Noco Genius 5 battery charger review

At 13.6VDC I don’t think it matters whether it’s temp compensates. I’ve read of float voltages ranging from 13.3 to 13.9. I prefer 13.9.
Floating at 13.9 at high temperatures might degrade the battery. Conversely, at very low temperatures, it could be not "fully" charged in some scenarios.
 
yep it just clicks (normal) but doesnt raise current at all and after 10s it decides the battery is at 100% and shuts off.
2/10/20 no difference.

fwiw I did almost all of the charging on the 10amp setting..

Just snagged a 100ft 12ga extension cord from lowes for 25$ today and setup the 4A viking charger on the tractor.

it has an odd startup it must have some sort of battery health algorithm?? it jumps the voltage around like it is determining something...then settles in to charge after a min or so.
 
My 300 has been sitting like crazy, and barely gets driven this year. I put a new AGM Odyssey battery in it after the original was drained a couple times (6yrs old was almost time anyways I figure and it tested ok but low even after charging up.)
I don't want to drain this new one though so figured I'd get this 5 or 10A NOCO model so I can charge it out in the driveway when it sits. Which do you think would be better and why? I rarely have the need for a charger but a maintenance charger would be good to have and use once in a while, esp. while our cars sit around so much :/
Thxs.
 
My 300 has been sitting like crazy, and barely gets driven this year. I put a new AGM Odyssey battery in it after the original was drained a couple times

Odyssey recommends a temperature compensated charger, with a charging voltage of 14.7V @77F and a float voltage 13.6F @77F. Find yourself a charger meeting that spec. A 5A charger should be OK as long as you don't deep cycle the battery.

They have a list of approved chargers:

More about charging:
 
depending on the parasitic load and the time between drives, one can be deep cycling their battery, and an Odyssey battery deeply cycled requires high amp recharges when deeply cycled, in order to retain its rather impressive performance for a respectable period of time.

Their group 31 pc2150 is 100 amp hours and would require a 40 amp charger if deeply cycled. there is no 40 amp charger listed on their 'approved charger list'

Low and slow 'trickle' charges performed on a regularly deeply cycled AGM battery, but especially a TPPL agm like Odyssey, tickle them to death.
and long slow deep discharges are very hard on ANY lead acid battery, whether flooded gel or AGM

I feed my Northstar TPPL AGM with either a 40 or a 100 amp adjustable voltage power supply, and more than once, both of them together for ~134 amps. TPPL AGMs are beasts, but they are not immune to improper recharging

...The 100 amp power supply needs over 118vAC input to make its 100 amp output rating, and nearly maxes out a 15 amp household outlet
 
Odyssey recommends a temperature compensated charger, with a charging voltage of 14.7V @77F and a float voltage 13.6F @77F. Find yourself a charger meeting that spec. A 5A charger should be OK as long as you don't deep cycle the battery.

They have a list of approved chargers:

More about charging:
Interesting info, I wonder if they have a more current list of chargers?
 
My 300 has been sitting like crazy, and barely gets driven this year. I put a new AGM Odyssey battery in it after the original was drained a couple times (6yrs old was almost time anyways I figure and it tested ok but low even after charging up.)
I don't want to drain this new one though so figured I'd get this 5 or 10A NOCO model so I can charge it out in the driveway when it sits. Which do you think would be better and why? I rarely have the need for a charger but a maintenance charger would be good to have and use once in a while, esp. while our cars sit around so much :/
Thxs.

A new version of one of my favorites, the battery minder 12248, now has a dedicated Odyssey mode.

I don’t think a 300 needs an odyssey battery personally, but YMMV. You’ve got to pay to play.

BatteryMINDer 128CEC1: 12 Volt-2/4/8 AMP Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer, and Battery Desulfator https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01D3SWXUA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_x.h7Fb2Y5DC8Q

I don’t know the group size or rating of your battery, but in SLI versus deep cycle mode, this or NOCO should do “good enough”. Odyssey sells a range of 6/12/20A chargers, so probably the 5 or 10A unit would be fine. The 10A has power supply mode which is probably more ideal if you need that capability for some reason.

