Noco Genius 10

[Ryan]

I tend to drive my cars every chance I get, so the alternator/generator has always sort of been my defacto battery tender. A few years back, however, I started spending quite a bit of time away from home and as a result, my cars sat for longer periods of time. Initially, I used a Deltran Battery Tender and had nothing but issues. Of the three I bought four years ago, two no longer work at all and I simply don’t trust the other.



So, what’s next? Around the same time my first tender gave up the ghost, I was helping a buddy with his car collection. My man has great taste and has been successful enough to realize a lot of visions. As such, he has a shitload of cars and a ton of experience testing battery tenders. In six years, he hasn’t had a single Noco fail of the 33 that he owns.



So, I bought a Noco Genius 10. As soon as I unboxed the damned thing, I could tell it was made better than the unit by Deltran… But it also just seems smarter and...

Continue reading...

 

[gleman]

I've gone two winters as a snowbird and have been using a Genius 1 for my old Volvo. No complaints from me yet!

 

[PelicanPines]

I installed a NOCO Genius behind the seat in my Cub Cadet lawn tractor. I plug it in over the winter. ZERO spring and ZERO winter plowing start issues now.

I also have a NOCO Genius setup for my Subarus... since the pandemic and working from home... it's a once a week drive now vs daily. I found out about these from a wonderful Garage Journal Forum discussion !

 

[nafterclifen]

No complains with my Deltran 'Battery Tender Plus'. Much cheaper but it's also only a low amp charger and maintainer - which I need and use more than a 5a or 10a charger.

 

[niget2002]

I love my nocos. I have a dual charger on the harleys and another small one on the lawn tractor

 

[Toolfool]

Hadn't driven my car in a few months. It's always been on a Deltran since 2010, no problems. Went to drive the car a few days ago .... dead battery. Picked up a NOCO. Might be getting a second one .

 

[Ryan]

Hadn't driven my car in a few months. It's always been on a Deltran since 2010, no problems. Went to drive the car a few days ago .... dead battery. Picked up a NOCO. Might be getting a second one .

I don't know for sure, but pretty sure my "Battery Tender Plus" destroyed the red top in one of my cars.

 

[MJK]

Have a battery tender plus 4 port. I'd call it good but not exceptional. I've since switched to CTEK which saved more than a couple situations the battery tender plus would not. They also sell an LED battery quick connector that blinks Green/yellow/red to indicate the voltage of what it is connected to. Pretty handy.

 

[kmacht]

Marketing is great. “I could tell it was made better” and “it seems smarter”. How exactly do you determine that. Lead acid battery tenders are extremely simple circuits. There isn’t very much difference between them other than the box they are in.

 

[lardy1]

I have that same unit. Beyond pleased.

 

[ycgoat]

My Dewalt did not last long, I am ordering 2 for my vehicles and we will see

 

[cannuck]

I use cheap Chinese Amazon maintainers on my smaller batteries but keep some big NOCOs for the 24V systems with Group 31 batteries. Only complaints about NOCO are the price and the fact that their wire is only good to something like -20C whereas I need to be able to handle things at -40.

 

[Skinny_Blinky]

NOCO hands down, second to none. I use seven of them throughout my shop, year-round. Wouldn't be without them. I abandon Deltran's Battery Tenders years ago over poor customer service.

.

 

[Ryan]

Marketing is great. “I could tell it was made better” and “it seems smarter”. How exactly do you determine that. Lead acid battery tenders are extremely simple circuits. There isn’t very much difference between them other than the box they are in.

**** if I know… the plastic doesn’t feel as crappy… and it’s heavier, I guess?

Regardless, just a perspective… take it or kindly step the hell out of my wake.

 

[4xdog]

I don't know for sure, but pretty sure my "Battery Tender Plus" destroyed the red top in one of my cars.

I'm equally sure it was the Battery Tender Plus that cooked the flooded battery in my Triumph TR3, Ryan. Puked acid out of one of the terminals. I've lost confidence in them, too.

CTEK for me, mainly for the convenience of their indicator connector harnesses, although I like their maintenance program cycle as well.

 

[Jbullfrog]

I got a few of the Noco battery tenders on the Amazon Black Friday sale. I installed them on my engine driven compressor, Miller Trailblazer welder generator, Kawasaki Mule, excavator and skid loader. It's easier to keep them charged, then jump them. I got a Noco booster pack from my GJ Secret Santa this year as well. I used it on the Mule and a tractor on our grain vac. It works awesome.

 

[toolmiser]

Thanks I just used the code to save $20.00 on a jump box. I've been looking at them for a while and waiting for a deal

 

[kwb]

I have a couple of Noco's - they have served my batteries well.

Noco 1 (or something like that) lives on my small boat during the winter.

The Genius had a really bad strain relief (too stiff and too short) and ended up having to redo the cable connections. I have left it on as a maintainer and no boiling out electrolyte like I have had with other "maintainers."

 

[Skyman]

I use three Schumacher maintenance chargers, and one store-brand from either Autozone or Advance Auto (don't recall which it is). I've been using the Schumachers for years, with no trouble. The store-brand one for two or three years with no trouble so far.

 

[ronr80]

Our car club all bought CteK chargers years ago and only a few stopped working and it was an easy fix the on/off button was dirty , take it apart a quick spray and all is good. R

 

[csp]

Lead acid battery tenders are extremely simple circuits. There isn’t very much difference between them other than the box they are in.

And yet some other brands of chargers/maintainers haven't figured out how to not boil out the fluid in those simple lead acid batteries. I've experienced it twice, but not with my Genius 10, which has also managed to bring back two batteries that were headed for the scrap yard. Their remaining life may not be long, but it's longer than it was going to be.

