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

[Arbor1]

If you're looking for a battery charger, avoid NOCO. The Genius 10 is an unreliable piece of garbage. It failed after just a few uses in under a year. I tried it on multiple batteries, none fully dead, same flashing error lights each time.

NOCO's warranty is also a joke. After jumping through hoops, they told me I had to pay for return shipping, not going to invest even more money into this junk.

I'm also starting to wonder about all those glowing reviews on Amazon. My experience has been awful, and it's hard to believe this is an isolated case.

I'm done with this brand. Anyone have recommendations for a reliable charger that actually lasts?

 

[snobdds]

For smart charges to work, there has to be some current in the battery. If the battery is dead, dead...they won't work. This is true for any of the newer "smart" chargers, not just NOCO.

The best charges ae the ones without a microprocessor chip in them. Those are now old and can really only be found at garage sales. I have a few and will never give them up.

 

[MacAttack]

I just bought that EXACT charger this summer, I've had no issues with it yet!

I'd echo Snobbds' comment that it won't charge a dead battery, or if it senses a short across the terminals.

That's a bummer if the charger is already broken, I hope I have a better experience.

For what it's worth, Deltran battery maintainers / chargers are excellent.

 

[Mad Professor]

My favorite charger is an old analog USA made Allstate I got for free years ago. It's just for 6/12V lead/acid automotive type batteries.

I've been inside it once to replace the input cord and two charging wires, they were ~50 years old and insulation cracking. Insides all looked good and the components understandable/repairable. It's just for 6/12V lead/acid automotive type batteries.

 

[zuren]

Look into CTEK and MinnKota. Neither are cheap but both are reputable. Both are smart chargers with other functions/features to trickle charge and/or recover batteries.

 

[breymeyerfam]

Gooloo GT4000. Will work with zero charge in battery. (Has a button that overrides the smart features and closes the internal relay) Have actually cranked over a truck that was sitting for 20 years with NO BATTERY AT ALL. Keep in mind that these are designed as a jump starter, not battery chargers.

 

[JustRandy]

Funny this thread came up because I've been studying batteries lately trying to decide which is best for my project.

Anyway, the battery charger I've been using for 15-20 years:



I'm not sure that desulfating thing is anything more than a gimmick but it works great as a charger.

I can't say it's any better than the Sears 6/12 volt charger I got in the 90s, but I like that it's smaller.

My experience with chargers is they last forever, but I haven't bought anything made in the last decade.

Here's a recommendation from another forum:

"Spending an eternity on a constant-voltage "float" charger is bad- UPS batteries die this way all the time. A good charger (my favorite is the Clore Prologix: http://www.cloreautomotive.com/pro-logix.php) will STOP charging at a complete charge, periodically monitor the state-of-charge by monitoring acceptance current at a voltage, and will periodically "exercise" the battery by putting a small load on it and then re-charging." https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/agm-batteries-dos-dont.269750/#post-4394637

It makes sense to me and if I were looking for a charger I would probably give it a shot. The link is dead so you would have to google the clore pro logix charger.

 

[melson]

If the battery voltage is so low it isn't recognized by a charger then you should be able to use jumper cables to bring the voltage up sufficiently for the smart charger to take over. That being said, any group of cells (a battery) that has been discharged below about 1 volt per cell should be considered permanently damaged. Yes, it can still be 'revived' with a boost charge but it will have permanently lost a significant percentage of its rated capacity. Plus, it will be prone to unstable individual cell discharge (reversal) and a more rapid voltage collapse under load. This is a well-known phenomena that afflicts most common types of chemistry.

 

[JustRandy]

I'm also starting to wonder about all those glowing reviews on Amazon. My experience has been awful, and it's hard to believe this is an isolated case.

A lot of reviews on amazon are fake, for obvious reasons.

I noticed for the new lithium iron phosphate batteries people would rate them 5 stars just because the manufacturer honored the warranty on a battery that didn't last very long. A defective battery is not a 5 star battery in my opinion, but they're so happy the company paid return shipping and replaced the battery that they rate it 5 stars.

Another problem with reviews is as soon as the product comes in they jump online to leave a 5 star review without waiting to see if it lasts or even works right. Sometimes they even say that in the review: "I haven't tried the item yet but it arrived in one piece and looks good, so 5 stars!"

And yet another problem I've noticed is if a seller changes products they keep all the reviews for the old product. You could be deciding on a charger and wondering why you're reading reviews for a laptop or something.

Bottomline is you have to read all the reviews all while asking yourself if that person is an idiot or not.

 

[not2sharp]

BatteryMinder - I have the big one that does 2/4/8 amps and flooded/agm/gel batteries to top off the AGMs I have. I use the little ones for individual flooded batteries and keep them hooked up all the time on stuff that doesn't get used much. I use the onboard desulphator on my 2 diesels and have gone 8-10 years on one set of batteries, but then they are red tops or yellow tops or Odysseys in them. Tractors and fourwheelers and old cars get the trickle chargers. I hate replacing batteries, too expensive these days

 

[anzicek]

I too have had no luck with Noco they have been garbage for me. Often they just stop charging when I walk away and say the charge is complete, or end up with an error. The batteries are good, it's the chargers that are the problem. I have an old RN that is great, but it's heavy and I don't like lugging it around. About two years ago I decided to replace the Noco units with three battery tender brand ones: 1 - 10A and 2 - 5A chargers / tenders. These work great, I can use them to charge equipment relatively quickly for starting / use and I can also leave them on for months on seasonal vehicles, they are reliable and don't need to be checked all the time. They also have a recovery for over discharged batteries, even on a 0V battery the charger provides a current in pulses to see if the battery is recovering and if it's successful it will enter into standard charging after some time. This worked on an ATV battery that had sat for 2 years, the battery wasn't super healthy cranking after that, but the charger did recover it from 0V even though it's a "smart charger."

 

[StihlaHuskyFeller]

I had a big Schumacher on wheels, great charger for big stuff. Even stone dead it would still boost trucks and tractors. It was an older one, but always stored inside. I do believe my brother took it and it never came back lol. He needs it more than me I guess.

Got a small Motomaster one now that I only charge with, if I need to boost I start a truck.

 

[5oh86]

I have a NOCO charger that is plugged into one of my spare trucks 24/7 to keep the battery charged. It's been sitting outdoors for at least a couple of years and it still works perfectly. Also have a NOCO GB70 booster pack that works great... although I should have looked at it closer before buying it, I didn't realize that it only charges off a micro USB port and it takes foreeeeeeeeeeevvvverrrrrr.

I also have four Performax battery maintainers from Menards. They are total crap. Junk. Do not buy them. One just randomly died, two have LED status lights that don't really work any more, and one that works but if the power goes out it will default into startup mode and not know whether to charge at 6v or 12v... and for some reason it will drain your battery down to 0v very quickly if that happens.

I believe I also have at least one Battery Tender maintainer - this is by far the best, it just works and never gives me problems.

I usually keep a handful of the $5 cheapo trickle chargers from Harbor Freight on hand - these things are actually really awesome. I've never had one fail. However if you clamp them onto a normal lead acid car battery, the clamps will start oxidizing right away and I had one totally corrode off.

I have 12 vehicles in the fleet at the moment plus a lot of little AGM & SLA batteries plus a couple spare car batteries that need to stay charged so naturally I have a bunch of maintainers... just my experience.