Best Portable Jump Pack ?

[patrick_g]

Some battery chargers do not shut off or restrict their trickle charge as the desired max voltage is reached. These, over time may "boil off" electrolyte, sulphate the cells, and are generally bad news when left connected for long periods of time. Others are designed to not exceed a predetermined voltage which is a safe level of charge. This type does no long term damage. Proper battery minder operation is of this type that does not exceed a proper voltage no matter how long it is connected. These supply sufficient current to offset/cancel self discharge. They are not designed to be battery chargers and are not appropriate for recharging a discharged battery.

A properly designed "battery cart" will have a means of charging its batteries other than the battery minder/maintainer. There are two jobs to be done: 1. recharge a discharged battery, and 2. maintain a charged battery at full charge over an extended period of time. There are battery chargers which will do both jobs just fine. More often than not the battery chargers readily available at auto parts stores, Wally World, and the big box stores ARE NOT the type that do both satisfactorily. It may be simpler, cheaper, and easier to just use a separate battery charger and maintainer.

One should also note that batteries that are intended for normal automotive use are optimized for cranking-high current use for brief intervals and are NOT GOOD CANDIDATES for running high power inverters. High power inverters in use on a vehicle's starting battery should be used WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING. This gives two benefits: 1. the alternator/generator is supplying much of the power being consumed and 2. you won't be left stranded without sufficient battery power to crank the engine as it is already running.

True deep discharge batteries are not intended for high current starting tasks and can be damaged if used that way. So there is an inherent mutual exclusion problem with a battery cart intended to jump start engines with dead batteries AND to operate a high power inverter. There are a couple obvious strategies to ameliorate this problem: 1. use the "compromise" deep discharge batteries that are intended for some starting use as well as deep cycle operation and give up a little performance from both uses, starting and inverter operation or 2. go with standard deep cycle batteries BUT do not use them to crank with. Instead, use the deep cycle for several minutes to recharge the dead battery and then use the newly recharged battery to crank the engine, avoiding damage to the deep cycle battery.

A Cadillac solution would be to put both a regular deep cycle battery and a hefty starting battery in the cart.

Pat

 

[patrick_g]

Motor Trend Battery Charger Kit — 3-Pc. | Battery Chargers | Northern Tool + Equipment

This is a link to a current Northern Tool special on a kit containing a 6-12 volt battery charger, a battery maintainer, and a post cleaning tool at serious discount.

The charger is a tad small to my way of thinking but that may just be me.

Patrick

 

[EddieWalker]

Pat,

You know allot about this stuff and from what I've seen, tend to buy quality over price. What do you personally own, and would you recomend it, or buy the same again?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[patrick_g]

Pat,

You know allot about this stuff and from what I've seen, tend to buy quality over price. What do you personally own, and would you recomend it, or buy the same again?

Thanks,
Eddie

HAPPY NEW YEAR Eddie and thanks for the compliment. Funny you ask me about jump paks... I bought my first as a Christmas present for my wife this year. She was stranded in a parking lot 30 miles away in a Prius which is a little different from the typical car. A call to the dealer to discuss the symptoms resulted in deciding it was most likely the little 12 volt batt that runs the 12 volt stuff and that a jump would allow it to "boot up" and it could be driven to the dealer for a new batt. I drove to her rescue with my jumper cables. I attached to a (+) power point under the hood inside the fuse box and grounded to the engine and it booted up immediately. (The batt is in the right rear wheel well.)

She drove it to the dealer, they performed diagnostics, and spewed forth a lot of mumbo jumbo BUT said the 12 volt batt was OK and that we were good to go. I, being concerned that it might happen again, bought a Harbor Freight jump pak as a Christmas gift for her to cary in the car for just in case. Note that it wouldn't be used to crank the engine just to supply a good solid voltage to the car's electronics so it would boot up and operate normally. I am going to make her a set of "jumper cables" actually a "suicide cord" wth a male cigarette lighter plug on both ends. YOu plug one into the 12 volt power point below the dash and the other into the jump pak AND THEN turn the jump pak on off switch to the ON position. This will do what is needed and she won't have to get under the hood.

Over 50,000 miles and this is the first and only problem with the car. It may never repeat BUT... she is prepared for just in case and in the meantime it gives her peace of mind knowing that the problem can't strand her should it ever recur.

