NOCO Chargers are Garbage - What's a better brand?

[trialanderror]

I bought the noco genius 2d and 10. Wanted to try the desulfate mode. Probably will fail with all the electronics in it.

Outside of that, I've been slowly buying the old wire wound transformer/analog ones. I have 7 of the old RACs 6/12 2/4 amp, and 3 of the bigger 60/40/2/250 centurys. The rectifiers/timers/switches can still be found if your transformer is good. The waffle plate that the double star diodes sit against, if there's any corrosion, that's the end of them. All the diodes have to make contact, once one smokes, it upsets everything so bad it'll bleed AC waves and possibly damage items on the DC circuit, or possibly trip the breaker. I had issues of a rectifier so nasty it'd immediately arc the heat plate and blow the 15amp in the fuse panel.



I try and use any wire wound transformer battery charger on 15amp breakers. If possible 10amps. You don't want to loose them triple wound transformers.....

The centurys are a beast. Theyll easily pump 16v @ 60amps on the one winding, non stop duty cycle. One of them i added a 75ft power cord, and some 2ga copper leads that are 50ft each. Very handy. Also added bigger wheels.

Timer has a hold position, that I forgot if too close.to the hold position, the timer isn't a timer anymore. I thought neighbor was shooting a gun during the night. Next morning all I see was the bottom of the battery case and blown plastic in a 70ft radius.

I ordered a new timer. $7

 

[ballisticdoughnut]

I’ve had a NOCO G7200 for several years now. I use it roughly once a week year round, little more during winter time. No issues with it thus far.

 

[PasoRoblesJimmy]

Purchased this Schumacher battery charger when my old Craftsman battery charger pooped out. I like the 100 amp engine start and the 30 amp boost. Happy that it won't overcharge my batteries.

Schumacher Electric Battery Charger and Maintainer, SC1281, 4-in-1, Fully Automatic, 100 Cranking Amps, 6v and 12v Automotive Batteries - Ideal for Motorcycle, Cars, Trucks, Marine Batteries and More​

I slso like the 4A Battery tender for battery maintenancee and trickle charging.

Battery Tender 022-0209-DL-WH 4A Selectable Charger is an AGM/Standard or GEL/Lithium Ion Switchable, 12v or 6v Switchable at 4a, Includes Rings & Clips. It Will Never Over Charge Your Battery​

I used the 100 amp and 50 amp modes on my Schumacer battery charger to rejuvenate a dead battery in a neighbor's pickup. It enabled her to get 2 more years of use out of that battery.

The Schumacher also has an Equalizing Mode which overcharges the battery to equalize voltage in each battery cell.

 

[jeffpack1957]

I use VDC Electronics Maintainers on everything here at the farm. Batteries last for many many years

 

[Doug]

https://www.advancedbattery.ca/8-myths-and-facts-about-lead-acid-batteries/

https://www.instructables.com/Reversing-Sulphation-for-Lead-Acid-Batteries/

Interesting article on sulfation, thank you for the link

 

[jeffpack1957]

I stay away from any trickle type chargers, as inevitably they seem to make any batteries around here go bad much faster than a smart charger/maintainer.


My experience anyways

 

[autobaun70]

I stay away from any trickle type chargers, as inevitably they seem to make any batteries around here go bad much faster than a smart charger/maintainer.


My experience anyways

Trickle rates in and of themself don't cause issues, however they can fail to keep a battery healthy, and if left on beyond a full charge cycle can kill a battery. Ideally you want a battery to be charged at its proper rate through the bulk charge phase, top off from 80 or 90% up to 100% fairly slowly, then cut off completely. Slower is not better for the bulk phase. Over time a lack of charging current can lead to sulphation and reduced battery life.

Generally speaking, 10amps is plenty for most automotive batteries and deep cycle. For deep cycle up to group 31's, 15 is much better, but not absolutely critical.

It won't harm a battery to be charged at a lower rate, but over time is less than ideal. On big deep cycle batteries...think forklifts...undercharging by 5% can shorten life cycle by a year or more. Gets really important as they get bigger/more expensive.

 

[Fruitcake]

From my experience with multiple chargers I’ve always gone back to OLDER chargers like the Schumacher type. The newer one are not always smart.

 

[JonEdwards]

I prefer a old fashioned hard charger with a voltmeter to check if the battery needs replacement, smart charger is nice but if you're battery goes dead it's not going to help you as it requires a minimal charge to function, works on all big Riggs and chippers, even other personalized equipment for the job

 

[autobaun70]

I prefer a old fashioned hard charger with a voltmeter to check if the battery needs replacement, smart charger is nice but if you're battery goes dead it's not going to help you as it requires a minimal charge to function, works on all big Riggs and chippers, even other personalized equipment for the job

That's one major benefit of the NOCO specifically, compared to most other smart chargers. It can be manually started, even on a flat battery. Most do not include that feature, which is a poor design choice in every case IMO.

 

[Chevboy0167]

I got 2 of these for portable work.

https://cloreautomotive.com/product/pl2310/

 

[sean donato]

That's one major benefit of the NOCO specifically, compared to most other smart chargers. It can be manually started, even on a flat battery. Most do not include that feature, which is a poor design choice in every case IMO.

The "manual" is actually a power supply mode for programming the ecu. It does do a decent job of getting a surface charge in a "dead" battery though.

 

[autobaun70]

The "manual" is actually a power supply mode for programming the ecu. It does do a decent job of getting a surface charge in a "dead" battery though.

