plug something else in; might also be powered by a switch somewhere. In other words CHECK THE OUTLET BEFORE YOU ASSUME THE DEVICE IS DEFECTIVE. If you check all that and still don't get a base amber light, the device MIGHT be defective; but check step 3 first. 3️⃣ Tap the MODE button once; it does take a bit of effort to push it in. It should light up 12v. (if nothing happens, it's likely defective). DON'T LEAVE IT ON 12v. Keep tapping until those lights are off (and ideally the amber status light goes back on). This is where you need to know the battery type; it's likely one of these three. HOWEVER...THIS SETTING IS FOR MAINTENANCE AND TRICKLE CHARGE, NOT FROM-ZERO CHARGING. So chances are, if you bought this device, this setting is NOT what you need YET. Proceed to Step 4 (this step was just to test the device to make sure it wasn't DOA). 4️⃣ This is a bit tricky - but tap the MODE button once (lights up 12v), then TAP AND HOLD for 3 seconds (literally count alligators in your head), then release (yes, you need to say "alligator" the third time). The light should go down to the second row with 6v on the right. Now, you're back to tapping and the light will cycle to the left. IF YOUR BATTERY IS NOT DAMAGED - and the way you'd know that is whether it holds a charge or not - YOU WANT "12v Supply". This will not give you an obvious indicator level, but if you need to jump this car, this will let you do it. It'll basically give enough juice to the battery to allow it to turn over - use the car's interior lighting as a clue. You may need to leave it on for a half hour or so just to make sure there's enough for the initial draw. (Once you can get the gas engine going the alternator will complete the charge after you drive for about 30 minutes; otherwise see Step 5). So basically treat "12v Supply" like a jump. It'll give you enough to complete the charge; if it doesn't hold, you can then go to "12v Repair" and let it cycle, but that's only if the battery has been dry for a very long time, usually. DO NOT LEAVE THE BATTERY PLUGGED IN ON 12V SUPPLY THINKING YOU'RE DOING GOOD - YOU'RE GOING TO DAMAGE THE BATTERY AND LIKELY CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS. This is because at some point there's going to be feedback going the other way. That's NOT what you want. 5️⃣ After it's been on "12v Supply" for about 30 minutes to an hour - just enough to have some base life, you can now tap MODE twice to go back to the maintenance mode I mentioned before, then (and this is critical) TAP UNTIL THE TYPE OF BATTERY YOU HAVE IS LIT. This is so that the charger will provide charge in a way that is healthy to the battery. You will also get the level indicator at the top to start working correctly (this works even if the battery's dry, but from dry, it can't hold enough charge to increase; you'll just see it bounce from one to two and back to one over and over again while lights flicker. That's why you have to do "12v Supply" first to give it enough to hold from regular draw (your car is always drawing from the battery for something or other), THEN do the maintenance setting if you want to go all the way to full and keep it there if you can't (or don't want to) drive it right away. One possible misconception with this device is the assumption it does all of the above automagically. It does NOT. You can leave it on maintenance mode but it'll never charge, I promise you, and you can leave it on 12v Supply but you'll have a problem if it charges for too long. 12v Repair seems to be more about testing the drain, so I suspect it won't "harm" anything, but it likely will shorten the life of the battery if left on too long, especially if you don't actually need it. Put it this way - if you've never had a problem starting your car until that ONE time during the pandemic that you stopped driving for weeks, you likely DON'T need 12v Repair. You likely just need to charge it up a bit, then put it in maintenance mode for however many days until you next drive; I would even suggest not leaving it plugged in but maybe plug it up for maintenance mode once a week or something for a few hours, just so that there's drain-and-charge. 6️⃣ Once you get the green indicator the device believes that the battery is full. At this point you can (theoretically) leave it connected in maintenance mode, or just plug it in as needed. To remove the device, remove things in REVERSE ORDER - Tap MODE until it's in standby again, then remove negative (SET IT A VERY GOOD DISTANCE AWAY FROM METAL), then positive (SET IT A VERY GOOD DISTANCE AWAY FROM NEGATIVE AND METAL), uncouple the charging cables, then unplug the device from the wall. You are (or should be) done. One other thing I might suggest to you is to consider a portable AC generator. They go for fairly cheap here on Amazon - that way if you do get stranded somewhere that doesn't have a power outlet, you can use those for that initial jump. Something else to consider for your emergency roadside (self) assistance. I have two emergency type devices - one's a powerbank: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LBLQ9YY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The other is an actual portable generator: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MYT6SZ5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (no longer available, but you can look some of the related similar products) which has other helpers like a light and USB outlets - could be a saver if you're literally in the middle of nowhere when your battery acts up.