If I were looking for a jump pak for me I'd have to decide for what it was to be used. I have 2 diesel trucks and a diesel tractor plus a gasoline powered pickup. I have battery chargers and battery minders so I'm not sure about the scenario that would require a jump pak. Worst case might be a diesel with two batts dead in the pasture. I'd jump it from whatever I drove out to it in. I have a 17,500 watt gas generator on my small welding trailer so if I had to charge a batt I could use my big charger on wheels powered by the welding trailer to charge about anything if for some reason I couldn't jump from another vehicle.

I'm sorry Eddie, I just don't know what jump pak I'd get for me if I got one. I kinda like the idea previously expressed of just having a spare battery on hand in a cart or not. It could be on a minder till needed. It would make a good bench power supply for doing 12 volt stuff (I do electronic design and some repairs sometimes and 12 volts is a common supply voltage.)

The main thing is to decide what your requirements are. Only then can you look for models that meet your requirements. Among the models that meet your requirements you can compare features, capacities, and prices-warranties and so fort. If you have a big Mac diesel over the road or a large Cat dozer your requirements would be different from say a Chevy gas pickup and a Subaru Forester. Sorry to not have a definite suggestion but one size does definitely not fit all.

In an emergency I could "borrow" the starting battery from my automatic standby generator. It is on a built in battery minder and is always ready.

Oh, the wife's jump pak... it has a meter which shows its state of charge and a built in light. It makes quite a flashlight. Not the brightest in the world but it will run for hours and hours and well for days actually. I like one feature it has a lot. The battery clamps are not hot until you turn the switch from off to on. Therefore no sparks when connecting it so you can hook to the batt terminals with no fear of a hydrogen explosion.

Pat

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks Pat.

I have one that's about three years old from a company called Bumper to Bumper. They are an auto chain, and this was supposed to be their "good" one. My alternator went out on me and it was the closest store that I was able to get to for a new alternator. I bought their jump pack to get my truck started and back home.

It worked great for two years, but this year, it's not holding a charge and I wasn't able to get it to jump start my dump truck. I'll replace the battery on the dump truck when I start running it again, but for now, all I wanted to do was start it and move it out of the way for people to have a place to park during the holidays.

While I don't have to have one right away, it sure came in handy when it was working. I liked the one that was linked to Northern Tool, so that's where I'll start looking and comparing to.

Eddie

 

[jenkinsph]

Eddie,

If you put good starting batteries in everything you can for the most part eliminate the need for a jump pack. Weak batteries can cause problems for starters and alternators too, so there aren't many good reasons to keep them. A decent starting battery should hold a charge for 3 months atleast, so even with intermittent use on something like your dump truck you should be good to go. Having a good set of jumper cables should fill the bill and have a much longer life than the jump packs with small batteries such as yours that inevitably fail.

Hey I really enjoy your project posts.

 

[scoutcub]

OK, time to get the thread back on track....

It's obvious having good batteries is a smart idea. So good, Steve mentioned it twice in this thread. But, that's not the end-all answer.....what happens if you leave a door open/light/accessory on overnight? What happens if you want to help someone on the side of the road and don't have jumper cables? What happens if your next door neighbor has a tractor stuck in the woods and you can't get next to it for a jump?
I work overseas for 6 weeks at a time, and when I come back if the wife forgets to start my f350 diesel it needs a charge/jump. Also add in the cold weather factor. Mine won't fit in the garage so outside it sits in the brutal cold....(sniff)
So I offer there are lots of scenarios where a jump pac is advantageous over a cart, or jumper cables. I say this in defense of the OP that is asking about upper grade jump packs.
I bought mine used on Ebay a few years ago for around 150 bucks, and it's a 3000 amp. (truckpac ES6000) It's bailed me out several times, and I've been able to help a few others along the way.
I agree they're not cheap, the next model up from mine is 400 bucks new, I'd have a hard time paying that too.
It's just a nice tool to have in the back of the truck, cause when you need it, you probably really need it!

 

[jenkinsph]

scoutcub,

It is not that there are no uses for jump packs I have had them too, but these things are like portable power tools today. They are only as good as the batteries used in them, and the battery and designs change rapidly to force you to buy new ones. So if the weight is the only concern then buy a jump pack but don't expect it to last any longer than a good starting battery.

