Battery Charger/Maintainer Endorsement

[DEcosse]

I mentioned this in another post within a thread but think it's worthy of its own subject

I purchased this NOCO Dual Charger to leave on the boat once it's shrink wrapped.

NOCO Genius Dual Charger



It has some really excellent features:

Designed to be dual purpose - both indoors and outdoors - providing weatherproof and waterproof protection from the outside elements during any time of the year, including winter. Its X-Connect battery connectors - better than SAE - allow for quick-connect permanent connection or connecting directly to the battery terminals

I asked their customer support prior to purchase, whether their would be a problem with battery drain, if it was connected to the batteries but the AC power was disconnected: the answer was it is negligible and their chargers are designed to be mounted on-board if required and simply re-connected on return to shore.
But when I was hooking it up I realized another potential issue - After plugging it in, I had to select which battery mode to use (there are 4 possible modes for battery type/voltage); so I thought, wait, what happens if there is a power failure and I can't access it under the shrink wrap ...... Is it just going to sit there waiting for the mode to be selected again?
Again, NOCO customer support was impressively quick to respond to my question and informed that the charger has a 'last mode' memory, so when Power is restored it will immediately come on at the previous setting.

The only 'Nits' I would suggest are the supplied accessory cables (which themselves are really good quality with very nice sealed connectors!) - they don't use SAE type pigtails - adapters are available separately (but they are not inexpensive!); you can remove the Alligator clips to use the ring lug to attach - however here again, the holes are 6mm vs the 10mm required for my batteries. But I simply drilled these out and installed on the auxiliary studs where my SAE Pigtails had been. You can still leave these battery connections in situ, even if you remove the module and the extender cables, so that's a bonus too. So out of the box, they didn't fit, but only a relatively minor mod to accommodate.
The other 'Nit' is that the kit comes with 4 (!!!!) Power cables for different markets - extremely wasteful and pretty much landfill material for those other three

Overall, I think this is a really great charger and perfect for our application. So I would give it a healthy recommendation/endorsement.

Here it is in my engine Bay (that is a Twin Hornet 45 700W Bilge Heater next to it)

20221027_151059_resized.jpg

[bruceb58]

Personally, I would never buy the NOCO charger. No true float mode is one...lots of other reasons detailed here:

https://marinehowto.com/choose-your-por ... carefully/

[drtbar]

I read Bruce's link, but I'm just not convinced. Despite my medical training to always practice based on evidence, I've used the cheapy "trickle" chargers for many years. This is the most recent one I bought for my yet to be picked up pontoon battery.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Everstart-12 ... /500329739

The other chargers I've used were also in the $20-30 price range and have worked flawlessly for many years. Again, anecdotally, but my last failed battery was 9 years old.

20221029_081746.jpg

[Kate]

". . . to leave on the boat once it's shrink wrapped."

I am far from an expert on this issue.

I do not understand the purpose of doing that, or of trickle-charging a battery the entire off season. If the battery depletes, 1 or 2 days on a trickle charge does the trick, or about 1 hour on a regular charger.

My understanding is that consistent, long-term charging can damage a battery's efficacy, and that some of those chargers can cause serious accidents.

[DEcosse]

Personally, I would never buy the NOCO charger.

The Link below is to our affiliate partner Bay Marine Supply.

No bias there at all then!

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with any type of Trickle Charger - but todays modern chargers are extremely sophisticated, not the quoted chargers

My dad’s whole adult life was spent as an antique car collector ... over the years my dad collected a massive pile of trickle chargers or maintenance chargers as some of these companies like to call them . ... we recovered from his barn after he passed away,

So the author is comparing a sophisticated (not denying that) microprocessor controller charger of 2022 technology with something perhaps 20 - 40?? years old?

However even most basic 'old-school' basic chargers - exactly like the example quoted that was denigrated for turning off when complete and turning back on when voltage reached 12.7 (what exactly is wrong with that anyway? No different than anyone USING their boat with NO external charger except for the Alternator after the engine has started - and the Alternator system provides ZERO smart control - just will continue to try to pump current into it as long as the generated voltage is higher than the battery cells!)
My 51 Chevy does just fine with my Optimate connected.
But todays microprocessor controlled chargers - and I would include brands like Optimate, CTEK etc along with NOCO and many other - that have much more complex bulk charging and maintenance algorithms, where they can indeed be hooked up virtually permanently.

