NOCO Charger on dead AGM battery, not showing progress

[RynoRanger]

Setup. I left my lights on the non-auto mode; didn't want to blind my neighbors as I was getting groceries out of the truck; forgot and didn't drive for a day and my battery died. My fault; i get it.

Upon setting up my small 2A NOCO trickle charger (I have since bought the 10A one; I had the small one for my motorcycle already) I didn't see any change on the charger and the truck wasn't able to start. Did some research... learned there's a BMS (battery management system; makes sense, i'm just new to computerized vehicles) so I then reattached up the gator clip on the top side of the BMS like the video showed and let it go for another hour. Still didn't see any light change on my charger (the lowest/bottom one just blinking). SO... I let it charge over night; a good 12-14 hours. I came out in the morning and the charger was STILL only showing the 1 out of 4 lights lit and blinking. I got worried. BUT... the truck was able to start no problem so it must have been charging.

SO my questions are:

1. Did I set up the charger properly?
   1. POS clamp was on the red terminal itself.
   2. NEG clamp was on the upper bracket coming off the BMS module similar to how that video showed.
   3. Charger set to "AGM" mode. (yes it was plugged in)
2. How to jump the AGM battery w/ BMS on it?
   I tried using my old Weego jump pack on both terminals (again before I knew about the BMS) and it didn't work... and it made my old pack swell (throwing it away now, buying a new NoCo GBX45). SO... I'm assuming since the power was on the terminal and not after the BMS it wouldn't take the boost? If I hooked it up after the BMS would that have worked? Or it wasn't charged enough and the draw was too much?

Thanks guys... felling dumb I botched this so badly but... moving on.

EDIT: Video in third comment on this page

Sponsored

 

[cbrenthus]

The first thing I have to ask is "how do you know your battery died?"

I thought most vehicles would shut down the electronics to conserve the battery, and I know that when I first got my Badlands I spent many evenings in it playing with the functions and features, only to have to press the button every now and then when it shut down to conserve the battery.

NOCO 25% is like 12.2 volts, so very possible it could start with that amount of voltage. Bottom line, if you did drain your battery, it will probably shorten the life of it. If you aren't concerned, drive it until it dies. But if you're an ER doctor that is on call and needs to fire it up at a moments notice then maybe replace it for piece of mind

 

[RynoRanger]

The first thing I have to ask is "how do you know your battery died?"

Fair question. Got in it, foot on brake, pushed start button - the following happened:

• Brake pedal pushed back and pulsed on my foot rapidly
• interior lights flickering and many beeps going off
• instrument panel came on but so did every light and MULTIPLE modal prompts of XXXX system.
• physical remote fob was unresponsive
• drivers side widow was down to the 75% closed mark - after I got her running again I had to do the window reset protocol to bring her back to life.

Here's a video

needs to fire it up at a moments notice then maybe replace it for piece of mind

...is an AGM battery running 'dead' or super low it can't start the vehicle do something worse than an acid filled battery? maybe I need to read up more on those.

 

[BAUS67]

Many of the new chargers will not charge a battery if is super low on charge.

Buddy of mine owns a battery shop and he sees it a lot. "I had it on the charger all night but still dead" He always asks what charger you are using. A newer style "electronic charger will not "see" enough voltage and will not charge it. The older "analog" chargers work best he says.

That said NOCO is a very reputable charger, battery shop guy uses them as well but not the small ones. He has a bank of wall mount units to charge customers batteries.

And just for the record if you go to any auto parts store or for that matter most garages use "electronic" testers. These are not accurate either. The true way of testing a battery is with a carbon pile tester.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[BAUS67]

Fair question. Got in it, foot on brake, pushed start button - the following happened:

• Brake pedal pushed back and pulsed on my foot rapidly
• interior lights flickering and many beeps going off
• instrument panel came on but so did every light and MULTIPLE modal prompts of XXXX system.
• physical remote fob was unresponsive
• drivers side widow was down to the 75% closed mark - after I got her running again I had to do the window reset protocol to bring her back to life.

Here's a video

...is an AGM battery running 'dead' or super low it can't start the vehicle do something worse than an acid filled battery? maybe I need to read up more on those.

Yep. perfect example. If your battery is truly dead you would not have the lights come on. No juice to turn them on. All of this computer controlled "can-bus" shit really messes with shit.

Battery guy sees it. "my car won't start, it needs a battery". he tests it and it is low on charge. If charge gets to low, can-bus will not allow the vehicle to start.

 

[Neps]

I've had a few AGM batteries discharge down to the point they would not accept a charge. I ended up connecting a charged battery in parallel, then attaching the charger to both.

Can't guarantee your results, but it's worked for me many times.

 

[RynoRanger]

All of this computer controlled "can-bus" shit really messes with shit.

If charge gets to low, can-bus will not allow the vehicle to start.