I have four F250 to F550 diesels so sometimes one of these will go for long periods without use but always seems to crank up without issues. If your truck won't go 6 weeks between starts I would check for problems. I would disconnect the battery next time I left town to see if the battery or the truck was at fault.

 

[patrick_g]

OK, time to get the thread back on track....

It's obvious having good batteries is a smart idea. So good, Steve mentioned it twice in this thread. But, that's not the end-all answer.....what happens if you leave a door open/light/accessory on overnight? What happens if you want to help someone on the side of the road and don't have jumper cables? What happens if your next door neighbor has a tractor stuck in the woods and you can't get next to it for a jump?
I work overseas for 6 weeks at a time, and when I come back if the wife forgets to start my f350 diesel it needs a charge/jump. Also add in the cold weather factor. Mine won't fit in the garage so outside it sits in the brutal cold....(sniff)
So I offer there are lots of scenarios where a jump pac is advantageous over a cart, or jumper cables. I say this in defense of the OP that is asking about upper grade jump packs.
I bought mine used on Ebay a few years ago for around 150 bucks, and it's a 3000 amp. (truckpac ES6000) It's bailed me out several times, and I've been able to help a few others along the way.
I agree they're not cheap, the next model up from mine is 400 bucks new, I'd have a hard time paying that too.
It's just a nice tool to have in the back of the truck, cause when you need it, you probably really need it!

Put a Harbor Freight battery minder on your truck battery. They are on sale now for $4.99 (item # 42292-1NPB, order by phone 800-423-2567) it will increase your marital bliss and eliminate unneeded dry starts and short runs on your truck. Having jumper cables is no more difficult (way cheaper, lower maint) than having a jump pak so helping the stranded motorist is not much motivation for a jump pak. Fine if you have one but if that is your concern get cables and toss them under the seat.

That said the stranded in the woods thing is an excellent use for a jump pak. I bought a cheap one for my wife to carry (it is a whole other story about booting a cars computer not cranking the engine) and yesterday when my tractor wouldn't start I borrowed it and the tractor fired right up. Thank you Harbor Freight!)

If you don't want an air compressor, 120 VAC inverter, USB charging ports for your cell phone, a small LCD TV, sun glasses cleaning station, or any other frills, just a stout jump pak then buy a sealed lead acid battery (won't spill electrolyte and needs no maint) and a $5 battery minder and you have a better but cheaper jump pak than you can buy new for the price. But wait you say, there is more... you want to be able to charge it from your vehicles cigarette lighter socket or a vehicular 12 VDC "power point." OK fine buy a male lighter plug, SPST switch, and some zip cord (2 conductor cable). Use this to charge the portable batt from your lighter outlet or power point. The switch is to shut off the flow of electricity to the lighter plug when it is not plugged in. The jumper cables you use with this arrangement are normal full size-length jumper cables usable for normal jump starting which the ones with a jump pak are not good for.

Not knocking a store bought jump pak but. I can put together better for less and replacement batteries for mine are dead simple to find 5-6 years down the road at an auto parts store. A Rubber Maid battery box would make it first class and you could put a rope handle on it for convenience. You could add wooden wands to the sides with a few little bolts and use them for winding up the jumper cables. The minder will store inside the batt box.

Why didn't I do this instead of buying one from HF? Like I said, it wasn't to crank her car but to boot the cars computer when it stranded her and wouldn't boot up. (First software glitch in over 50,000 miles and it may never recur.) Her little jump pak has a cigarette lighter socket on it so a double ended cigarette lighter plug cord will let her plug into the power point and not have to open the hood and fuss with a power point in the fuse box (her small-half size 12 volt battery for accessories and such not starting the engine is in the right rear wheel well accessed through the spare tire compartment under the rear deck of the hatchback.)

I'm still glad I got it and that it cranked my diesel tractor just fine. When I parked the tractor after using it yesterday I hooked up a Harbor Freight batt minder to the battery and this afternoon with sub zero chill factor and danged cold real temps it cranked up really fine and I only cycled the glow plugs once.

Pat

 

[scoutcub]

Steve and Pat -

Great points all! I do think the batteries in my F350 diesel are needing replacement. 4 years outside in the MI winters, and 6 weeks at a time of non-activity have taken their toll.
Which leads me to a side question - which battery to purchase? I was thinking about 2 nice Optima gelcells? Or is there a better choice?

