[NA] Portable jump starters

[asicer]

How are these better than jumper cables?

I buy one and toss it in the car. 5 years later when I need a jump start, it's dead/discharged and therefore useless.

I buy one and keep it plugged in at home. Some time later when I need jump start away from home, it's not with me and therefore useless.

I buy one and keep it plugged into the car. 5 years later when I need a jump start, it's dead from all the charge/discharge and heat/cool cycles it's been through and therefore useless.

 

[lowtimer]

The new good ones use lithium batteries and hold a charge very well. A good plan might be to top off the charge at each oil change interval or something of the like.
How are they better than jumper cables? I like my wife to have the ability to jump start her own vehicle without the need to enlist the help of a stranger in a parking lot. Another one would be the ability to jump your own vehicle (assuming only one vehicle) in the morning so you can still get to work on time. I also like being able to jump other vehicles without needing to get my truck within jumper cable range or risking that some problem with their vehicle might cause damage to mine.

 

[MAKG1]

You're assuming that all car accessories are useful.

Not even close. There is a lot of useless crap in the auto parts store. Much of it complete with testimonials on how great it is.

 

[rtk11]

I have one and it saved my hiney once when my car's battery had gone flat. It worked well to jump start my 2.0 diesel (yes, the gross poluting one). But you do have to be diligent and top it off regularly. I charge it every 2nd month or before we go on a road trip more than 50 miles from home. Never hurts to have the backup power.

Jumper cables are good to keep in the car. But you're at someone else's mercy as to whether they'll stop and help. Again, if I'm on a road trip, the jumper cables come with. Otherwise for in town, the portable jump starter is all I keep in the car. And I keep a AAA card with me always.

 

[lowtimer]

You're assuming that all car accessories are useful.

Not even close. There is a lot of useless crap in the auto parts store. Much of it complete with testimonials on how great it is.

I'm not understanding, are you saying that portable jump starters are not useful?

 

[MAKG1]

I'm not understanding, are you saying that portable jump starters are not useful?

Compared to a pair of jumper cables? Yes. Finding a helpful soul to jump is trivial if you have the cables.

Cables work fine in cold weather after several years. The donor car is usually fully warmed up.

 

[orange]

Finding a helpful soul to jump is trivial if you have the cables.

It must a regional thing, up here in NYC people don't stop to help. Not because they don't want to, but because they are afraid to stop because it may be a set up to get robbed or worse.

 

[SoonerAviator]

The new good ones use lithium batteries and hold a charge very well. A good plan might be to top off the charge at each oil change interval or something of the like.
How are they better than jumper cables? I like my wife to have the ability to jump start her own vehicle without the need to enlist the help of a stranger in a parking lot. Another one would be the ability to jump your own vehicle (assuming only one vehicle) in the morning so you can still get to work on time. I also like being able to jump other vehicles without needing to get my truck within jumper cable range or risking that some problem with their vehicle might cause damage to mine.

I'd just use a battery charger w/jump start option if I was at home. It's not often I have to jump start my vehicles, so battery cables are easy to keep around and I don't have to worry if they're charged or not. If I were just guessing at the statistics, I'd say probably half of all of the portable jump boxes never get used, or are discharged when they were needed. It's not exactly the kind of tool I want to have to monitor all of the time in the remote chance that I need a jump start.

 

[denverpilot]

How are these better than jumper cables?

They're not. LOL.

If you're going to carry some sort of extra battery, just wire up a socket and charge it all the time and make sure the silly thing has a diode or other methodology to keep from backfeeding the dying main battery.

 

[MAKG1]

It must a regional thing, up here in NYC people don't stop to help. Not because they don't want to, but because they are afraid to stop because it may be a set up to get robbed or worse.

Hmm, my experience with Midtown was that strangers stopped unsolicited to offer directions on 34th St, so I'm not sure I believe that.

I've had random people stop to help in several different locales. When I got stuck in unusually deep snow in Ft. Collins, CO, four random linebacker types jumped out of a pickup and pushed me out (in something like 10 seconds -- very impressive). When I blew a starter in Kill Devil Hills, NC, a couple of gas station attendants gave me a quick push.

I've had a battery die at a junkyard in East Oakland. Not a great place for that (or for much of anything, really), but I did get a jump without much trouble. The pickup had a radio die in just such a way as to drain the battery in a couple of hours.

 

[MAKG1]

They're not. LOL.

If you're going to carry some sort of extra battery, just wire up a socket and charge it all the time and make sure the silly thing has a diode or other methodology to keep from backfeeding the dying main battery.

And an indicator so you know when it's operating. Or else you'll discover it when BOTH batteries are dead.

 

[lowtimer]

I've found my portable jump box useful a number of times, so much so that I wouldn't hesitate to replace it if it got lost or appears to have battery issues.
YMMV

 

[Shepherd]

Build and fly radio controlled planes. Fly often. That solves a lot of jump box problems.
You buy a jump box, and use it to power your electric starter if you fly fuel or gas. Or you use it to recharge your batteries if you fly electric.
By using it often, you know what condition it's in so it will never surprise you.

That's how I keep on top of mine.
That and I bought one of those cute little mini gas powered generators (at Harbor Freight) for keeping very large LiPo's (for my giant scale models) charged up. I use it to keep the jump box charged if I'm at an all day model event.

 

[RyanB]

This nifty device is one of those must haves. Comes with several different charging adapters for phones or computers and has the juice to jump a dead battery in your vehicle. It comes with it's own set of little jumper cables and has a long battery life.

This is starting to sound like a sales pitch but just thought I'd share this. It's come in handy a few times. I'll second the convenience of having a portable jump starter.

 

[denverpilot]

Could always get a Samsung phone and a cable to jump the car from it and if you manage to get the car started before it catches fire, cool. If not, you have fire and can stay warm.

 

[Velocity173]

This nifty device is one of those must haves. Comes with several different charging adapters for phones or computers and has the juice to jump a dead battery in your vehicle. It comes with it's own set of little jumper cables and has a long battery life.

This is starting to sound like a sales pitch but just thought I'd share this. It's come in handy a few times. I'll second the convenience of having a portable jump starter.

Yep. Looks very similar to the one I have in my car. Has multiple cables and even jumper cables. Actually used it to jump the Velocity earlier this year when I left the batt on all night.

 

[RyanB]

Yep. Looks very similar to the one I have in my car. Has multiple cables and even jumper cables. Actually used it to jump the Velocity earlier this year when I left the batt on all night.

Right on! Beats lugging around one of those older style jump starters and with these you basically get the swiss army knife of attachments.