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

[Torquin]

If I have a dead battery, I pull out the RN, but I use the Battery Tender and Noco chargers, even a Harbor Freight smart charger now and then, for batteries that have at least SOME charge on them. I have not had a problem with any of them yet, except that the Noco battery repair mode seems to only make things worse. Tried the repair mode on several batteries and none got better, only worse. I bought the Noco specifically for the repair mode.

Chris

 

[denn]

Battery Tender 2/8/15 charger.
If you leave the charger on over night, it will discharge the battery down to about 12.5-12.6V.
On a battery that is almost fully charged, it will say charging 80%, I know it should be topped off in 5 min., an hour later, still saying charging 80%. Unhook one terminal clamp then hook it up, then fully charged 100%. I done this on 4 or 5 good and new batteries. Years later still using the same batteries.
I sent the charger in, $15, they sent it back in the same box and it didn't look like it was taken out of the box.
I have an 2 electronic battery testers and State Lic. Mechanic.
They said they did me a favor, I guess not charging me to send a broken charger back.
After I purchased the charger I noticed about 30, 1 star ratings with the same problems, a month later they were gone, I wonder what happen to them?
NO WARRANTY
NO WARRANTY

 

[thill]

I have had numerous good chargers. Schumacher has been my go-to for many years. This one in particular: https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SC1280-Charger-Automotive-Batteries/dp/B0797KK3N2

But believe it or not, when I moved to lithium batteries, I got this cheap one and have been VERY pleased: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BN1W15D6/

This little $25 charger has been excellent. Hard to complain about perfect performance with my LiFeP04 batteries.

 

[Sid Post]

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

That process lets well used lead acid batteries work like new.

 

[Matt81]

I have a NOCO Genius G7200 charger as well as two Li-ion battery jump starters. A GB40 and a bigger GB70 for my truck. Not had any issues with them at all and owned them for at least 7-8 years at this point.

Also keep an older charger around for real dead batteries that these "smart" chargers cannot handle.

 

[Fried Chicken]

I'm thrilled with the Noco Genius 10 for its restoration circuitry. Had an AGM battery (loathe these things) that wasn't quite up to stuff. Putting it on the noco for a few days made it noticeably better.

Same with a flooded lead-acid battery. Overall I like it a lot.

If I were to buy another, I'd look for one of these:
https://associatedequip.com/

USA made. We need more of this.

 

[thill]

De-sulpher or Repair cycles work well. I had an old Schumacher that "tapped" really hard and brought back many batteries, but it eventually died, and I've never found one that worked that well, besides some very expensive commercial units.

The cheap Amazon unit I linked above has a decent repair cycle, but nothing like that old one.

 

[diver64]

Are you talking about a charger or a jumper brick?

 

[oldnloud]

On a whim, I bought a charger from Hobo Freight and have been nothing but impressed with it. Battery Repair mode has brought numerous batteries back to life when my older chargers wouldn't even touch them.

https://www.harborfreight.com/2815-...=308&msclkid=118df698ad1114e78b339191b17a2897

 

[iowa_jim]

By chance, I have the NOCO 10 and it has performed well for me. I was chasing electrical gremlins in my Ranger and the battery seemed to die prematurely. The special features, such as desulfurization, were attractive, so I bought the unit and tried it. The unit brought the battery back to life for a while; otherwise, the battery was charged without issue. The charger is more featured and nuanced than those I've used before, and care must be taken to select the correct 'mode'.

 

[zmass]

I have been using a Noco GB40 for about 10 years. It has jumped multiple cars and a small tractor and never given me any issues, except for once when I may have caused a short in <!> mode and the company replaced it even though it was a little out of warranty. Like any Li-ion battery, I don't keep it in the car (extreme temperatures) and try to keep it around the 50%-75% mark when not being used for awhile. I would buy this same charger again.

 

[PT81man]

For what it is worth, I have been using the HF $40 Viking charger to maintain two different batteries. One is a 6 volt for my 1939 Plymouth truck and the other is for a 2014 KIA. Both sit for many weeks in the garage without being run. When ever I need to start each, I remove the charger and hit the starter. Both fire up with plenty of power. I've been using these for over 3 years with no problems.
Just looked, it is now on sale for $25.

 

[benz66]

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.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a WINNER! I made the mistake of buying one of those "smart" chargers from harbor fright. I never use it. It iis DUMB as a rock, and worthless.

I have now picked up 2 more Schauer and one Century DUMB chargers at garage sales. I have enough now to keep one everywhere I might need one. The worst case scenario with them is that every decade or 3 you need to replace the external cords. People wrap the cords tight around the charger, and this causes the wires to fatigue and break where they go into the strain relief bushing in the case. The original cords have high quality rubber, so I usually cut them off an inch or 2 outside the case, use pliers to remove the strain relief bushing, remove the remainder of the cord inside, and re-attach the shorter cord inside.

I have one Schauer 6A 12/6V charger that my dad got about 1964. It still works great 60 yrs later. It was the first one I cut off the cords and reattached, in the 70s. I have not had to re-do the cords on it again. I make a habit of never pulling the first wrap tight. The subsequent wraps can be tight.

Some of my schauers are not pretty, but they all work dependably.

 

[MrCreosote]

I have the orange cold weather Ctek MUS 4.3 Polar. That I've had for at least 5 years. But at the same time I bot a Noco Genius 1 amp and they both work just fine.

No trouble with the following 2 chargers:
I also have 40 amp Black & Decker microprocessor charger (constant voltage charging & settings for different battery types) that's at least 10 years old:

the 2nd charger is a 25a Power On Board BC25EP that I probably bot at Sam's Club Still use it.

