Review on NOCO GENIUS2D Direct Mount Temperature Compensation by Brian Hrdlicka

I really (really) wanted to like this product. It looks well made and I wanted a decent side mount for my 2003 GMC Yukon that has an intermittent parasitic load of 0.75A when the ignition is off and in a seated position. This car sits most of the time and drives once or twice a month so it needs to be on the charger or I risk buying another battery. Please note that in the picture you can see the date of purchase of the pen with yellow color on the battery in December 2018. It was on a known charger (the device is too big to close the lid but it held a full charge) until I bought this Noco device several times. months ago. It turned out to be a high quality, well made solution and it was my first exposure to Noco products. It's well packaged, includes a nice, well thought out mounting clip/velcro solution that's easy and quick to install, but they missed some very common use cases. The included ring terminals are __too small__ for any vehicle with side screw terminals (GM/Chevy Trucks, etc.). I had to cut/modify the automotive rubber boot covers for each terminal and replace the supplied ring connectors with larger ones I had on hand (I crimped the new ring connectors, then soldered, then heat-shrunk the new ring connectors and put on the protective finned wire insulation). I liked this solution, as I said, the connection to the Noco battery is via a straight cable (there is no connector between the Noco device and the battery), ie it is not easy to remove or return the Noco, etc. . This charger operates with __ NO parasitic load __. That means if a battery post is disconnected from the car it will fully charge the battery to 12.9V (or higher) however I bought it specifically for its 2A charge rating as I know my car draws a little current when it's not running. I suspect many people will buy this charger for this very reason - and as my high CCA (800 cca) battery has hardly been used and serviced up to this device but none can match it's not suitable for this use case. When I tried to start said vehicle, the charge showed 12.6 volts on a good high end meter, but didn't have enough current to pull down the window or turn on the turn signal relay. The battery showed 12.6V after using this charger for several weeks and showed a green status (presumably full charge) the whole time. I will be testing this on my motorcycle battery and will be returning the charger to this truck on 10/25/5. I'd love to try version 5a, but I just don't have time to get frustrated again. For reference: I have a lot of experience with 12V (30 years of cars, motorcycles, boats, trailers, tractors, generators, etc.). This is a well designed package, I have no doubt that it will last long under UnderHood conditions, but it does not have enough amperage for normal use cases and does not properly indicate when it cannot meet current needs. The cables to the battery are too short, the cable lugs are not big enough and the mains cable is too short. I had to turn the unit upside down to have enough length to reach the wheel well. Perhaps better suited for powersports applications on smaller batteries with no parasitic draw, but will NOT meet the needs of the average consumer with a modern vehicle that has on-board computers that constantly draw current.