Noco Battery Chargers on sale

John_Mc · Oct 10, 2024

ning said:
Do those "repair" and "force" modes work some times?
If so, too bad they don't have an 18v setting on it too...

All Force mode does is temporarily turn the charger into a "dumb charger, forcing it to attempt to charge a battery that has fallen below the smart charger's minimum cutoff voltage. It tries to get it up above the minimum voltage the smart charger will recognize. IF the battery is damaged or heavily sulfated, it will still be damaged or sulfated when the force mode is done.

"Repair mode" can work, but it's far better to not let your battery get to that condition in the first place (one major factor: do not let the battery stay in a discharged or partially discharged state for an extended period - recharge as soon as possible after any activity that drains the battery.) Some people do recommend using repair mode on a battery once a year even on batteries which are used and charged regularly. However, I have not found anything on Noco's website saying that is necessary.

Here is Noco's description of Repair Mode:

Repair Mode is an advanced battery recovery mode found on GENIUS5 and GENIUS10 for repairing and storing, old, idle, damaged, stratified or sulfated batteries. Not all batteries can be recovered. Batteries tend to become damaged if kept at a low charge and/or never given the opportunity to receive a full charge. The most common battery problems are battery sulfation and stratification. Both battery sulfation and stratification will artificially raise the open circuit voltage of the battery, causing the battery to appear fully charged, while providing low capacity. Use 12V Repair in attempt to reverse these problems. For optimal results, take the 12-volt battery through a full charge cycle, bringing the battery to full charge, before using this mode. 12V Repair can take up to four (4) hours to complete the recovery process and will return to Standby when completed.

CAUTION: USE THIS MODE WITH CARE. THIS MODE IS FOR 12-VOLT LEAD-ACID BATTERIES ONLY. THIS MODE USES A HIGH CHARGING VOLTAGE AND MAY CAUSE SOME WATER LOSS IN WET (FLOODED) CELL BATTERIES. BE ADVISED, SOME BATTERIES AND ELECTRONICS MAY BE SENSITIVE TO HIGH CHARGING VOLTAGES. TO MINIMIZE RISKS TO ELECTRONICS, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY BEFORE USING THIS MODE.

Desulfation is a different thing than "force" or "repair" modes. Over time, sulfates can form on the batteries plates (and sometimes slough off and collect in the bottom of the battery). This can reduce a batteries capacity. Desulfation seeks to dissolve those sulfates. It can take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks to accomplish depending on the degree of sulfation and the size of the battery (and is not always successful if the battery is heavily sulfated). I've had a few batteries which were getting weak which were successfully recovered using this technique. Generally, if the battery has a shorted cell, it's not going to recover from that using either desulfation or repair mode.

In general, the best strategy for long battery life is to KEEP a battery in good condition, rather than trying to recover one which is fading. I do this by periodically putting all of my batteries on a good desulfating smart charger/maintainer. (I prefer BatteryMINDer brand for this, since the desulfation feature is always on even when in maintenance mode. When I checked with Noco, I found their charger's desulfation feature was only "on" when they were actively charging, not maintaining. However, either one will work, I just may need to cycle the Noco charger a couple of times.) Batteries in vehicles which may sit idle for some time are left on a maintainer: lead-acid batteries self-discharge over time even with no load (AGM tends to do this at a slower rate than flooded lead-acid batteries). This can lead to sulfation. Putting them on a good smart battery maintainer prevents this.