What's different with the NOCO's? Don't know/don't care but the results speak for themselves.

 

[Sumboodie]

Master switch or unhooked the battery has worked for me.
I'd have hundreds of feet of extension cords if I plugged my stuff to chargers.

 

[rogersmithiii]

If the 110 volt power gets interrupted, does the charger remember the charging settings, or does it have to be reprogrammed?

 

[niget2002]

If the 110 volt power gets interrupted, does the charger remember the charging settings, or does it have to be reprogrammed?

It remembers. I regularly unplug mine to use the extension cord for something else. It always goes back once plugged in.

 

[Crabman]

I have both and at least one Schumacher and an old Die Hard (have a lot of batteries to keep going). Have not had a BT problem, but this makes me think. I have a couple of them on cars in longer term storage, I will need to check.

I have had great luck with the NOCO jumpers.. Keep them in the trucks and the boat, they have not failed me. Need to take them out and charge them up once in a while.

 

[Denwood]

If the 110 volt power gets interrupted, does the charger remember the charging settings, or does it have to be reprogrammed?

Most brands (NOCO included) do return to the previous settings. I have a few of the NOCO maintainers and their GB40 Booster. No issues so far. My brother has 3-4 of them for his boat batteries etc. and again, no issues. Once you use one of these portable battery boosters you'll likely not use a booster cable again...

 

[Ryan]

If the 110 volt power gets interrupted, does the charger remember the charging settings, or does it have to be reprogrammed?

In the case of the Norco, it remembers what mode it's in... And the modes are smart as it detects things like temperature and state of charge to control the rate of charge...

 

[maxpower_hd]

I use three Schumacher maintenance chargers, and one store-brand from either Autozone or Advance Auto (don't recall which it is). I've been using the Schumachers for years, with no trouble. The store-brand one for two or three years with no trouble so far.

I've had issues with the "Battery Tender" brand but so far so good with the Schumacher one and the NAPA one. So similar results as you. Although my NAPA one does feel very light and cheaply made. I need one for my forklift at the work shop and my service truck I use only once every couple weeks. I may try the NOCO.

 

[Blk88GT]

I've got 3 chargers and one jump box. The cords on the Noco are not meant for the great white north, at all.

The smaller unit I originally bought has quit working and took a battery along with it, the others seem to still work.

 

[4xdog]

...The cords on the NOCO are not meant for the great white north, at all...

FWIW @Blk88GT, one of the CTEK battery maintainer models has "Polar" in its product name, with apparently some Nordic-compliant kind of insulation for flexibility in very cold conditions (CTEK is a Swedish company). No personal experience with it.

 

[Moss]

I had failures of the old "battery tender" models as well. I went the opposite direction and have four of the Motopower cheap ones I bought on Amazon. I have had at least two for a few years now. No issues they work fine. I don't think it's all that complicated to keep a battery float charged in my opinion most of the extra features are just marking **** to get a very inflated price point. For the amount they are charging it should send you an email of your battery voltage get's below 12.5 etc.

 

[GirlnAgarage]

I'm a longtime Battery Tender user, and satisfied with them maintenancing my motorcycles and truck.

Recently I needed a charger to bring back 2 dead batteries from <20%. I purchased the Noco Genius10 and it did the job overnight. So far, I am pleased with the unit. I purchased the alligator clips and SAE connector accessories. I look forward to it's long term performance.

 

[mcbane]

I have owned several Nocos and Battery MINDers. In my experience there are three big advantages of Noco vs Battery MINDer:
1) in a prolonged power outage, or should the AC power to the tender accidentally get unplugged, the battery minder will fully discharge the battery. Never good to do that to a lead acid battery.
2) Unlike the Noco chargers, Battery minder is unable to charge a seriously discharged battery.
3) Noco doesnt die when exposed to incidental moisture.

edited to correct name of the lousy chargers: Battery MINDer not Battery Tender

 

[pooterguy]

Does anyone here have first-hand experience with a Noco compared to a comparable Battery MINDer?

 

[PelicanPines]

Does anyone here have first-hand experience with a Noco compared to a comparable Battery MINDer?

Yes... I have two Noco Genius "minders" and two Noco Booster setups... a GB70 and a GB40. Before the NOCO... I used a Schumacher for "tending".

 

[bwringer]

Battery Tender brand battery tenders are **** and have always been ****. Thanks for calling them out.

They've cooked many a motorcycle battery when left connected all winter, and have started fires.

But they've somehow become the generic default for this sort of gadget, and people keep buying them.

There are better options, such as the Noco.

 

[pooterguy]

I was asking for information specifically about the Battery MINDer brand manufactured by VDC Electronics compared with a comparable Noco model.
https://www.batteryminders.com/

 

[maxpower_hd]

Thankfully I didn't have a fire or even a cooked battery. It just failed to charge after a while without me knowing. But I ordered two of the Noco genius 1. I am going to put my motorcycle on one of them and use the cheaper one on my forklift. Priorities right? At least there are several people using the forklift and eyes are on it more than my bike which hibernates during winter. I'll try to remember to update once I get some time on the Nocos.

 

[FryZ]

Hmm didn’t realize so many people have had issues with deltran tenders. I currently have 6 Battery tenders in use. 3 are the older heavier ones and 3 are the newer lighter cheaper feeling ones. After using these for 14 years or so only had one flake out and both red and green lights were on at same time and unit wouldn’t keep battery topped off. Now y’all have me paranoid with this fire talk.

 

[mcbane]

I was asking for information specifically about the Battery MINDer brand manufactured by VDC Electronics compared with a comparable Noco model.
https://www.batteryminders.com/

I edited my reply #33 to correctly state that my experience was NOCO vs Battery MINDer