@Kate - yes, you can overcharge a battery - but again, that is not going to happen.
The point of leaving it onboard is exactly because it will be inaccessible after the boat has been wrapped. So it's either keep a maintenance charger on it, or leave until spring.
And I'm definitely not removing them!!! Had to replace one earlier this year and it is seriously awkward to lift it out of the engine bay with limited access to get a reasonable 'lift' to get it up and out - I ended up putting a milk crate in there so I could lift it onto that while standing in the bilge, and then a second lift from the crate to the topside of the boat.

[bruceb58]

No bias there at all then!

I own one of the Victron chargers mentioned. I bought it WAY before I saw this article. I also have a ton of Victron equipment in my travel trailer. I would buy no other brand of chargers.

I guess you missed the part in his review where his NOCO chargers charged up and NEVER turned back on again at the lower voltage when they were supposed to? Personally, I would be checking to make sure this is not going to happen with your NOCO charger

The Victron charger is the absolute best charger for your situation since your boat is shrink wrapped and you can monitor the state of the charger remotely with your phone.

[DEcosse]

I guess you missed the part in his review where his NOCO chargers charged up and NEVER turned back on again at the lower voltage when they were supposed to? Personally, I would be checking to make sure this is not going to happen with your NOCO charger

No, I saw it - and the Tech Support technician said that if it was indeed the case, then it was potentially defective.
That's a sample of 'one' - I'm not basing any decision on a slanted ad promoting another brand against an unspecified NOCO charger of who knows what vintage or even model or capability
I'm sorry but that whole article beggars belief - a 'whole bucket of chargers' and NONE of them worked - probably because they were low current (yes, trickle types) that were being used to attempt to recover severely sulphated batteries and yes, you absolutely need a 'smart' charger to be able to overcome that (and different 'smarts' than is required for maintenance). The very fact that his batteries voltages were falling so rapidly, or failing to reach peak voltage, suggests that they were indeed sulphated.
I don't have any problem at all with the Victron - it's just that particular author's article with no 'real' information other than innuendo, to suit his purpose of promotion. If you wrote this here, on this forum Bruce, from your own personal experience, I would support your findings - but not from a self-declared affiliate partner with a clear bias - it's nothing more than a Sales ad.
I'm not even suggesting the NOCO one I bought is the best thing under the sun - it's just an excellent value in a dual configuration, that itself is not easy to find.

[bcromwell]

I have that exact noco charger and it works great.
I tested it getting to float charge and then drawing currently off the battery and it returned to charging mode just fine.
Also tested power loss for several hours and it returned to the last state that is was in before power loss

20221017_172543.jpg

[kwsbrother]

I have that exact noco charger and it works great.
I tested it getting to float charge and then drawing currently off the battery and it returned to charging mode just fine.
Also tested power loss for several hours and it returned to the last state that is was in before power loss

20221017_172543.jpg

How do you plug it it? Do you run the extension cords out of the engine hatch using a NOCO plug port? I just ordered a 3 bank NOCO charger for my R3 (plan to add a third battery that will be in parallel with the other house battery). I plan to install the NOCO plug port, but wondering where I'll install it? Any pictures of yours? I installed the same 2 bank NOCO with a plug port in my tracker fishing boat (will be selling soon). That thing is a game changer.

[Sam Adams]

I installed a battery charger on my R6 and used a "Minn Kota" power cord plug adapter. The MK hull penetration adapter captures the standard plug on the battery charger.

[milkerson10]

I just install the noco plug port and it is working great. Previous port was having issues with the plug pushing backwards and not making good connection

[jhnmdahl]

Personally, I would never buy the NOCO charger. No true float mode is one...lots of other reasons detailed here:

https://marinehowto.com/choose-your-por ... carefully/

It seems like a constant 13.5v float would be easier to implement than their 12.5-12.7v triggered re-charging back up to full voltage in their maintenance mode. I wonder why they decided to do it that way? Noco's site is so poorly written and technically inaccurate it's hard to even guess. That said, I have a Noco charger I use for cars and for the boats and it works great, but I don't use it as a battery maintainer over winter.