Charger pr0n: NOCO Genius10 battery - measured data & review

[Hootbro]

Any mode that's trying to do something that ordinary charging can't is going to be hard on a battery.

I would think leaving a battery sulfated would be more of a negative long term than running a desulfation cycle.

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[ShadowsPapa]

I would think leaving a battery sulfated would be more of a negative long term than running a desulfation cycle.

I've sure had great luck and long battery life with my BatteryMINDERS which do the desulfate thing. All of my chargers have that ability but those do it automatically.

 

[Hootbro]

I've sure had great luck and long battery life with my BatteryMINDERS which do the desulfate thing. All of my chargers have that ability but those do it automatically.

Yeah, I recently bought a new vehicle a couple of months ago that had been sitting on the lot for a whole year and had to be jump packed to get it started and out of the show room floor. It has a EFB type battery and I knew it would be heavily sulfated and it was. My NOCO Genius1 could not do anything with it unless I wanted to wait a week and eventually put a Schumacher 8A charger that did a decent desulfation and brought it back pretty much 100%. Took like 3 days.

 

[Flanders]

I would think leaving a battery sulfated would be more of a negative long term than running a desulfation cycle.

Desulfation is a marketing term. Nobody can define it precisely but every manufacturer has to do it now.

It usually amounts to holding a battery at a voltage high enough to shorten its life, in hopes of turning some hard lead sulfate and water back to lead, lead dioxide and sulfuric acid, without any way of knowing whether it's working or when it might be done.

Some also claim to pulse at some special frequency. This idea has been around since the 1940s at least. As far as I know, it hasn't been shown to be effective in any scientific sense.

Yeah, I recently bought a new vehicle a couple of months ago that had been sitting on the lot for a whole year and had to be jump packed to get it started and out of the show room floor. It has a EFB type battery and I knew it would be heavily sulfated and it was. My NOCO Genius1 could not do anything with it unless I wanted to wait a week and eventually put a Schumacher 8A charger that did a decent desulfation and brought it back pretty much 100%. Took like 3 days.

Yeah, a lead acid battery that's been sitting discharged has poor charge acceptance. The Noco can't do it because its minimum current becomes more than the battery can accept, well before it's fully charged, after which point the Noco just cycles on and off without accomplishing anything.

A few days at float voltage would probably have done the job, or gotten close. The Noco's 13.8V power supply mode probably would have worked for that.

 

[Liftr]

You guys seem to know infinitely more than I do about batteries. So, I am going to pose a question:

My Jeep has been parked outdoors in Fairbanks, AK for almost a month, with temps holding between -20 to -40F.
How many hours of charge, will it take the NOCO 10 to bring it back to life?

 

[Flanders]

You guys seem to know infinitely more than I do about batteries. So, I am going to pose a question:

My Jeep has been parked outdoors in Fairbanks, AK for almost a month, with temps holding between -20 to -40F.
How many hours of charge, will it take the NOCO 10 to bring it back to life?

Fun question.

Assuming the battery was fully charged when it was parked (unlikely) and supplied a 15-25mA draw for a month, it needs 10-20Ah. At minimum charge current, that's 30-60 hours. That would be worst case, except...

It depends on whether you can do something to increase the battery temperature.

If not, I think you're in the slow lane. Maybe 30-50 hours before solid green, but it won't be fully charged. Lead acid has a hard time accepting charge at such low temperatures. I'd expect the Genius 10 to charge at its minimum current. But it would stop early, showing solid green, well before reaching full charge.

If you can warm it up to a balmy 32F, the Genius 10 might be able to supply higher current for awhile. That would shorten the charge time. Even one hour at its next higher current would save 3 hours at the lowest current. I'd guess 24 hours in the best case to solid green. It still won't be fully charged but it will be closer.

Unless you keep a close eye on it, you're not going to know when the Genius 10 first goes solid green. Any net charging it manages after that point will be very slow. It will cycle between solid green and a pulsing green, the latter indicating it's charging at minimum current.

If you can monitor charging current, it would be completely harmless, and probably a good deal faster, to use the Genius 10 in power supply mode. It might have a timeout though.

 

[Liftr]

Thanks for the reply.
My plan is to take a small generator and a torpedo heater to the Jeep. Use the generator to power the battery charger and block heater; and direct the torpedo’s hot air under the vehicle, using a tarp to trap the hot air underneath.
Then while I go have a casual 3-martini lunch, cross my fingers and hope it works.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I would think leaving a battery sulfated would be more of a negative long term than running a desulfation cycle.

Even our military believes in desulfating and has regular programs and uses technology similar to what's in products like the BatteryMINDER and certain other chargers.
Marines have done it for years.

 

[Flanders]

Even our military believes in desulfating and has regular programs and uses technology similar to what's in products like the BatteryMINDER and certain other chargers.
Marines have done it for years.

This is not the slam dunk case you might think. I spent the better part of two decades in the defense technology industry. It the customer wanted a frobnicate function we'd give them one.

 

[Badunit]

I was looking at the CTEK MXS 5.0. Two things I was wondering about:

1) The desulfation voltage/process. It spikes it up to 15.8 volts at "high" frequency. For the experts out there, is this process okay for the Jeep electronics when charging with the battery connected?
2) I wonder which mode to charge with. AGM mode charges to 14.7V. The standard battery mode charges to 14.4V. Seems wrong to choose "standard" when it is an AGM battery but the battery says right on it to not charge past 14.4V.

I plan to use this charger mainly to keep the batteries in my TJ and Ram topped up, topping them up once a month or so depending on how much they get driven, but I also want it for my Gladiator for if/when it needs it. It is in my shopping cart and I'm close to clicking "check out".

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I was looking at the CTEK MXS 5.0. Two things I was wondering about:

1) The desulfation voltage/process. It spikes it up to 15.8 volts at "high" frequency. For the experts out there, is this process okay for the Jeep electronics when charging with the battery connected?
2) I wonder which mode to charge with. AGM mode charges to 14.7V. The standard battery mode charges to 14.4V. Seems wrong to choose "standard" when it is an AGM battery but the battery says right on it to not charge past 14.4V.

I plan to use this charger mainly to keep the batteries in my TJ and Ram topped up, topping them up once a month or so depending on how much they get driven, but I also want it for my Gladiator for if/when it needs it. It is in my shopping cart and I'm close to clicking "check out".

AGM mode. Even the Jeep goes well over 14.4
I've seen 14.9 to 15 before.

 

[Badunit]

AGM mode. Even the Jeep goes well over 14.4
I've seen 14.9 to 15 before.

Thanks. What do you think of the desulfation mode and 15.8V spikes at some unknown frequency?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Thanks. What do you think of the desulfation mode and 15.8V spikes at some unknown frequency?

I've never had a battery damaged and very short spikes don't heat it up like long stints at high voltage.

 

[Badunit]

I am more concerned about what the Jeep electronics might think of it when charging with the battery connected. It is probably not a concern or else CTEK would have dire warnings in the user manual, but automobile electronics seem to be more finicky and fragile than they used to be.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I am more concerned about what the Jeep electronics might think of it when charging with the battery connected. It is probably not a concern or else CTEK would have dire warnings in the user manual, but automobile electronics seem to be more finicky and fragile than they used to be.

They should be regulated..... they'll never internally see the system voltage.

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