If I buy another charger, I would try this Energizer 9-step: It's a lot of amps for a smart charger for the money.
HOWEVER, lots of complaints for this unit. Still, it's not rocket science, it's just a chipset.

8 amps
9-steps
5 year warranty.

$49 shipped on Amazon: Energizer ENC8A



9-step Voltage and Current plots (These plots are most descriptive of any spec from all these clowns - so why I'm biased towards buying one of these)



Stage 1 - Diagnosis: Analyze if the battery can accept a charge or not, and then prevent
charging from proceeding on the a defective battery;
Stage2- Desulphation: The charger can rescue most drained batteries with voltages up
to a Min 1.5±0.5V
Stage 3 - Pre-charge: If the battery voltage is less than 12V, charge it at the smaller current,
which will protect the battery better;
Stage 4 - Soft start: Charge the battery to the maximum current gradually and never suddenly.
Stage 5 - CC1/CC2/CC3 (Constant Current): The charger automatically adjusts the current
according to the battery status in constant current, which benefits the battery for a long life;
Stage 6- CV (Constant Voltage): The battery is charged to nearly full, and will top off at 14.6V DC;
Stage 7 - Resting: The charger will cut off with full charged statement, and achieves the
high energy efficiency;
Stage 8-Recond: When it is fully charged and low to 12.8V within 2min, the charger will judge automatically.
Stage 9 - Restoring: The charger monitors a fully charged battery automatically. If the battery falls below 12.8V DC, the charger will restart from stage 3 to stage 6.

 

[Smitty Smithsonite]

I've brought back countless batteries from the dead with a BatteryMinder 4 stage charger (2/4/8A). I've had one since '07, and used it every day when I was turning wrenches full time. Best charger on the market, bar none. I have two now. Planning on a 3rd and 4th, but prices have gone INSANE the past 3.5 years.

As far as jump packs go, I've had great luck with a pair of Audew jump packs (2,000A ... which is a big stretch). Also just picked up a couple GooLoo jump packs after watching Project Farm's latest jump pack shootout on YouTube. So far, so good ... but I haven't had them long enough to know if they're any good. I did jump start a diesel tractor with a completely smoked battery, twice, so they're at least as good as the Audew ones.

The Audew winched a 2007 RX350 uphill, onto my dovetail trailer ... TWICE ... after the failing drive mechanism popped into neutral and sent the car careening back down towards a stone wall. My cat-like reflexes smashed the thing back into drive, slamming it to a halt inches from the wall! That would've bankrupted me instantly! Pulled it back up again with a dead deep cycle! Only casualty was the electronics inside the magic box that the jaws come out of - it fried it to a cinder. I just bypassed all of that so as soon as you plug it into the lithium pack, it's live. Just have to be super careful.

 

[autobaun70]

I've had great luck out of NOCO, in particularly the Genius 10. The one thing they really lack on is a readable manual with the actual information you need consolidated into one place. They don't put a paper manual in the box at all and want you to dig up a PDF and look at it on your phone I guess.

This is those 4 pages that actually have any meaning consolidated into 2 pages (single front/back sheet if printed double sided). I have this laminated and in a small zipper pouch with my charger.

If you are dealing with a completely dead battery, you will need to activate the force mode.

My only complaint is that it won't handle 8V golf cart batteries. If it did that it would be the perfect portable charger.

 

[Chris Ball]

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.

Definitely agree about CTEK (no experience of MinnKota). I keep our cars connected to CTEK chargers if they are not going to be used for a week or more purely to keep the batteries well and truly conditioned. I do the same with smaller batteries such as our chipper, mower, motorbike etc - the chargers can handle such different capacity batteries via a mode switch.

The CTEKs can also recognise faults in batteries and may be able to fix them. A couple of years ago I used my (then-trusted) old style charger to top up a mower battery that seemed to be a bit doddery. It was claimed to be fully charged by the charger but failed to turn the engine. Fearing a battery replacement, I tried the CTEK. It recognised a problem, went around in its pre-programmed circles a couple of times which was a bit disconcerting, completed its charging programme and restored the battery to use. It hasn’t played up since. That saved me £40 (yes, sorry…) in one go.

Yes, they are a bit pricy but I view mine as an investment.

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.

 

[Doug]

I have several different old-school non-smart chargers for occasional use. NO smart chargers except Pulse Tech and Battery Tender Maintainer. I have several rigs that go dormant over the winter, they are all on Pulse-Tech chargers all winter. And a number of batteries that come in the garage for the winter, including just spares or extras, also all stay on Pulse Tech chargers. If I run out of Pulse Tech chargers I will use Battery Tenders. Pulse Tech WILL de-sulfate, but it takes time. You can kinda-sorta de-sulfate by using a large commercial charger set to 200 amp boost. Kinda Red Neck, but it works. Make sure its on a timer, 30 minutes or so. It's the quickness of the charge, and the fact that they will over-charge on the boost setting, that does the trick. Cramming a lot of juice into it in a short time. Charge the crap out of it. Let it rest. Do it again. Let it rest. A third time, even. Many batteries will recover nicely. And then put it on the Pulse Tech for long term storage to keep it that way. Or back in your truck. Most of my batteries usually go about double the normal 7 year life expectancy.

 

[Chevboy0167]

I had roll around home owner grade Schumachers for 20+ years until the transformers gave up or until I noticed the voltage regulation was f-all!

19.5 volts at the clips... cooked 2 batteries. Never again! Spent $500 on this... Huge range of adjustments and regulation. Winning.

https://cloreautomotive.com/product/pl3760/

 

[Chevboy0167]

Huh.... I just read that the unit I got has the force start feature for dead dead angry pixy boxes..... neato!