Xantrex vs. Noco Genius 2 batt charger?

[unplannedbbq]

Howdy.

My 2wd '86 VW westy weekender is currently doors & windows off, stripped out & getting prepped for painting.

Which means there'll never be a better time to lay down some wires.

She came with a stock 2-battery config, but no shore power hook up. I've got my 12v plans sorted out, but I'm piecing my 120v solution together. I really want a charger to top both batteries (independently) for those nights when I'm parked near an outlet. I'm sticking with my stock separator/relay, so I don't plan on using a single batt charger + battery combiner as my solution. Pretty sure I'll be swapping out my wallmart wet cell house battery for an AGM deep cycle when this is all done.

I'm looking for advice - I think I've narrowed it to these two chargers:

Xantrex Truecharge 2

Noco Genius


Both are dual battery smart multi-step chargers capable of pushing 10amp per batt - each can be set up for different battery flavors (e.g. - wet starting + AGM house), prices are within $25 of each other w/ the Noco the cheaper option.

Noco is smaller, lighter, "waterproof", 90% efficient, 8-step charging, 110v only
Xantrex is 3-step, but supports world voltages (auto sensing 90-260v - I dream of driving this rig outside of North America one day), 80% efficient, hardwired, decent infographic displays, can be accessorized with remote display/control

I've used Xantrex stuff before & I've liked it. Anyone have any experience with either unit?

The rest of the picture - My primary 12v draws are an Edgestar 43 fridge, viair compressor, misc LED interior lights, fans, and seat-heaters that double as bed pre-warmers when my rear bench gets turned into the lower bunk.
I don't use an inverter - most of my gear is 12v, usb, or air-powered. My house batt will likely be a ~60 amp hour AGM.

When I'm plugged in to shore power the edgestar auto-switches to AC, further reducing my 12v amp draw. Either 10amp charger will be able to stay ahead of my nightly requirements.

The basic AC plan:
30amp locking shore plug+Bluesea 8077 Main+"sealed" GFI outlet at the start of the circuit w/ the charger at the end of the run, either hardwired or plugged into a single gang outlet. All wiring will be 3-wire fully insulated "marine romex."

Any and all opinions welcome.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[DallasVWed]

Xantrex VS NOCO Genius

Joe.

Both Xantrex and NOCO Genius are big brand names and make some of the best power products around. Xantrex is mostly known for inverters, which is what I have used before. I also own NOCO Genius chargers as well. The Xantrex model you are looking at does not charge independently, so if that is a big deal I would go Genius. I have had great success with Genius chargers. BTW, independent charging is the best way to go if you want to maximize battery life.

Just my two cents. I think I would go Genius.

Howdy.

My 2wd '86 VW westy weekender is currently doors & windows off, stripped out & getting prepped for painting.

Which means there'll never be a better time to lay down some wires.

She came with a stock 2-battery config, but no shore power hook up. I've got my 12v plans sorted out, but I'm piecing my 120v solution together. I really want a charger to top both batteries (independently) for those nights when I'm parked near an outlet. I'm sticking with my stock separator/relay, so I don't plan on using a single batt charger + battery combiner as my solution. Pretty sure I'll be swapping out my wallmart wet cell house battery for an AGM deep cycle when this is all done.

I'm looking for advice - I think I've narrowed it to these two chargers:

Xantrex Truecharge 2
View attachment 172535
Noco Genius
View attachment 172536

Both are dual battery smart multi-step chargers capable of pushing 10amp per batt - each can be set up for different battery flavors (e.g. - wet starting + AGM house), prices are within $25 of each other w/ the Noco the cheaper option.

Noco is smaller, lighter, "waterproof", 90% efficient, 8-step charging, 110v only
Xantrex is 3-step, but supports world voltages (auto sensing 90-260v - I dream of driving this rig outside of North America one day), 80% efficient, hardwired, decent infographic displays, can be accessorized with remote display/control

I've used Xantrex stuff before & I've liked it. Anyone have any experience with either unit?

The rest of the picture - My primary 12v draws are an Edgestar 43 fridge, viair compressor, misc LED interior lights, fans, and seat-heaters that double as bed pre-warmers when my rear bench gets turned into the lower bunk.
I don't use an inverter - most of my gear is 12v, usb, or air-powered. My house batt will likely be a ~60 amp hour AGM.

When I'm plugged in to shore power the edgestar auto-switches to AC, further reducing my 12v amp draw. Either 10amp charger will be able to stay ahead of my nightly requirements.

The basic AC plan:
30amp locking shore plugView attachment 172540+Bluesea 8077 MainView attachment 172541+"sealed" GFI outletView attachment 172542 at the start of the circuit w/ the charger at the end of the run, either hardwired or plugged into a single gang outlet. All wiring will be 3-wire fully insulated "marine romex."

Any and all opinions welcome.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[pugslyyy]

No experience with either, but I've been pleased with the Xantrex inverter/charger. If you wanted an inverter/charger Xantrex would be a much clearer choice.

