Craftsman 4 Port Multi Chem Charger —

This new charger is currently not on display in any of the Sears stores.  Some of the stores have it, but it is displayed in a sealed box.  Sears sent me one to review a month ago. I pulled it out of the box, read the manual, hung it on the wall by the backdoor of my workshop and promptly forgot about it.

But over the last month I have grown to appreciate this new charger.  This battery charger just doesn’t charge your batteries. It will MAINTAIN them. It will take care of the new lithium batteries and the standard Ni-Cads. It will accept all Craftsman EX and DieHard 19.2 volt battery packs. I no longer have to worry about over charging my NiCad 19.2′s  I just plug them into this charger and leave them alone. I can easily tell if I have a battery fully charged.

19.2 volt 4 port Multi-Chemstry Charger

I made a comment recently about how I wish you could hold and look at the new Craftsman C3 19.2 volt 4 port multi-chemistry charger on a tool forum.

I got the retort back: “How would you handle a charger to see if you like it? It’s an immobile block into which you stick batteries. There’s no ergonomics, balance, or performance you can test by being able to handle it. It just sits there, controlling the flow of electricity…an activity that you can’t see happen without plugging it in, and can’t quantify by holding it. Color me contrary, but holding one seems kind of pointless.”

That’s my point: Most battery chargers are just a block of plastic. Most battery chargers just sit there taking up space on your workbench.  This one looks cool.  It hangs on the wall in it’s own  wall bracket and has a beautiful blue light that doesn’t just blink…it fades on and off when it’s sleeping. The charging and maintenance lights are big, bold and not round. It has a soft handle so you just unsnap it from the wall and carry it around. The four batteries CLIP into the unit and can’t fall out.

I am going to go into more detail about the indicator lights.

The Blue  C3 Light:

After you plug the charger in the first light you see is the blue light in the middle of the unit with C3 emblazoned on it. This light is the “status indicator” and you can easily tell what is going on with the charger itself.

If the light is off the power is off to the charger. If the light shows a continuous blue light the power is on.

When the C3 light continuously fades on and off the charger is in sleep mode.  Once the batteries in the ports are fully charged this unique charger goes to sleep.  If nothing changes it will wakes itself up after about 5 days and check the batteries plugged in.  If there is nothing to do, it goes back to sleep.  You can wake the charger up anytime by pressing the light.

When the C3 light fades on and off and then blinks it is telling you there is a bad battery in one of the ports.  Press the button and the charger wakes up and shows you which battery is defective.

The other LED lights.

There are two lights by each battery port. A red and a green.  The lights tell you what is going on with the battery plugged into the port. Here is a summary of these lights and what they mean.

Red LED: ON Green LED: Off  – Battery in and ready to charge
Red LED: Flashing Green LED: Off – Battery is being tested
Red LED: Flashing Green LED: Flashing  – Battery is Defective
Red LED: ON Green LED: Flashing – Battery is charging
Red LED: Off Green LED: ON – Battery is fully charged
Red LED: Flashing Green LED: Flashing – Alternately flashing lights.  The port itself is having a problem.  Pull the battery and reinsert it.

This is much more than just a battery charger, it is an extension of your 19.2 volt tools. Take a look at it, read the manual, plug a battery into and watch it go through the cycles.

I like this one enough to go out and buy my own!

You can order yours here: Craftsman 4 Port Multi Chem Charger