That's actually 2 different modes. Power supply mode is constant on @ 13.6V & 10 amps nominal (amps will vary slightly depending on absorption capacity of the battery). Manual start is limited to 5 minutes run time with variable voltage/amperage. Unless you have the ability to put a battery out in an open space or fire protected area, you won't want to just hook it up to a constant rate power source that does not have a timeout function. Power supply mode is very handy for a variety of things, especially flashing ECM's. Older Chryslers have a tendency to fail to load tunes if battery voltage drops during flashing....been there on my 2008 Ram loading a predator tune...had to ship the ECM off to Holly to have it fixed. Something as simple as opening the door to the vehicle during an ECM flash can upset the volage enough to make it fail to load. Force mode will run higher voltage to get enough surface charge on a battery to maintain automatic charging.

My biggest complaint about NOCO on the Genius lineup is that they don't include a durable quick reference card or put the mode instructions on the charger itself. Then if you scan the QR code the pertinent information is contained on 4 pages of a 40ish page booklet. All I care about is the instructions and I don't want to look at it on a phone screen out in the sunlight while I'm trying to use it. I've messed with literally thousands of chargers for different applications...mostly material handling equipment, and they are the only one I have seen that does not consolidate the pertinent information where you can find/read it easily. Literally nobody cares about the government warnings...I get they have to be included, but don't intermingle those with the important stuff.

The attached PDF prints to a single page front/back which is easy to laminate and keep in a pouch/case with the charger. I have mine in a cheap canvas zipper pouch from the hardware store about the size of a bank bag.

 

[sean donato]

That's actually 2 different modes. Power supply mode is constant on @ 13.6V & 10 amps nominal (amps will vary slightly depending on absorption capacity of the battery). Manual start is limited to 5 minutes run time with variable voltage/amperage. Unless you have the ability to put a battery out in an open space or fire protected area, you won't want to just hook it up to a constant rate power source that does not have a timeout function. Power supply mode is very handy for a variety of things, especially flashing ECM's. Older Chryslers have a tendency to fail to load tunes if battery voltage drops during flashing....been there on my 2008 Ram loading a predator tune...had to ship the ECM off to Holly to have it fixed. Something as simple as opening the door to the vehicle during an ECM flash can upset the volage enough to make it fail to load. Force mode will run higher voltage to get enough surface charge on a battery to maintain automatic charging.

My biggest complaint about NOCO on the Genius lineup is that they don't include a durable quick reference card or put the mode instructions on the charger itself. Then if you scan the QR code the pertinent information is contained on 4 pages of a 40ish page booklet. All I care about is the instructions and I don't want to look at it on a phone screen out in the sunlight while I'm trying to use it. I've messed with literally thousands of chargers for different applications...mostly material handling equipment, and they are the only one I have seen that does not consolidate the pertinent information where you can find/read it easily. Literally nobody cares about the government warnings...I get they have to be included, but don't intermingle those with the important stuff.

The attached PDF prints to a single page front/back which is easy to laminate and keep in a pouch/case with the charger. I have mine in a cheap canvas zipper pouch from the hardware store about the size of a bank bag.

View attachment 1213880

You're using a newer model then I have, there no force mode, although I suppose it would have been a nice feature. Using the power supply mode works adequately, just requires a bit of baby sitting till you get enough charge to swap over to automatic charging mode. I can't think of an instance where I'd let a power supply hooked up and not moniture it.
Yes, I'm very awear of bricking ecus, although I suppose it's a bit different when you have the factory programs to do it, or doing it on the bench. Flashing updates was one od the more regular things I had to do when I did road work. Hooking up a charger, or power supply was usually step 1. The voltage can actually fluctuate quite a bit, usually 12v systems will fault around 7.8 volts. Mostly working on diesels, there wasn't anyway around pre heat cycles, fuel pumps etc till you got into the flash menus. Hence the need for a power supply.
Yes, newer charger mfg booklets just suck.

 

[autobaun70]

You're using a newer model then I have, there no force mode, although I suppose it would have been a nice feature. Using the power supply mode works adequately, just requires a bit of baby sitting till you get enough charge to swap over to automatic charging mode. I can't think of an instance where I'd let a power supply hooked up and not moniture it.
Yes, I'm very awear of bricking ecus, although I suppose it's a bit different when you have the factory programs to do it, or doing it on the bench. Flashing updates was one od the more regular things I had to do when I did road work. Hooking up a charger, or power supply was usually step 1. The voltage can actually fluctuate quite a bit, usually 12v systems will fault around 7.8 volts. Mostly working on diesels, there wasn't anyway around pre heat cycles, fuel pumps etc till you got into the flash menus. Hence the need for a power supply.
Yes, newer charger mfg booklets just suck.

That makes sense. I tend to get deep in the weeds on charging stuff. Rebuilding alternators and starters (commercial scale) is my day job, and spent a good long while in the heavy equipment and electric material handling world prior to coming back into the family business.

 

[Paul Butalla]

I've got two NOCO 3.5 amp smart chargers and they've both been completely reliable. They've kept a 12 year old AGM vehicle battery working, in AZ, which is phenomenal. I also use them to condition sealed lead acid batteries for UPS's and other devices. No complaints here. If the battery's not taking any amps at all they won't work. If they're heavily sulfated they may help recover it, depends on how far gone it is.

 

[xdriver]

CTEK plug in winter/cold weather one. I don't have it in front of me, but it works a charm.

 

[Section VIII]

I also have had no problems with my NOCO jump starter or charger; however, I've only had to use them a few times each over the course of two years.