I think if you only plan to use the truck in the US, plugged into the grid, the Noco is a good choice. The Xantrex will probably be louder than the Noco if that matters. Where the Xantrex shines is its ability to handle 'dirty' power - frequency and voltage variation (either from a genset or in a developing country, just hook it up and let it figure it out).

 

[Scrib]

I've used and abused (over-temp shutdowns in the warm California sun ) a Prosine inverter/charger for years in an RV with no problems. Not familiar with NOCO, but I don't see a temperature sensor on the product page - although with a 10 or 20 Amp charger maybe that's not a big deal.

 

[Haf-E]

I have one of the single battery NOCO "Genius" chargers and have also been looking for a two battery charger as well.

The ability to charge the two batteries independently is really important in your application - the starter battery will usually be full and the house battery often will not be. I think that rules out the xantrex unit.

I like the NOCO unit I have - its a newer smaller 3.5 amp unit though - I did find on issue with the model you are looking at however - it apparently will not stay "on" with a full battery to support DC loads - i.e. - operate as a "converter" in RV terms - so that seems like a real issue for what you want.

I am not completely sure if the newer version I have stays on once the battery is full - I'll try to check it soon - if it does then I would consider buying two separate chargers.

I just looked at the NOCO website and it looks like the 7.2 amp version has a mode where it will stay on at 13.6 vdc to act as a "power supply" to allow it to power loads - so you might consider one of these for the house battery and perhaps a smaller unit for the starting battery. Here is a direct link to the 7.2 amp version:

http://www.geniuschargers.com/G7200/features

For me - the sealed design, fan-less design and small size is a nice advantage of these units - while they are not 230 VAC compatible they will work with 50 or 60 hz so a small step down transformer would allow them to work internationally.

Two separate chargers also allow you to have some redundancy - a "limp" mode in case one fails - that would argue for getting two of the same 7.2 amp models perhaps though... Amazon has them at $99 each so I would just go that way instead of two different units - also the smaller 3.5 amp version doesn't have the 13.6 vdc power supply mode included in it apparently.

 

[pugslyyy]

Maybe I'm missing something but why is it so important to be able to charge the starter battery?

 

[unplannedbbq]

All - thanks for the feedback.

pugslyyy - Not crucial re: the dual charging, but a want-to-have. This rig is not a daily driver, and may go weeks w/o being driven. I'll plug in when @ home to keep the batteries topped off. Just found out the noco does a good job handling "dirty" 110v via Variable Input Compensation in noco's ad-speak. Not world-power, but it will help with crappy shore power.

Haf-E - I didn't know that noco made rigs with "supply" mode. Thanks. - after watching the video, the units go into "dumb" mode when switched to "supply" - you need to manually engage supply mode, and it only offers 5amps. I had initially looked at some of the RV-world charger/converters, but they are all single battery chargers. I think my loads will be low enough that I can save the space and noise of a bigger converter. I think the 10amps of charge should allow me to keep the fridge running & still stay well ahead in charging. Cold, stocked 43qt edgestar usually draws less than 2amps an hour.

DallasVWed - thanks for pointing out the lack of "independent" charge patterns w/ xantrex. That's the final straw

Scrib - the gen2 two-bank has a built-in temp sensor for overheating protection only (not for temp-based charging optimization). Since the charger will be within a foot of the batteries, I hope that covers me.

Noco genius gen2 it is. And it'll fit under my driver's seat.

I'll post a pic once everything is patched up later this summer!

 

[Scrib]

I'm going to have to look into that, too. I'm currently just using a little Battery Tender on the expo rig (it's garaged), but am adding another battery to it and the NOCO would be a lot cleaner than running multiple chargers.

 

[pugslyyy]

pugslyyy - Not crucial re: the dual charging, but a want-to-have. This rig is not a daily driver, and may go weeks w/o being driven. I'll plug in when @ home to keep the batteries topped off. Just found out the noco does a good job handling "dirty" 110v via Variable Input Compensation in noco's ad-speak. Not world-power, but it will help with crappy shore power.

Gotcha. I keep hooked up to shore power when parked home as well (just floats the house batteries) - it's hot/humid here in North Carolina so I actually keep the AC running, more to keep the humidity down inside the camper than anything else. I also have a couple of AC outlets wired that it is nice to be able to use (soldering iron, heat gun, shop vac) when doing project work.

Sounds like the Noco is the right choice for this application, good luck!

 

[fourstringfletch]

Just to make you feel good about your decision, I've been really happy with my single batt noco genius. It's bomber. It's rolled around in my rig a lot because I end up using it on other vehicles too. I added some powerpole connectors so I can plug it to my house batt or add alligator clips and charge something else.
Not officially a power supply like the Samlex 1215UL I considered too, but it works fine with my fridge running.

The folks at batterystuff.com were great in helping me decide.

Enjoy!

 

[Beowulf]

I have the 20amp two bank GEN2 NOCO to keep dual DieHard platinums topped off. The quality seems nice. My brother has had his for two years maintaining his Optimas and has not experienced any issues.