No-Open NOCO Repair: Power Measurement and Charging Hack
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- Here's clever hack (shared by a viewer) for directly charging the battery pack from the outside, until the BMS can take over.
I also show multiple ways to check for charging status, without using a special in-line USB Meter.
Here's the stuff I used in this video:
USB power meter
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200W Desktop 5-Port GaN Charger with LCD Display
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USB-A to alligator clips
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USB-A to USB-C Adapter
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Great video. You can also plug straight into the usb A output for ground so you don’t need to buy the usb C-A adaptor.
Great tip!
Thank you.... this worked for me. I went to Harbor freight and got the cen-tech battery maintainer $9.99. Got home and cut one end of an old usb a and of the 4 wires I used the black wire. Plug the positive clamp of the maintainer to the positive clamp of the noco and on the usb a black wire I plugged the negative clamp of the maintainer. 15min later noco was alive again. Thank you!!!
Awesome. What is the current on the battery maintainer? I bet it's in the right range for charging this thing up.
I used this same trick and it worked like a charm. I have a Battery Tender brand tender and it outputs 1.25 amps.
It brought the unit up far enough to get the red light in about 2 minutes, and then I brought it inside and put it on the regular outlet charger.
Thank you so much for this video. I’ve had a GBX 55 that’s been dead for six months. I could not build a power supply like you have. But I did have extra USB-C cable, so I stripped back the white outer coating of the cable, to show the black and red wire on the inside. then I cut the red wire in half, Stripped back the red wire from the USB-A end and I connected that wire to the red positive clamp of the noco. I took the USB-C end which had only the black ground wire still attached, and plugged it into the USB-C input of the noco. I first plugged the USB-A end into a 5V 400ma Power supply and left it plugged in for approximately 15 minutes. Then I pushed the power button for the light on the noco, and the charging LED started to blink fast. So I disconnected everything I hacked together. Three days later using the same 400 mA power supply and a new USB-C cable, my Noco GBX55 is fully restored. Able to take on my 60W fast charger. Again, thank you so much!!!
That's great! The fast blinking was probably because the battery still needed more time on your charger before the NOCO BMS could take over. Nice work.
I tried this on mine, and it seems to have worked! Thanks man!
Great Video. I have watched your previous video and managed to fix my 150. Unfortunately i have 3 more i have charged by opening up but unfortunately they still do not charge on their own. Keep up the good work love from the UK
Would love to see a video on how you made that power supply
Hey there @Djkyle65, thanks to comments from you and others, I went ahead and made a video about that power supply. Let me know if it's helpful! ruclips.net/video/vJJl3NoeiUc/видео.html
Thank you so much as the one other person who commented about the usb out port as well I used a small voltage regulator kit and cut a usb cable ran it for 5 min now charging with regular cable
That's great to hear!
Super video,
I also have a gbx155, I completely followed your method before charging there was 8v, now there is 14v but I still can't charge it, I tried different charging methods and I still get the fix red light. The booster works and charges up to 50% with the trickle charger but never with the USB C. Do you have any idea why it won't charge? Thanks for your help
thanks,,,, seems to be working on mine
Great Vid! Can you list where to get all of these cables? I would like to have this equipment for repair and checking equipment!
@mikes9759 now listed in the description!
Could you recommend a simple power supply off the shelf to do this? I just bought a gbx155 and would like to be prepared just in case this ever happens to me
Any 12V 'trickle charger' should do the job.
Has anyone figured out why this happens in the first place, I mean why the battery gets drained and the USB C port cannot charge it? By the way great video Colin.
Thanks! I can't answer completely. But I can add a few things:
1) The USB-C port incorporates a buck-boost converter that adapts between the pack voltage and that of the device plugged in. When you plug in a charger, it boosts the voltage UP, and then that power is passed on to a special lithium ion battery charging IC, which charges up to around 16V. When you plug in a load, it bucks the battery voltage DOWN to 12 or 5V. USB-C devices identify themselves as sources or sinks (chargers or loads), and with the voltages they support, and there is a negotiation between devices at both ends of the cable. So you have a chicken and egg problem. The USB-C circuitry inside the pack has to be powered in order to achieve this negotiation, so that it can receive power! It's analogous to a car battery with an alternator. A truly dead battery won't signal the alternator to make power in order to charge the battery, so roll starting won't even work.
2) As for why the battery gets drained in the first place, I think there must be some small parasitic draw, maybe listening for you to press a button. If you jump start a car or two, you deplete the pack, and then if you don't get the thing onto a charger soon, the parasitic draw brings the pack voltage down below some built in safety threshold. Theoretically a low cell may be an indicator of a damaged cell. So most lithium ion battery management systems are designed to refuse to charge low cells, out of extreme caution. Remember these things can't be allowed to catch fire on an airplane, or after leaving outside at 20 below, or in your car at 160F on a hot day. So manufacturers have to play it safe, and just refuse to charge when there is any indicator of any risk at all.
Sorry for the novel, hope that helps!
@@colindgrant Thanks Colin for sharing your thoughts. Do you think that having a charger connected to the USB C port of the NOCO which is not turned ON could drain the battery via the USB C port? I use a laptop USB C charger which I run via an inverter in my car. The NOCO is connected to the charger all the time, except if I want to use it outside of the car. So it is only charging when the engine is running. The car can sit in the garage for several days sometimes. It is interesting though, that I have been using it like this for almost a year and it just died one day....
