NOCO Genius 5 Float Voltage.

[billt460]

I've been playing around with this Noco Genius 1, trying to get a feel for what it's actually doing. I've had the unit on my Jeep for a while now, and it fully charged the battery to where the LED was solid green. (Indicating a fully soaked charged battery).

So this morning I disconnected it, and went to town to pick up a few things. About 6 miles each way. I then pulled it into the garage and plugged the Genius 1 back in.

It went back to the pulsating red LED for about an hour and a half. Now it is pulsating green again, indicating it's back in, "optimum charge mode". So the trip into town actually discharged the battery somewhat. What JHZR2 is saying appears to be correct. Alternators do not fully charge the battery. Or will even maintain it when it is fully charged.

I will say when I hit the starter button, the starter spun the engine like there was no tomorrow. I thought it was going to throw a winding!

 

[rondhol]

If you have Genius 5, you can make it as 1 A charger in repair Mode. This repair mode will charge the battery until it is full about 14.3V, after that it will apply 16.5V pulse charging. You can hear it from the charger once it is at the pulse 16.5 mode. The pulse only last 4 hours and stop, it won't hurt the battery even if you forgot it, just don't connect it to the car.
I did tried this repair mode after my battery was fully charged. The voltage reading open circuit after removing surface charge (10s, 110Watt headlights on) was 12.6V slightly higher than 12.55V. But this repair mode does not really help aging battery, the capacity will not change once it is in daily use. Typically the Voltage reading still go to 11.7V with IGN ON, and 11.3V when both headlight and Ignition are ON on my 6 y old AGM battr

 

[billt460]

Another thing I noticed with the Noco Genius 1, is that it doesn't go into "Float Mode", from "Optimum Charge Mode" so easily. For example, on both my Toyota and my Jeep, after it's been in "Optimum Charge Mode", (pulsating green LED), for over 24 hours, (they tell you this is normal), if I kill the power to the units, and let them sit for a minute or 2, then turn them back on, they will recycle themselves and go into "Maximum Charge Mode", (pulsating red LED). Then back into "Optimum Charge Mode", (pulsating green LED). Then finally into "Float Mode", (solid green LED), within 5 minutes.

It's almost as if they seem to get "hung up" in "Optimum Charge Mode", (pulsating green LED), for some reason.... And this is with both units on both cars. (One is lead / acid, and the other is AGM). And both chargers are set to the proper type of battery. So I doubt there is anything defective with the units themselves. They just seem to require a little "help" once and a while, to get out of, "Optimum Charge Mode".

 

[JHZR2]

So..... Is the Genius 1 is basically using the "eyedropper approach", because it is only 1 amp full bore, and just a few milliamps when it's, "topping off"?

Also, because alternators do not fully charge, can I expect the Genius 1 to go back to "optimum charge mode", (blinking green LED), as soon as I park it after driving it, and plug it in again? This assuming it was indicating fully charged with a solid green LED when I unplugged it?

Remember that these processes are logarithmic, which means the closer to the end state, the slower it goes.

The change in states depends upon programming. It’s likely programmed that every time there’s a new contact on the dc side it goes through its paces. If a battery is really full, it will rise in voltage fast. Remember that these chargers tend to pull current to protect against overcharge. But all those steps could end fast.

That last step where it gives a tiny amount of current and waits for the battery to hit a specific voltage can be long and slow. Especially if parasitics are higher on the vehicle, as they will be essentially powered by the charger, making it an even lower current source, so slower to rise the voltage.

 

[billt460]

If I keep allowing the Genius 1 to complete it's "Optimum Charge Cycle", (pulsating green LED until it changes to solid green), will it gradually decrease the time the "topping off" process takes? Or will it be the same each time?

I guess what I'm asking is, does this final topping off process to maximum voltage ever improve as the battery is put through it? Or does this process require the same amount of time, each time it goes through it? Does the battery ever get "conditioned" to the point where the final topping off process decreases in time?

 

[rondhol]

I used NOCO5 on my AGM 12V 42Ah battery. It takes about 12 hours to fully charge from 12.2V. The battery is still connected to the car and the voltage reading is about 12.6V.

In my opinion, after the surface charge is removed, the capacity of the battery will still be the same. Under load (IGN ON plus 120watt headlights), I read 11.5V wich is still good for 6 y old battery.

There is no magic things when battery died. No single charger can revive it. It may give you 13V or more but the capacity is still bad and under load it will not supply enough Voltage.

NOCO5 is still the best although its cutoff voltage is 14.3V and 14.6V (AGM) but it is actually better for the lifespan of the battery. Overcharging degrade battery permanently meanwhile slightly undercharge don't. Permanent damage started when the voltage drops velow 11.8V or when hydrolisis started from overcharging.

 

[multimega]

Hi Rondhol,

I would appreciate your expert opinions on my stupid mishap.