Right before I left, I had enough of seeing the truck outside so I put it in a heated storage unit while I'm away. I hooked up a HF "float charger" don't know if that is the same as what you are talking about but I'm assuming close.

I do need to get a GOOD set of jumper cables. I was absolutely amazed when my neighbor (retired Chrysler engineer & motorhead) showed me the difference that wire gauge makes in jumper cables. I tried my set (cheapies) which wouldn't start my truck, and he broke out his monster set (can't remember....2 or 4 gauge?) which started the truck right up. This will be a purchase when I return in addition to 2 new batteries.

And, when the jumppac finally quits, I will look into a spare batt with the recharging setup you described.
Thanks again all, great thread!

 

[patrick_g]

Steve and Pat -

Great points all! I do think the batteries in my F350 diesel are needing replacement. 4 years outside in the MI winters, and 6 weeks at a time of non-activity have taken their toll.
Which leads me to a side question - which battery to purchase? I was thinking about 2 nice Optima gelcells? Or is there a better choice?

Right before I left, I had enough of seeing the truck outside so I put it in a heated storage unit while I'm away. I hooked up a HF "float charger" don't know if that is the same as what you are talking about but I'm assuming close.

I do need to get a GOOD set of jumper cables. I was absolutely amazed when my neighbor (retired Chrysler engineer & motorhead) showed me the difference that wire gauge makes in jumper cables. I tried my set (cheapies) which wouldn't start my truck, and he broke out his monster set (can't remember....2 or 4 gauge?) which started the truck right up. This will be a purchase when I return in addition to 2 new batteries.

And, when the jumppac finally quits, I will look into a spare batt with the recharging setup you described.
Thanks again all, great thread!

If you can lay hands on some good battery clamps (or whatever they are called, the things that clamp onto the battery posts that come with jumper cables) just go to the welding supply store and buy some welding cable. Pay a little more and get the cable made of fine strands the kind the welders use to make a "whip" as it is way more flexible and easier to use than the standard welding cable, especially in the winter when the cables are more likely to be used. These will git 'er done. If you use the good HD clamps and the flexible welding cable you will have great performance from your DIY jumper cables and they should literally last several lifetimes.

Ever see the jumper cables that the tow/service trucks that service the 18 wheeler big rigs usually carry? THOSE ARE JUMPER CABLES. They are so much better than the Wally World cheapies.

About starting your truck after weeks of storage. Cumins recommends that you install a switch in series with the fuel cutoff solenoid so you can disable the fuel flow so you can crank the engine to oil it without it firing up. Once you crank it long enough to get the oil flowing to the bearings you then flip the switch and turn on the fuel and start up with oiled parts instead of dry ones. Industry estimates vary but most agree that dry starts are responsible for 50% of engine wear. This is not required for a daily driver but is recommended by Cumins for engines not started for a couple weeks. I don't think this is a failing of Cumins diesels. It is just a fact of life recognized by Cumins and they offer advice of how to offset the deleterious effect of dry starts. It is good advice for any vehicle (especial diesels due to high compression loading the bearings) that are not run every week.

Pat

 

[jenkinsph]

scoutcub,
I have two sets of cables, one cheaper set 12' with 4 ga. wire and one heavy duty set 20' with 2/0 ga. welding lead wire.

For a great battery that will have long storage times, maybe 6 months between starts I would go with an Odyssey or DieHard Platinum (a rebadged Odyssey) group 65. The DieHards are going for $189 at Sears.

For a good battery at a low cost I would go with the EverStart Max group 65 at WalMart for about $75. These starting batteries seem to hold up well for me and are fine for daily drivers.

For my uses I buy the EverStart batteries for less critical applications and have had very few problems with them. For critical use, deep cycle use and long storage use I buy the DieHards.

I don't care for the Optima batteries anymore as I have had too many failures with them and don't see much point in buying middle priced batteries from other brands as these seldom seem to be any better than the EverStarts for less money.

That is the skinny in my opinion.

 

[patrick_g]

I don't care for the Optima batteries anymore as I have had too many failures with them.

That is the skinny in my opinion.

