Noco Gen 5

Plug the charger in but don't connect it to the battery. What lights do you see now?

billford wrote: ↑ Plug the charger in but don't connect it to the battery. What lights do you see now?

Will check tomorrow. Gonna leave it plugged in for 24 hours to see what happens.

Phat_cow wrote: ↑ Who here has a Noco Gen 5? There's either something wrong with my Noco Gen 5 or my car battery. My car would not start so I plugged in my Noco Gen 5 to charge the battery but within a few seconds. The charge indicator shows that it's 100% charged (4 lights on). What should I do? I know it should take at least 12 hours to fully charge my car battery. The first time I used the charger and left it plugged in for 18 hours. It still shows 100% charged and would not switch over to Maintenance (suppose to switch over to maintenance once the battery is charged and optimization is done). Could it be a defective charger?

Is your car battery fully dead though in terms of SOC...

Sulfated or acid-stratified batteries tend to basically "behave" as if they are charged, when they are not (and basically cannot be)--chargers will quickly indicate fully charged but the battery just won't have the actual usable capacity to do anything useful. There are ways to desulfate but these can have mixed results and basically if the battery is a goner, it's simply time to replace it. You'll probably have a better time desufating a flooded battery though as you can often add water to replenish them and use high-voltage desulfation techniques to accomplish this--an AGM battery you're basically screwed, which is just another reason not to buy one lol. Even if a flooded battery high-voltage recovery is going to involve gassing the battery (these are not nice fumes) and tinkering with caps and acid which is relatively dangerous (do NOT get it on your clothes or skin). In the end simply going to Costco, etc. and buying a new battery is probably the avenue 95% of people will take, and TBH it's really the best option IMO.

ES_Revenge wrote: ↑ Is your car battery fully dead though in terms of SOC...

Sulfated or acid-stratified batteries tend to basically "behave" as if they are charged, when they are not (and basically cannot be)--chargers will quickly indicate fully charged but the battery just won't have the actual usable capacity to do anything useful. There are ways to desulfate but these can have mixed results and basically if the battery is a goner, it's simply time to replace it. You'll probably have a better time desufating a flooded battery though as you can often add water to replenish them and use high-voltage desulfation techniques to accomplish this--an AGM battery you're basically screwed, which is just another reason not to buy one lol. Even if a flooded battery high-voltage recovery is going to involve gassing the battery (these are not nice fumes) and tinkering with caps and acid which is relatively dangerous (do NOT get it on your clothes or skin). In the end simply going to Costco, etc. and buying a new battery is probably the avenue 95% of people will take, and TBH it's really the best option IMO.

The Noco has a Repair mode. Do you think I should try that?

Phat_cow wrote: ↑ The Noco has a Repair mode. Do you think I should try that?

If it's a flooded battery yes, if it's an AGM no, it will just destroy it more than it already is. The "repair mode" is a high-voltage deslfation cycle so note that you will gas the battery using this mode, so not a good idea indoors. Outdoors is best but problem is it's still winter outside even if above freezing in some places, it's still pretty darn close to that meaning it might not work as well since batteries need more voltage applied in lower temperatures.

Anyway if you do try it you're going to need to be able to remove the caps, to check and refill as necessary and some batteries they make them rather difficult to remove even on flooded batteries. Also you need to use distilled water if you are adding to a battery.

Honestly? I don't think it's worth bothering given the dangers and annoyances of dealing with sulphuric acid but up to you. You probably have like a 10% chance of recovering the battery and even then it might only last a few months longer. You could get lucky, get a couple years more out of it but pretty doubtful if you ask me.

My best advice is. Just get. A new. Battery. Especially if this is a vehicle you need to drive daily, you shouldn't waste your time. Oh also if your battery is still under any warranty, even pro-rated, don't do any of this. Just warranty it. If you're in the pro-rated portion at least you'll get a percentage towards a new battery.

ES_Revenge wrote: ↑ If it's a flooded battery yes, if it's an AGM no, it will just destroy it more than it already is. The "repair mode" is a high-voltage deslfation cycle so note that you will gas the battery using this mode, so not a good idea indoors.