My Lexus GS 350's battery was dead and so I used a NOCO Genius 5 to fully charge the battery back. Then I used the repair mode of the charger to do desulfation of the battery. I used the repair mode while the battery was still connected to the vehicle electrical system. I eventually found out from the small fine print of the manual that it was recommended to have the battery disconnected from the vehicle before using the repair mode as the repair mode's charging voltage is at 16.5V (as opposed to 14.5 V normal charging voltage) and vehicle electronics could be sensitive to the higher charging voltage. I don't know the Lexus electronics' sensitivity to the higher charging voltage.

I have made this bone-head mistake before I realized this I needed to take this precaution. I started the car and checked all the audios and GPS, etc. afterwards, and I have not found any electronic malfunction as yet. I would like to ask the forum whether there is a more comprehensive way to do a diagnostic to see whether there was any damage to the electronics due to my stupid oversight.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Hi Rondhol,

I would appreciate your expert opinions on my stupid mishap.

My Lexus GS 350's battery was dead and so I used a NOCO Genius 5 to fully charge the battery back. Then I used the repair mode of the charger to do desulfation of the battery. I used the repair mode while the battery was still connected to the vehicle electrical system. I eventually found out from the small fine print of the manual that it was recommended to have the battery disconnected from the vehicle before using the repair mode as the repair mode's charging voltage is at 16.5V (as opposed to 14.5 V normal charging voltage) and vehicle electronics could be sensitive to the higher charging voltage. I don't know the Lexus electronics' sensitivity to the higher charging voltage.

I have made this bone-head mistake before I realized this I needed to take this precaution. I started the car and checked all the audios and GPS, etc. afterwards, and I have not found any electronic malfunction as yet. I would like to ask the forum whether there is a more comprehensive way to do a diagnostic to see whether there was any damage to the electronics due to my stupid oversight.

Many thanks in advance.

If you haven’t found any issues yet, you likely dodged a bullet. Chalk it up to experience, and don’t repeat

 

[meep]

I own the 10A noco and was surprised by the low float voltage. I have 2 batteries where the noco algorithm simply fails to miss the mark. I want to like this charger but I’m really uncertain what to do with this, so I tested it.

i pulled out a gp 35 agm. It still starts the crv but it’s sluggish. I let it charge on the noco overnight and walked out to a 12.8V battery in the morning. I then placed a 3amp load on it for 9 hours, which would bring the battery way down to roughly 50% or slightly less, of its original capacity.

i connected the noco and watched with a dvm as it ran through its 3 current levels in about 30 seconds, then settled on a 200mah charge rate at 12.8 volts. What?? Today is Saturday. If the 12.8 can push any real charge in over the waste current, it will be fully charged by my $100 10amp charger on Thursday.

unless I’m just missing something, I’m rather disappointed, and would consider returning it if I could.

am I missing something?

 

[92saturnsl2]

Hi Rondhol,

I would appreciate your expert opinions on my stupid mishap.

My Lexus GS 350's battery was dead and so I used a NOCO Genius 5 to fully charge the battery back. Then I used the repair mode of the charger to do desulfation of the battery. I used the repair mode while the battery was still connected to the vehicle electrical system. I eventually found out from the small fine print of the manual that it was recommended to have the battery disconnected from the vehicle before using the repair mode as the repair mode's charging voltage is at 16.5V (as opposed to 14.5 V normal charging voltage) and vehicle electronics could be sensitive to the higher charging voltage. I don't know the Lexus electronics' sensitivity to the higher charging voltage.

I have made this bone-head mistake before I realized this I needed to take this precaution. I started the car and checked all the audios and GPS, etc. afterwards, and I have not found any electronic malfunction as yet. I would like to ask the forum whether there is a more comprehensive way to do a diagnostic to see whether there was any damage to the electronics due to my stupid oversight.

Many thanks in advance.

Nothing happened. Repeat all you want, still nothing will happen to your vehicle electrical system. The recommendation from Noco is to disconnect the battery so that it's isolated and can get the full effect of the higher voltage / pulse currents / whatever they have programmed into their repair mode.

At that low current (and it's not obscenely high voltage), your vehicle electronics didn't know the difference.

 

[multimega]

If you haven’t found any issues yet, you likely dodged a bullet. Chalk it up to experience, and don’t repeat

Thanks. Definitely won't repeat again. It was my mistake for not reading the entire user manual before operating the unit, thinking it was like other battery charger. Will continue to monitor the car's condition. I also wonder whether buying and having an OBD2 scanner scan the entire vehicle's systems would make any sense.

Thanks.

 

[multimega]

Nothing happened. Repeat all you want, still nothing will happen to your vehicle electrical system. The recommendation from Noco is to disconnect the battery so that it's isolated and can get the full effect of the higher voltage / pulse currents / whatever they have programmed into their repair mode.

At that low current (and it's not obscenely high voltage), your vehicle electronics didn't know the difference.

Thanks for your response as well.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Thanks for your response as well.

I can go into more detail, but the battery when connected to the vehicle electrical system acts like a large capacitor -- the Noco doesn't put out 16.5V continuously. From what I've read, it does it in pulses, so the battery acts like a sponge for the voltage spikes. In the event they carry over to the vehicle system, modern vehicle electrical systems are pretty robust.

I wouldn't put an ounce of worry into it, but to get the full effect of the repair cycle, you should have the battery isolated from the vehicle.