Battery Protector (T3)

I've had the Platinum Model Battery Brain on my Chevy truck for 7 years and it's worked great. This one that I received from Amazon does not have the manufactures name "Battery Brain" on it any where. It has "Sure Start" listed on the instruction manual in a plain brown cardboard box but it does looks exactly like a Battery Brain. I installed it and it works just like the Platinum but it does not have the buzzer that came with the Platinum model to indicate that it is activated when you click on the remote control. It does click loud enough to be able to tell when it's activated or you can leave the parking lights on so you can tell it's activated when the parking lights go out. Then when you come back to your vehicle you can click on the remote and see if the parking lights come back on so you know it's been deactivated. It also does not have the VIBRATION SENSOR that was included with the Platinum model, a safety item. The vibration sensors are available on E-bay. Just type in Battery Brain and you can find the sensors. This model should have had a black jumper wire included so that it could be wired to not shut off when the engine is running since it does not include the vibration sensor. Without a vibration sensor or a jumper wire to keep power to the unit it could shut the engine off while you're driving if the voltage falls below 11.8 volts which is a safety item that should be addressed in the directions. They included a red jumper wire so that the radio and clock will keep power but it defeats the purpose of this battery protector because it will allow the voltage to drop below 11.8 volts which it was designed to not let happen. Over all it's a good product but they have made short cuts in order to save money and they really should have included instructions with this Sure Start model for the vibration sensor option. If I owned a company that manufactured these things I would be worried sick expecting a law suit for not including a warning or the accessories to keep these units from shutting an engine down while someone is driving their vehicle that could get them injured or killed. No excuse for not at least including a warning and a parts list for items that need to be purchased along with instructions on how to install them to keep the units from shutting down a vehicle while someone is driving.

I purchased this product knowing it seemed to have jumped in price by almost 40% for no particular reason but still thought it would be a useful product for my old Jeep- I was happy with the line that said only a screw driver and wrench was needed since that was about all I had available.Unfortunately when the product came in there is in fact another wire that MUST be installed, not pictured- the 'engine on' wire which the manual says must be installed otherwise it may accidentally disconnect your battery while driving- not a position you want to be in. To connect this wire you must find a wire that is normally +12 volts only when your ignition is in the 'on' position. I will grant you this may not be difficult for people who know the inside of their car but those people probably don't need this device to begin with and I bought this on the claim that it was 'easy' to install. Without installing this wire it would be dangerous to operate the vehicle with Battery Brain installed- I'm going to need a voltage meter, electrical probe, and a lot of time to track down the right wire to tap- also it says you 'may' need a wire tap to complete installation- of course this is not included so besides the extra tools I have to go buy extra parts as well and the wire length included just isn't that long so I'll probably need more wire too.The manual says you can buy a 'vibration sensor' in place of the engine-on wire and I would have purchased it had I known it was needed, it is approximately $10 at the time of this writing.Additional Info:If I could lower this to 1 star I would. I received my 'vibration sensor' and attempted installing the product- I find it difficult to believe any vehicle has the space needed to mount this as pictured- that said I tried anyway. While attempting to install I found the wiring and butter-fly connects are poor fits, these things will not 'clip' on securing they most definitely need to be soldered or something. Despite this I still tried to push forward and when I began tightening the bolt on the positive side of the battery (there is no nut) I ended up stripping the piece because I wanted to make it TIGHT- like I would any connection to a car battery- basically the whole thing was ruined- this entire device is cheap junk and you shouldn't waste any money on it.

I was exited when I read this item's description. I have a convertible Mustang that is several years old that, while I love it, I don't drive it as much as I'd like. This, of course, results in an often-drained battery. The Battery Brain Gold promised solutions to all problems. A manual button to cut or reset batter power, an override switch, a remote control so you don't have to lift the hood, an automatic power monitor in case you forget to cut the power or just decide not to, and even direct power connect wires to power specific items while the power is overridden. Fantastic! Except it doesn't work.The brain was pretty simple to install and it worked for two days, giving me false hope. And when I say two days, I mean a drive to the gas station one day and a three mile drive to work the next. Nothing happened when I tried to cut power after arriving at my office that second day. The remote was completely ineffective. Upon arriving at home at the end of the day I opened the hood and tried the manual button. Nothing. Not only did it not cut power, the button didn't even click. It has ceased to anything at all.Believing that the unit was simply defective, I ordered another. This one didn't even work as well as the first. The button didn't work at all and the remote cut power twice before stopping and never restored power. I had to manually override the device and then just disconnect it.I really do not feel it's worth the money on this one; and to make things worse, Amazon increased its price by $30 since I purchased it! I will now try a manual switch which will physically sever the power flow - and pay $60 less to simply raise the hood.