Noco GENIUS5, 10A Fully-Automatic Smart Charger Review
Try as you may, starting a vehicle with a dead battery is an ordeal no one enjoys. It’s nice if a kind neighbor comes over with a jumper cable set or a jump starter, but if not, you may need to contact a breakdown service. Your day will be derailed, and you will be late no matter what. A battery charger is what you need.
Standard chargers, solar chargers, and smart chargers are just some of the alternatives. In addition, there are a few variations, each with advantages and disadvantages. There is, however, one that is optimal for your situation.
Once charging is complete, smart chargers are the most effective at preventing damage to your battery from being overcharged. When the battery is full, it will transition to a trickle charge mode to maintain its charge until the power is off. Ingenious and much less expensive than getting a new battery for your automobile.
| Brand | NOCO |
| Power Source | Charger |
| Item Dimensions (LxWxH) | 4.61 x 3.43 x 7.95 inches |
| Color | Black |
| Style | Machined |
| Item Weight | 2 pounds |
| Cutting Width | 7.95 inches |
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Desulfurizer | Heavy |
| Bulk charging | Require a long time |
| Ease of use | Maybe don’t charge the battery fully |
| Smart chargers | Maybe expensive compared to others |
Safely charging a dead automobile battery and learning to use Noco GENIUS5 Battery Charger requires more than just connecting a charger. For example, you should know which terminal to remove when removing the battery, which terminal to connect to on the charger and more.
Before charging a vehicle battery at home, prepare it. If the battery is charged, it’s simple to be shocked. If you need to charge the car’s battery, be sure you have the right equipment. Some batteries are readily accessible; others are under or in the fender, in the trunk, or beneath the seat, depending on the car.
There is one crucial thing you should not forget to learn how to use Noco GENIUS5 Battery Charger. Off all accessories and lights, including the interior light. Having anything on while dealing with the battery might spark an arc. Remove the negative or ground cable first. This would be the black cable unless someone swapped them. The ground line has a negative (-) symbol, while the power cable has a plus (+) sign.
Washing the battery terminals with baking soda and water can neutralize the acid. If there is a lot of acid accumulation on the battery terminals and posts, you should use goggles and a mask. Wash your hands before touching your face. Check the water level to see if the battery has detachable covers. If a cell seems low, add distilled water; do not overfill. Today’s batteries are “maintenance-free,” so you can’t monitor the acid level.
Features of Noco GENIUS5, 10A Fully-Automatic Smart Charger
Desulfurizer
A smart battery charger uses low current and high voltage micro pulses to dislodge sulfate crystals, which fall harmlessly to the bottom of the cell. Reconnecting a battery that has been significantly discharged demands a lower current.
The likelihood of injury increases if this step is skipped. Up to around 10 or 20 percent, it aids the battery until it is fully charged. Almost identical to our G3500, only better. Despite being 34% more compact, it generates nearly 65% more power. The whole charging system includes a charger, maintainer, trickle charger, float charger, and desulfurizer.
Lead acid batteries may have their capacity restored by using a battery conditioner, which removes lead-sulfur deposits that inhibit the battery’s ability to store energy. When a car is used for short journeys often or not used at all, deposits like this accumulate.
Cars with trickle chargers keep their batteries from draining to the point where they no longer function. In addition, the low-voltage charge is safer for your battery in the long run since it won’t overcharge it as quickly.
Vehicles that aren’t driven often but need to be kept in working order might benefit significantly from them. While alternators may prevent batteries from completely draining, their primary purpose is not to recharge batteries that are already close to full.
Bulk Charging
The sulfur deposits that cause increased electrical resistance on battery plates may be removed using a battery conditioner. The battery’s seeming demise may be due to the resistance that prevents it from keeping a full charge.
By sending high-frequency pulses through the battery, it is possible to skip the lower current flow and then utilize a higher voltage to regenerate full capacity after a modest charge has occurred. In addition, conditioners may trickle charge the battery to enhance its performance.
To prevent batteries from draining too quickly, trickle chargers gradually replenish power at a low voltage over time. You should test your charger to check whether it can be kept on a battery for an extended period. Once the gentle start phase is complete, a steady high voltage current may be used to charge the battery until it reaches around 80% capacity without harming it.