The 10A version was on sale for $79 a week ago. It went up to $93 or so since. I wouldn’t have concerns using the 10A unit on AGM setting if you’re so inclined.
 
BatteryMINDer 128CEC1: 12 Volt-2/4/8 AMP Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer, and Battery Desulfator
$160 and they could not include a voltmeter on the front panel? That's a shame. But I like the external temp sensor and 5 year warranty.
Might buy one if it drops down to $135 or so.
 
Voltage tells part of the story.

how many amps are flowing at that voltage tell nearly all of it, especially with repeated observations of both on the same battery as it charges, or discharges.

All chargers should be equipped with a digital ammeter, and a voltmeter in my opinion

Anybody wanting to know what their charge ing source is doing should put one of these, or similar, inline on the DC output.



it will show volts, amps, wattage, Amp hours, watt hours, Peak amperage, peak wattage, and minimum voltage. Some of them show also will show the time they have been connected, and passing current though this clock has been inaccurate on some of the versions i have employed, making the watt/hour reading inaccurate.

Those who prefer ignorance should not bother, but they should also not be recommending others employ the same strategy.
Those not preferring ignorance or blindly believing the marketing literature, can see how much current the battery is accepting at the voltage the charger is seeking, or allowing, at higher states of charge.

the amp hours delivered, can tell them how discharged their battery was when they put the charger on it. the more observations the better idea one can get about the behavior and health of their battery, unless they prefer ignorance and to believe marketing literature/ deceit and experience free internet experts.

If one sees that their charger is going from 14.5v absorption, to 13.2v green light 'float', while still accepting 2+ amps, they can see their charger is not fully charging the battery.

Once one intentionally cycles and observes a battery, through proper measurement tools, from spanking new, as its health declines, it becomes obvious that so called 'smart' chargers, are just compromises that feed on ignorance of the consumer and the BS repeated Ad naseum online by those with no experience actually doing so.

But any charging of an underdepleted battery is better than no charging, and 'Ideal' can be taken to unrequired extremes, especially for a starting battery on a modern fuel injected vehicle that needs only a tiny fraction of its rated CCA to perform the desired task of starting an engine. One would be surprised at just how small of a sulfated battery can still perform this task. The benchmark of achieving 'still going strong' apparently means the battery can still start the engine, which is no difficult task with modern fuel injected engines.

a 400$ TPPL agm, deeply cycled, intentionally or not, with a small amperage charger as its main charging source, is going to live no longer than a 89$ flooded battery.
 
Voltage tells part of the story.

Anybody wanting to know what their charge ing source is doing should put one of these, or similar, inline on the DC output.


Can those cheap power meters function at 20degF? Thats how cold it can get in my garage when charging.

All chargers should be equipped with a digital ammeter, and a voltmeter in my opinion
It's a mystery to me why they are not standard on $100+ chargers.
 
I got the AGM because it was only ~$20 CDN more then the regular flooded one, and figured it may last longer/be stronger if voltage got lower. I also went with the larger police option (group 49 instead of 94, it bolts right in.)
I just need a charger to keep these topped up.
 
$160 and they could not include a voltmeter on the front panel? That's a shame. But I like the external temp sensor and 5 year warranty.
Might buy one if it drops down to $135 or so.
That is true, ideally all these chargers would have a readout of some sort. To the casual user though, I doubt it would matter. They want to get some juice in the battery, and know when it is done. For the vast majority/millions of folks who make up that group, three colors or a very simple indicator does the trick.

Very few people watch their charger, and those who do real work charging batteries in mission critical applications have a battery management system on their batteries, and a much smarter, programmed power supply.
 