For other chargers, I would completely agree. But with the NOCO, I would disagree based on the tests I've seen with the Genius 5 series. Most other chargers will do some sort of high voltage charge - either with rapid spikes to 15/16+V or a sustained 15.8V charger for equalization) - which will cause gassing as you have stated. However, the NOCO is different. While the NOCO does due 16+V spikes, those spikes happen once every 1.9 seconds or so which may not be enough to actually cause excessive gassing when compared to other methods - some gas bubbles may form, however.

Of course, there is some level of debate if the NOCO's repair mode is even effective but that will vary on exactly what is meant by effective against what.

craftsman wrote: ↑ For other chargers, I would completely agree. But with the NOCO, I would disagree based on the tests I've seen with the Genius 5 series. Most other chargers will do some sort of high voltage charge - either with rapid spikes to 15/16+V or a sustained 15.8V charger for equalization) - which will cause gassing as you have stated. However, the NOCO is different. While the NOCO does due 16+V spikes, those spikes happen once every 1.9 seconds or so which may not be enough to actually cause excessive gassing when compared to other methods - some gas bubbles may form, however.

Of course, there is some level of debate if the NOCO's repair mode is even effective but that will vary on exactly what is meant by effective against what.

Ah I see. I guess in this case not so much an issue of gassing but more an issue if it even works. In other words OP should just get a new battery, move on with life

ES_Revenge wrote: ↑ Ah I see. I guess in this case not so much an issue of gassing but more an issue if it even works. In other words OP should just get a new battery, move on with life

Yes. Especially if you consider that a research paper I found a few weeks ago in regards to the effect of frequency on desulfation - http://conference.ioe.edu.np/publicatio ... 017-23.pdf. Basically, the case is made that the higher the frequency of the pulses, the better and faster desulfation gets. They recommend cheap starting point of 5 kHz. Now, if you compare that to NOCO's 1/2 Hz, there might be a bit of waiting for it to do anything.

It's probably not your charger. It's your battery.

Replace your battery.

I've not seen repair mode work on any charger yet with concrete proof imho, but try if you want. Battery is probably not holding capacity at all.

Sounds like your battery needs to be replaced and the charger isn’t going to help here...

FWIW, I use this charger on one of my motorcycles.

Anybody try this? Does it last? I always buy a new battery after 5 years or so when I can't start the car anymore. Some suggest fill up the cell with distilled water if it dries out over the years. Tried neither since I didn't know about it.

Even if you think your battery is shot, you have nothing to lose by plugging in the charger and leaving it overnight. If it works, it works. If it does not, you know that you tried.

xpressmerchant wrote: ↑ Anybody try this? Does it last? I always buy a new battery after 5 years or so when I can't start the car anymore. Some suggest fill up the cell with distilled water if it dries out over the years. Tried neither since I didn't know about it.

As said you can try but not a lot of people want to play with sulphuric acid and fumes, have these kind of power supplies, welding machines (!), etc. to do this stuff. In the end it's going to cost you more in time and money (unless you're reconditioning batts for like 5 vehicles maybe) than to...Just. Buy. A new. Battery. But I mean if you're comfortable playing with dangerous acid, essentially boiling it, and you have all that equipment already? Sure go for it. It could save you like $100 lol. Even in that video I would not recommend having bare hands (no gloves, not even thin ones!) while being around sulphuric acid, but maybe that's just me That guy is probably not wearing safety glasses either, but good luck if you get even a tiny spray drop of acid in your eyes by accident This kind of acid is nothing to joke about, just keep that in mind and be safe if you do start playing with batteries.

Oh and yeah none of that will work with an AGM battery...just another reason not to use those--even if you wanted to recover one, you won't be able to

xpressmerchant wrote: ↑ Anybody try this? Does it last? I always buy a new battery after 5 years or so when I can't start the car anymore. Some suggest fill up the cell with distilled water if it dries out over the years. Tried neither since I didn't know about it.

Forget about the video for a minute and just follow the bit about "fill up the cell with distilled water if it dries out over the years" if you can access the cells to top off the fluid levels. NOTE> DON"T fill up the cell completely as you will need to leave enough space for the fluid levels to expand as the temperatures get warmer. Just put in enough to cover the plates of the cell and you should be fine.