Faster and less damaging charging is achievable with smarter chargers. Whenever it’s convenient, you can turn the key and go. Designed for 6-volt and 12-volt sealed lead-acid automotive, marine, RV, powersport, deep-cycle, and lithium-ion batteries.
Ease of Use
Car battery chargers are a popular alternative simply because they’re handy. With the wide variety of chargers available today, you can choose one that will work with any battery and is built to last through any environment.
One of the most notable benefits of chargers is their higher performance – particularly when it comes to rechargeable vehicle batteries since the ‘refresh’ mode guarantees you obtain the best performance and longevity.
Considering the charger’s amperage and wattage is crucial (the higher the amps, the longer the charger lasts and the quicker the charge is). If you wish to opt for an eco-friendly alternative, solar battery chargers operate by utilizing the sun to charge the vehicle battery and sit on the car’s dashboard.
Because of their usefulness, battery chargers may help you save both time and money. A vehicle battery charger is invaluable; all it takes is one dead battery before you know how important it is to have one. Solar trickling chargers have the potential to function while the car is in motion, unlike conventional trickle chargers. While the solar panel is ideally located on the dashboard to get the most sunshine, the charger may be plugged into the 12-volt outlet for easy access.
Smart Chargers
More sophisticated technology may be found in smart chargers, which can be used to charge and maintain a battery. They include several extra features and charging phases to charge batteries more efficiently and extend their useful life.
There is no chance of overcharging and harming your battery since they will automatically determine the quickest charging method and switch to a trickle charge when the battery is full.
Overcharging in hot areas and undercharging in cold climates are avoided thanks to an inbuilt digital thermal sensor that monitors the ambient temperature and adjusts the charge accordingly. Power up dead batteries; it can revive batteries with voltage as low as 1 volt. You may also accept charge and start charging from 0 voltage with the brand-new force mode.
This charger is far more than a simple trickle charger; it is a high-tech battery maintainer. This intelligent battery charger is entirely automated, so you never have to worry about overcharging your battery, and it can be used whenever, wherever.
Besides, an innovative battery repair mode employs slow pulse reconditioner technology to detect battery sulfation and acid stratification to restore lost battery performance for more reliable engine starts and longer battery life.
Final Verdict
While using Noco GENIUS5 Battery Charger, there are essential points to know. First, the best car battery charger is a battery charger that is both simple to use and inexpensive. The improved amplifier maintenance charger may be used to charge the battery of your electric car, motorbike, golf cart, or other similar compact vehicles. When a motorbike battery is not being used, it loses around 1% of its charge daily. As a result, the storage cell is likely to be destroyed if allowed to drop to zero.
At the same time, the storage cell will be destroyed by overhead. Multiple power connections are available on the go with the conservation charger’s 6V and 12V two amplifiers. Automobiles, ATVs, and motorbikes. These upgraded bearings may be used to charge traditional or older batteries and batteries in smaller regions. Both light and heavy loads may be accommodated.
Two amps of current will flow into six-volt batteries, with four amps flowing into twelve-volt batteries at the charging peak. The top of the storage cell and the side posts are connected by a polarity connection that may be made using a tweezer and fifty amps. The choice to use 12 amps for charging automotive batteries is a practical one. This servicing fee covers anything that might go wrong.
- Meet the GENIUS5 - Similar to our G3500, just better. It's 34% smaller and delivers over 65% more power. It's the all-in-one universal charging solution - battery charger, battery maintainer, trickle charger, float charger, plus battery desulfator.
- Do more with Genius - Designed for 6-volt and 12-volt sealed lead-acid automotive, marine, RV, powersport, and deep-cycle batteries, including flooded, gel, AGM, SLA, VRLA and maintenance-free, plus lithium-ion batteries (lifepo4).
- Enjoy precision charging - An integrated digital thermal sensor detects the ambient temperature and alters the charge to eliminate over-charging in hot climates and under-charging in cold climates.
- Charge dead batteries - Charges batteries as low as 1-volt. Or use the all-new force mode that allows you to take control and manually begin charging dead batteries down to zero volts.