Those who prefer ignorance should not bother, but they should also not be recommending others employ the same strategy.
Those not preferring ignorance or blindly believing the marketing literature, can see how much current the battery is accepting at the voltage the charger is seeking, or allowing, at higher states of charge.

the amp hours delivered, can tell them how discharged their battery was when they put the charger on it. the more observations the better idea one can get about the behavior and health of their battery, unless they prefer ignorance and to believe marketing literature/ deceit and experience free internet experts.

If one sees that their charger is going from 14.5v absorption, to 13.2v green light 'float', while still accepting 2+ amps, they can see their charger is not fully charging the battery.

Once one intentionally cycles and observes a battery, through proper measurement tools, from spanking new, as its health declines, it becomes obvious that so called 'smart' chargers, are just compromises that feed on ignorance of the consumer and the BS repeated Ad naseum online by those with no experience actually doing so.

But any charging of an underdepleted battery is better than no charging, and 'Ideal' can be taken to unrequired extremes, especially for a starting battery on a modern fuel injected vehicle that needs only a tiny fraction of its rated CCA to perform the desired task of starting an engine. One would be surprised at just how small of a sulfated battery can still perform this task. The benchmark of achieving 'still going strong' apparently means the battery can still start the engine, which is no difficult task with modern fuel injected engines.

a 400$ TPPL agm, deeply cycled, intentionally or not, with a small amperage charger as its main charging source, is going to live no longer than a 89$ flooded battery.

Most of the motoring world prefers ignorance. And for most of the folks who care enough to even employ a charger, it’s so they know that their battery will still be at a functional SOC at the end of the period that they left it alone.

Your comment that those who just prefer ignorance shouldn’t tell others to do so is simply laughable. How many battery charger buyers will be able to interpret the ammeter and voltmeter in a useful way? How many of them will jump through the hoop of installing a sensor like you prescribe? It’s not what most any consumer wants. The average consumer wants peace of mind, and then will swap out their battery when it shows signs of trouble.

The better portion of this group will never be looking at cycle life under deep cycling to the point that they have to care. And they certainly don’t have the bandwidth to play nanny over a battery charger, which is precisely why “smart” chargers exist.

They will do a good enough job to ensure that a vehicle can start next time, and will do minimal harm to anything, including the far more expensive electronics that make up a vehicle’s set of computing, controls, and other electronics. The least harm for the maximum benefit is the key here, diminishing returns for starting cars is just silly. We’re not talking about nuclear submarines or data centers here.
 
A new version of one of my favorites, the battery minder 12248, now has a dedicated Odyssey mode.

I don’t think a 300 needs an odyssey battery personally, but YMMV. You’ve got to pay to play.

BatteryMINDer 128CEC1: 12 Volt-2/4/8 AMP Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer, and Battery Desulfator https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01D3SWXUA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_x.h7Fb2Y5DC8Q

I don’t know the group size or rating of your battery, but in SLI versus deep cycle mode, this or NOCO should do “good enough”. Odyssey sells a range of 6/12/20A chargers, so probably the 5 or 10A unit would be fine. The 10A has power supply mode which is probably more ideal if you need that capability for some reason.

The 10A version was on sale for $79 a week ago. It went up to $93 or so since. I wouldn’t have concerns using the 10A unit on AGM setting if you’re so inclined.

I'm intrigued by this unit. If you buy it please let us know.

I currently have 3 odysseys 2 2150's in my big boat, and a 1750 in my titan thats 12 years old.
My optimate 6's have been maintaining them.
 
I'm intrigued by this unit. If you buy it please let us know.

I currently have 3 odysseys 2 2150's in my big boat, and a 1750 in my titan thats 12 years old.
My optimate 6's have been maintaining them.
I don’t think I will buy one; I have a 12248 that works great, and I have no reason for the odyssey mode. In fact, I’m kind of disappointed that they don’t still seem to have a version like this without the Odyssey option. I’m not a huge fan that they lumped AGM and flooded together to make the space for the odyssey option.

But if you own one, all good... I guess.

Edit: I did buy one of those Bluetooth chargers discussed in the other thread. Hopefully I’ll find enough time to set up two data logging multimeters and take some good data on that and other chargers...
 
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