...looking that up. https://tide.theimi.org.uk/industry-latest/motorpro/how-it-works-can-bus

 

[RynoRanger]

I've had a few AGM batteries discharge down to the point they would not accept a charge. I ended up connecting a charged battery in parallel, then attaching the charger to both.

yeah I've seen that "safe" approach. I can't imagine everybody having a spare AGM battery laying around lol. but noted.

 

[BAUS67]

Scroll down to "Charge batteries down to zero volts"......


https://no.co/products/charging/geniuspro

 

[BAUS67]

I use a Noco "jump start" for my phone to keep it charged while out on the trails on my atv.

I use phone for the trail maps and the program will "track" you, but it will kill the phone battery in about an hour. So I strap the jump start to the front rack and plug my phone in. I can ride all day and the jump start still has about half life left in it.


What I am getting at is Noco makes quality stuff.

 

[Gtrekker]

Hey,

There was a bulletin on the power management of the battery. It was in this forum somewhere.... In short, the negative on the battery (when charging) needs to disconnected and the chargers negative lead needs to be grounded to the vehicle.

The management system will not recognize the newly charged state of the battery... I'm saying this by memory of the bulletin and may not have it 100%. Sorry about that...

Possibly, another member remembers the bulletin and can share it.

 

[Rick Astley]

As others mentioned, the battery management has some TSB's.

Also, no matter the amperage output, depending on the resting voltage of the battery, you may need a charger that provides the ability to remove the sulfation. This is not standard in most bump chargers, and NoCO are horrible chargers (based on experience and their return rates.... Yes Amazon has nice things to say about them but there's a reason places like batteries plus bulbs stopped carrying them in-store. I had 5 die in a year as an example)

Personally I need chargers that can handle 6 volt or 12 volt batteries so this is out, but if I only had 12v cars then I would pick up this X2 unit which has a de-sulfate recovery program built in.

https://www.batteriesplus.com/product-details/sli-=-accessory/charger/x2power/slc10005

 

[BAUS67]

...looking that up. https://tide.theimi.org.uk/industry-latest/motorpro/how-it-works-can-bus

I'll give you the cliff notes...........


In the old days, you turn on the headlight switch and the lights come on. Simple as that.

Now, with can-bus, you turn on the headlight switch and the can-bus with check a mirad of things to make sure it is "ok" to turn on the lights. if everything checks out, the lights come on. This will only take milliseconds but like everything else computerized it is fast.


I can remember back in my fox body days someone broke down what Ford's EEC system, the computer that controls the fuel injection, would do before starting the engine. The paragraph was about 3 feet long. It would boggle your mind at how much it "looks" at before firing up the car. And that was back in the 90's.

 

[BAUS67]

As others mentioned, the battery management has some TSB's.

Also, no matter the amperage output, depending on the resting voltage of the battery, you may need a charger that provides the ability to remove the sulfation. This is not standard in most bump chargers, and NoCO are horrible chargers (based on experience and their return rates.... Yes Amazon has nice things to say about them but there's a reason places like batteries plus bulbs stopped carrying them in-store. I had 5 die in a year as an example)

Personally I need chargers that can handle 6 volt or 12 volt batteries so this is out, but if I only had 12v cars then I would pick up this X2 unit which has a de-sulfate recovery program built in.

https://www.batteriesplus.com/product-details/sli-=-accessory/charger/x2power/slc10005

Sorry to hear you did not have good luck with the NOCO's. I stated above I have used mine for years now with ZERO issues. All day, every weekend. Jump started cars during the week. Battery guy has zero issues as well he has like 5 of them hanging on the wall.


For the record NOCO addresses the sulfation issue as well. Last line is post below.

 

[RynoRanger]

Scroll down to "Charge batteries down to zero volts"......

Yerp... so i HAD/used the 2A one... have now purchased the 10A Genius10: https://no.co/genius10
And on top of that... since my Weego swelled it's 5 years old at this point, I also bought a GBX45: https://no.co/gbx45 to keep in the truck.

What I am getting at is Noco makes quality stuff.

agreed... reference based on many youtube videos and articles (fully understanding how the influence of affiliate marketing works)... and I only quote this as a follow up comment has another opinion.. from

and NoCO are horrible chargers (based on experience and their return rates.... Yes Amazon has nice things to say about them but there's a reason places like batteries plus bulbs stopped carrying them in-store. I had 5 die in a year as an example)

is their average lifespan inversely correlated and indicative of their ability to be a functionally good charger? From a lot of research they seem like a very viable product... now YMMV w/ use/storage/whatever... but i've had that smaller noco for a long time in a very hot phoenix garage for years charging my motorcycle and it's still very effective. So idk... I'm not a portable battery discharge expert but they seem pretty good.

There was a bulletin on the power management of the battery. It was in this forum somewhere.... In short, the negative on the battery (when charging) needs to disconnected and the chargers negative lead needs to be grounded to the vehicle.

Yeah I read that too... which is where I found the video I linked in my OP. Was useful to get as far as I did.

Sponsored