Nice explanation
@miken191 Hmm, the NOCO is designed for charging and discharging through the USB, so I suppose that is possible that it was drained, but I'm surprised it would die suddenly.
So I just got one yesterday brand new and it turns on and has 1 red bar but the charge does not go up ☹
Great video, I have a gbx155 and when I turn it on all the lights come on for a few seconds then it shuts off even the flashlight will power on the power off can you help
@@coltweaver5438 hmm, I’d suggest following the same procedure here. Decent chance your battery is right on the edge and can be brought back to life!
Thanks for this nice video. I'm still confused about the silver power unit you used to crank up the voltage of the internal battery cells to 10V. I suppose this power supply must be able to steer on output current. What kind of power supply unit do you recommend for this purpose? Can you recommend a specific model/brand ?
Hi @YeroonSC, thanks to your comment and similar from others, I actually made a video to show what that power supply is all about. ruclips.net/video/vJJl3NoeiUc/видео.html
Note that if you have a 12V 'trickle charger', that should work as well. Good luck!
are they still having this problem with no charge when its fully drained?
Get yourself a car cigarette lighter plug… attach to NOCO and drive for 15 minutes…
Then you can charge it from wall outlet…
Don’t need a bunch of gadgets!!!
How is 12V from a cigarette lighter plug different than 12V from a 'gadget'?
I think @MrWilliamthomasusa is referring to the 12V Noco cigarette charger you get free with a new unit. This is supposed to revive the low battery state as you’re supplying 12v as opposed to 5v usb. No different, just “gadget free”. Not 100% sure it works as good as this method where you can see exactly what is going on with charge status.
@@jasonbonner9475I hear ya, but these GBX devices only have USB-C Power Delivery input. There's no way to just feed them non-negotiated voltage through the USB-C port *that I know of*.
The 12V cigarette lighter plug could have the electronics that allow it to feed USB Power Delivery at the 12V PDO, but I doubt it. The USB group deprecated 12V in favor of the 9V and 15V PDOs. Regardless, as far as I can tell, the only way to get power in to the NOCO thru the USB-C port is by handshaking with the Power Delivery controller inside, which in this case is dead. Happy to be wrong about this, and I'd love to know how the car charger can help.
I’ve got a GBX 155 that got wet and now it’s flashing a blue light and will not do anything except turn on… Any ideas.
@@fattmouth7715 Unfortunately no experience with those. Has it had time to dry out completely?
@@colindgrant yes it happened 2 weeks ago
@@fattmouth7715 You may want to open it up to check the voltage of each cell individually. Look for my NOCO ‘balance’ video. If any cells are below 3V, then balance charge them. But if they’re above 3V and evenly charged, then it’s likely not a battery cell issue, and I’d suspect a component fried inside.
I tried to charge my phone with this and it won't charge, like no power to it. Tried other things nothing. Charger was fully charged
do you think it would be safe to attach the positive clamp and negative clip ends to a noco trickle charger? The trickle charger has a mode for 6v, not sure if that's safe or not to be honest. I have a Noco Genius 2 trickle charger. I don't have a PSU like the one you have in the video.
No you really need to be able to control voltage and current. Power supplies are cheap. Look for CC/CV in the name. Your NOCO charger will try and detect what it is connected to, so I doubt it would work, and I wouldn't attempt it.
@@colindgrantthank you for the update! I saw this a bit too late and just went ahead and connected to the trickle charger using the 12V Lithium setting. It was connected for less than the five minutes and I removed it as soon as the Noco was able to power on so I can let it charge via the usb C port on a regular charger. I will definitely get CC/CV PSU for the future. Thank you much! This video saved me.
Edit: just for clarification I used the same setup as your video minus the PSU, for which I used a trickle charger I already had on hand. Bought the USB-A to Aligator clips adapter and attached it to a USC-C to A adapter I already had.
@@papuchongo Ok, great, thanks for following up with your experience for others to read!
So i have a 500+ and im not sure how much i should juice it up. Its a scary amount of battery to be playing with
Not familiar with a 500+
Can I use a car trickle charger if I don't have a fancy charger like yours
Yes. This is what I did. I think a lot of people in the comments are thinking you need some kind of power supply. I just used a 1 amp trickle charger (also a Noco but it doesn’t have to be) and a regular old usb cable. Let the battery charger run for about 5 minutes and then unhooked it and plugged in the gbx charger and it came back to life.
Great point, that should work in most cases.
Gbx45 appears lifeless, made up these leads with clips, but measure 16v (with a meter) before connecting to external power supply, rather than around 2v.
If you're getting 16V, then that's a fully charged battery pack. Sorry to say it sounds like your board is dead.
What is the name of this silver voltage charger
It's a power supply out of an ATX computer case. I added a buck boost converter to it, powered off of the 12V rail. I put it together years ago, I guess I should have made a video!
Can we buy something like this I got a gbx75 and the battery won’t charge need some help please
@@colindgrantthanks
@@JerryG2714you just need a power supply that supports constant voltage and constant current. If you're not familiar with power supplies I would not attempt this repair just yet. Plenty of YT resources on power supplies though!
MY Boost Pro GB150 won't charge past 25%. 😒
Cells may be unbalanced.