- Restore your battery - An advanced battery repair mode uses slow pulse reconditioner technology to detect battery sulfation and acid stratification to restore lost battery performance for stronger engine starts and extended battery life.
Top Amazon Customer Comments
aTypicalEngineer808 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Review: Update (2/15/23): Used this 5A Noco on my car battery the other day. The battery is 4 years old, and the car gets drive at most, once a week, so not ideal for battery health. Once a year (annually), I try to charge the battery. When I hooked it up, and ran it in normal charging mode, it quickly finished (within five minutes). I switched over to repair mode, which applies a small pulsing current, and ran it for two cycles (repair mode shuts off after 4 hours), so 8 hours total. Using a battery tester (measures battery resistance), the overall health improved after 8 hours. So the repair mode definitely does something different than the regular charging mode.
aTypicalEngineer808 – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Review: Got this as a battery “maintainer” for an SUV I don’t drive all that often. Followed directions, hooked it up, selected the proper type of battery (12 v) and unit said 25% charge for 12+ hours then threw a warning light saying battery couldn’t hold a charge. I knew this was bollocks as battery in SUV was brand-new. Tried again, with same outcome. Before packing it up and returning, I thought I’d try it on my daily driver that also has a relatively new (6 month’s old) battery. Within minutes, it zipped through all the charging progress bars, and registered a 100% charge. Only difference between my daily driver and my SUV is the location of battery posts (SUV’s is on the side, not the top). Tried again on the SUV and fiddled around with the alligator clamps to try and attach them as firmly to the battery posts and in as much contact with them as possible. Turned on unit; same 25% charge reading, however, within 5 minutes it proceeded through the various charge stages without erroring out at 100%. I assume it’s now working as it should but won’t know until the SUV sits for a considerable time and it needs to be jumped or not. So, moral of the story: If the unit doesn’t charge and/or throws an error light saying battery won’t hold a charge, that may not be the case at all. Manual doesn’t say a thing about this possible outcome if the alligator clamps aren’t properly positioned just right, particularly on side post batteries, this can be a problem. Issue can probably be avoided if you get the optional eyelet post connectors, but I didn’t want to mess with that…
RIR – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Review: I wish I had invested in this product earlier. My BMW developed a starting problem after standing idle during the early months of the social distancing phase. It became harder to start the car even on a daily basis. Finally, I bought this charger and hooked it up to the car. Soon after I was away overseas for several months during which time there were a couple of brittle cold phases up in the Northeast. The car was a solid cold block of steel when I got back from my trip. I decided to start the car in early March 2023 as it was still cold a few weeks after I got back. Surprise, surprise! The engine just roared to life.
TimeTraveller – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Review: It works well. Just thought I’d bought the kind that can be attached under the hood of Cayenne. No room for it in engine compartment so even when hooked up hood doesn’t close bc of the cords. Worried about the device being exposed to rain snow so set it on top of tires under wheel well in attempt to protect it. IDK if it’s made for rain exposure [may be] but didn’t want to risk it shorting out or damaging it from water intrusion. NAPA guys told me that I would not shock myself if the clips are positive and they touch me while standing in rain. Said if shocked it would not be enough to notice or injure self. I bought 3. Well packaged and seems well made. The long cords to negative positive clips are also strong [don’t pop off if you move cord] and those cords are long good quality not flimsy cheaply made…but if planning to use outdoors continuously cords are too long to install permanently under hood [unless coiled and secured]. Obviously this wasn’t the intended use by manufacturer. I leave them under the hood just sitting on top of wherever I can find space and lower hood. Used during a snowstorm and freezing conditions in December in the PNW with norwester blowing salt water mixed rain non-stop for days, freezing rain snow for weeks and as long as they were powered by HD extension cord [prob overkill bc device amps are low] and kept semi-wet/dry, worked fine. Power outages from grids on mainland were off and on several times and these were not connected via a surge protector. Just plugged into an ext extension cord running under garage door to wall outlet. No issues from outages/surges. LED lights work. Ideally prob best used in garaged vehicles…but they just got tested in Alaskan Aleutians winter- like conditions and still working fine.
