NOCO Genius Boost
Bought this unit 6 months ago to replace an aging jump box that I have used to start my 3.2 ltr Mercury on a couple of occasions.
Was convinced after posting questions and reading reports that it would have enough juice to start this big outboard.. (WRONG)
Fished a tournament this weekend that started out in sub freezing temperature.. motor would turn over but not start. Grabbed my new NOCO with confidence and proceeded to get disappointed...
Had the same problem a month ago with my gb 70.. my battery was fully charged, also borrowed a bigger jump box from another guy that also wouldnt start it.. im not sure if the jump boxes wernt seeing that the battery was charged or what.. ended up plugging the onboard charger in to a boat house for a few and that worked.. are you by xhance running a lithium starting battery?
Jump boxes aren't magic. If a small battery had the capacity to start an engine on their own or with a deeply discharged battery, you wouldn't need big batteries for cranking. It can give a boost to a weak battery, but can't resurrect a dead one.
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity,
nothing else matters.
In my case my battery was a fully charged lithium 100 ah battery showing 13. im thinking the jump box seen it was charged and wasnt giving it any boost.. that was 2 differnt jump boxes. One lithium one conventional.. my problem is cold cranking amps with a lithium starting battery and was curious if fisherman was doing the same..
The booster is just a tiny lithium battery so it doesn't really much to add compared to your fully charged large battery. Both were probably cold which is a big deal with all batteriesOriginally Posted by basser38
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity,
nothing else matters.
Well the booster is small but ive seen it start a completly dead v6 car the battery read 0v. my merc was cranking just not enough.. you would think the extra would have been enough to get it to fire..
Problem with jumping a Mercury Optimax is that when cranking the ECM needs to see at least 10.5 volts (while cranking) or it wont turn on the coils to fire.
Probably an open cell. The load of being connected to a fully discharged battery would completely knock out 3 boosters.
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity,
nothing else matters.
Exactly-- what I had-- a 1000 MCA battery on a cold morning with enough juice to turn over but not fire --hooked up the NOCO -- it would still turn over but not fire. Trailered to an electrical outlet -- hooked up my portable charger that has a 110 amp jump start feature that will charge for 90 seconds, cycled it twice at 110 amps .. Put her back in the water and she fired right off.. Fished two days with no more hiccups.
According to the manufacture this unit will--
- Jump starts gas engines up to 6 liters, and diesel up to 3 liters.
- Provides up to 20 jump starts on a single charge..
I dont understand it because ive started several things with that jump starter [ including a dead,open, 0v or what ever you want to call it v6 chevy]and my 3l merc just needed a lil boost.. i ran 1/4 mile to a spot and fished all day 8hrs with live wells a 2 large graphs running, and at the end of the day the merc fired right up.. it was 60 deg by then..
The guy from relion told me when i plugged in the charger it probably heated the battery up just enough to fire tje merc that morning..the noco seemed like it just wasnt doing anything..when i charged the noco that night it was still 100% Charged and i had it on the battery for an hr..the jump starter another guy brought over did the same thing. Maybe the merc cant ber started with a jump starter i dont know.
I don't either.
I carried a good set of battery cables for years----This is the 1st Mercury I have owned that I could not jump from a hot trolling motor battery if needed.
After that 1st failure I purchased the largest output old style jump box I could buy and carried that heavy booger for about 4 years and did successfully use it once. A few months ago after reading up on these new wonder starters I bought into it.. Think I'll give NOCO and Mercury a call.
As mentioned above by bgibson--- despite what some say; there is a reason this optimax calls for a minimum 1000 MCA, if that ECM does not have enough juice it wont get any fire or fuel to the cylinder.
Let us know what merc has to say.. ive been more concerned as to why my new relion battery wouldnt crank it in the cold .. theyre ,suposedly , testing and are suppose to be giving me some answers ..
This is my 4th 3l merc and first sporty and i will say its been the hardest cold starting motor that ive had since day one with a different battery..
Also my merc monitor was showing 13v when i had that problem..
The issue I believe is related to the Lithium Batteries.
Lithium batteries cannot put out a lot of current (specifically starting current) at cold freezing temps.
Was your NOCO charger pack Cold? If so, try warming it up for a little bit in the vehicle with heater and then give it a try.
If you have Lithium starting battery on boat, try running your pumps, Nav lights basically turn things on to draw a load to warm the Lithium cells slightly. Wait a little while and then try starting.
You know if you hold down the ! Button before connecting red lead you'll get full power from the box right? Sometimes it works
Yes it was in the boat storage.
You know if you hold down the ! Button before connecting red lead you'll get full power from the box right? Sometimes it works
Mine was cold also. And i did not know that about holding the button before.
yes relion told me about turning things on , ive yet to try it..
How cold? I've cranked my opti down to 32 degrees or so with Relion RB 80...it was a little slow, but did start.
Around 30.
wow...mine sat out all night right around freezing and still started the motor...Relions temp range they publish is well below freezing.
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