Noco Genius 5 Trickle Smart Charger

[152bobby]

Hello,

I had this plugged in overnight for the first time to see how it worked, not that I'm having issues, just thought I'd try it out.

When I went out to the car this morning, it had a red cross through the 12v icon (sorry no photo) and when I unplugged it from the power supply it the icon in the photo was illuminated (see photo).

I am 100% sure I connected it to the car properly (under the bonnet).

Am I doing something wrong, as I would have expected the green light to be illuminated this morning.

And the car started as normal.

[trashman1965]

If it's this icon, a quick Google brought up the below. If there are no issues, either there was a connection issue (bad earth maybe?), the charger is over sensitive/not suitable, has a fault or maybe early signs of a Battery issue.

[152bobby]

29 minutes ago, trashman1965 said:

If it's this icon, a quick Google brought up the below. If there are no issues, either there was a connection issue (bad earth maybe?), the charger is over sensitive/not suitable, has a fault or maybe early signs of a battery issue.

Thanks, that's very handy.  I'm going to connect it again, maybe it was a bad earth.  I'm hoping it's not the Battery, because it just had a full service along with the usual Hybrid Battery Check Certificate from Toyota !!

[hind]

58 minutes ago, 152bobby said:

I am 100% sure I connected it to the car properly (under the bonnet).

Where did you attach the negative clamp?

[152bobby]

1 minute ago, hind said:

Where did you attach the negative clamp?

Looks like it was a bad earth, as I have connected it to (see photo) and then the charger looks more healthy and is doing something (see photo).

[dash]

Beware some clamps only have the metallic strip on one leg, and the jump contact in the fuse box has the strip on one side only, so alignment of the clamp is important.

[152bobby]

2 minutes ago, dash said:

Beware some clamps only have the metallic strip on one leg, and the jump contact in the fuse box has the strip on one side only, so alignment of the clamp is important.

Good points and noted 👌....but why not bullet proof this and have all the relevant contacts on both sides of the clamp and both sides of the jump contact point in the fuse box, bloody ridiculous!!

[hind]

25 minutes ago, 152bobby said:

have all the relevant contacts on both sides of the clamp

Cost saving 😉 and it's safer for the user, I mean - less metal parts on the clamp = less chance to touch something earthed while connected to the positive pole and cause the short, especially with the wrench you just used for unscrewing the Battery terminals

[jthspace]

The clamp in the pic is metal and riveted by a metal joint with a spring bridging both arms so it shouldn't matter which way around it connects to the tab; if you are concerned, a quick check with a voltmeter will confirm.

[152bobby]

Next time I pop out to my garage, I'll post a photo of the inside of the Noco clamps.

[Kental]

I thought Battery conditioning was not meant to be done from the under bonnet connector as there are some electronic between it and the Battery, I thought it was jump only.

[Benzowner]

As above, batteries should always be charged directly not through emergency contacts.

[HarryW2024]

I’d be interested in whether there was actually anything between that 12v terminal in the fuse box and the auxiliary Battery 12v+ post, I’d be very surprised myself, but would happily be educated. 

[152bobby]

Well, the Toyota dealers use the under bonnet method for Conditioning and Trickle Charging, I see it being done on EVERY visit to my Dealer.

[hind]

32 minutes ago, Kental said:

from the under bonnet connector as there are some electronic between it and the battery

There is none, if it's for jump starting then they anticipated a huge inrush current when you connect charged Battery to discharged one in the car. It's directly connected with the Battery. 

If the connector is capable of handling that kind of power, then it will definitely handle the regular charger current. 

[CPN]

It is the same with the OBDII connector inside the car.

Pin 16 is connected directly to the Battery positive with nothing in between.

[hind]

But one need to remember that OBD was not designed as a plug for charging the Battery, but rather to power up the OBD interface, so this is rather hackish way to utilize it 😉 

[152bobby]

6 hours ago, 152bobby said:

Next time I pop out to my garage, I'll post a photo of the inside of the Noco clamps.

 

[hind]

So they conduct from both sides 🙂 try the unpainted part of the engine suspension as shown in the user manual. If you can reach it as its quite far away 

[CPN]

25 minutes ago, hind said:

But one need to remember that OBD was not designed as a plug for charging the battery, but rather to power up the OBD interface, so this is rather hackish way to utilize it 😉 

I disagree. The OBDII spec requires pin 16 to be capable of hosting a minimum of 4 Amps (Toyota's is actually 7 Amps) and that is well within the range needed to be able to safely charge the 12V auxiliary Battery via that socket.

[hind]

You're right in terms of the power (and I suspected much lower currents TBH, but yeah, SAE defines the requirement as minimum 4A) but still it was made for powering up and as a reference voltage, not for charging the Battery 🙂 (yes, I know that you can do that and it works 😛 )

[jthspace]

17 hours ago, CPN said:

The OBDII spec requires pin 16 to be capable of hosting a minimum of 4 Amps (Toyota's is actually 7 Amps) and that is well within the range needed to be able to safely charge the 12V auxiliary battery via that socket.

A few solar panels sold for Battery maintenance have 12v plugs (not suitable as the 12v socket is ignition switched) or OBD plugs.

Q: Is the OBD socket pin 16 switched or permanently live?

Asking for a friend 😂🤣😂

[152bobby]

17 minutes ago, jthspace said:

A few solar panels sold for battery maintenance have 12v plugs (not suitable as the 12v socket is ignition switched) or OBD plugs.

Q: Is the OBD socket pin 16 switched or permanently live?

Asking for a friend 😂🤣😂

I'd guess (but maybe not 😄) OBDII are permanently live because there are a lot of Dashcam manufacturers that have this option to power the Dashcam, especially for parking mode option.  But they have a built in cut off so that it doesn't flatten the cars Battery.

[jthspace]

In that case..... I've spent £4.99 for a blank plug on eBay and will wire up a spare 10w solar panel as an experiment.

I've also got a 30w roof mounted one for when we leave the car for a long time (holidays or docks).

[jthspace]

Just now, jthspace said:

In that case..... I've spent £4.99 for a blank plug on eBay and will wire up a spare 10w solar panel as an experiment.

I've also got a 30w roof mounted one for when we leave the car for a long time (holidays or docks).