UHOH, Optima failures. That sure burst my bubble. I thought they were supposed to be superior batteries. That is what I have as a starter battery for my automatic standby generator and so far so good but of course it could die at any time. The system has a built in battery minder and the starting battery is oversized for the application ( I wanted bigger than stock just to be sure.) It starts the genset every Monday morning and whenever I force it to run or commercial power fails. Pretty light duty, actually, so maybe it will last a good long time.

Any particular mode of failure in yours?

Pat

 

[jenkinsph]

Patrick,
I posted this before but I had 4 out of 6 Optimas' fail on me that would not accept a charge. These were not drawn down over 50% either, they lasted from 2 months to about 8 months for the last one. I still have 2 out of the 6 that are red tops and still holding up after 3 years though.

 

[patrick_g]

Patrick,
I posted this before but I had 4 out of 6 Optimas' fail on me that would not accept a charge. These were not drawn down over 50% either, they lasted from 2 months to about 8 months for the last one. I still have 2 out of the 6 that are red tops and still holding up after 3 years though.

Thanks. That seems to be a large enough sample to be valid, scary too. I guess I will just have to wait and see, maybe monitor the voltage to see if anything funny is happening. I have a carbon pile type battery tester that can load a battery up to several hundred amps if you need to do it. I guess I can note how fast the genset cranks on Monday mornings and if it seems to be taking longer then perform a load test to see if the battery is going away. Lucky me, I paid a premium to get the Optima because of its reputation. Oh well, we'll see.

Pat

 

[scoutcub]

My neighbor had exactly that, welding cables with HD clamps. That is what I will be looking for.

And burst my bubble as well, I always thought Optima's were at the top of the heap....will have to reconsider.

 

[patrick_g]

My neighbor had exactly that, welding cables with HD clamps. That is what I will be looking for.

And burst my bubble as well, I always thought Optima's were at the top of the heap....will have to reconsider.

I sure hope you got satisfaction from the warranty. I'd have sent a message to Optima along with copies of my warranty paperwork and receipts to see what if anything they might want to do for their customer.

Don't forget at the welding supply shop to ask for the cable the welders use for their "whip" as it is way more flexible than the standard cables. It is made of finer strands but still conducts as well as other wire of same gauge. Cost more but worth it when wrestling with heavy cables, possibly stiffened by cold weather.

Standard welding cables will work fine, just not so handy.

Pat

 

[jenkinsph]

Patrick,
You keep referencing the high strand count welding lead, I am just curious about this as that is all I have ever seen. So are some shops trying to sell simple stranded (lower count) wire to welders? I have several hundred feet of lead and it is all what I consider welding lead and is very flexible. I have had whips too, about 10 ft which are the same type wire but usually one size down.

 

[patrick_g]

Patrick,
You keep referencing the high strand count welding lead, I am just curious about this as that is all I have ever seen. So are some shops trying to sell simple stranded (lower count) wire to welders? I have several hundred feet of lead and it is all what I consider welding lead and is very flexible. I have had whips too, about 10 ft which are the same type wire but usually one size down.

I'm not aware of any shops selling standard "thick" stranded wire like for electrical service wires for welding but (I could be delusional) I thought I'd seen a couple different strand arrangements on welding wire and given the use of the cables in cold weather thought the really flexible stuff to be a good idea. Hey, if what you can get at your supply is flexible enough then all is goodness and light!

Better is the bane of good enough.

Pat

 

[scoutcub]

I sure hope you got satisfaction from the warranty. I'd have sent a message to Optima along with copies of my warranty paperwork and receipts to see what if anything they might want to do for their customer.

Don't forget at the welding supply shop to ask for the cable the welders use for their "whip" as it is way more flexible than the standard cables. It is made of finer strands but still conducts as well as other wire of same gauge. Cost more but worth it when wrestling with heavy cables, possibly stiffened by cold weather.

Standard welding cables will work fine, just not so handy.

Pat

Oops perhaps I mislead, I was looking to replace the OEM batteries in my powerstroke with Optima's. I guess 4 years is OK for OEM batteries? Especially under the conditions these have endured.
I will definitely get the "whip" cables, and also check into the cutoff switch for the powerstroke. Hopefully there's a kit made, sounds like I need one.

And what is up with these Odyssey's costing $300+, even on Ebay??? And I need 2???!! That's gonna be a big ouch.....anyone know a good source selling cheaper or is Ebay the cheapest?