In Praise of a Lithium Ion Battery Pack

[Omega Woods]

Last weekend, Mrs. Omega and I took a 7 hour drive to Kaufman Trailers (thanks @Hay Dude !) to pick up our new equipment trailer. We left after work on Thursday and stayed in Asheville NC for the night.

Bright and early on Friday morning, we packed up the truck with our suitcase and I hit the "GO" button on our Dodge 2500 diesel. She clicked but no go on the starter. Mind you, we're three hours from home and three hours from Kaufman in a Marriott parking lot. I inspected the batteries and they looked original to the truck (they were). I had left my battery charger for my Ryobi battery plugged in overnight and I guess it drained the batteries out enough to prevent starting.

Being the prepared sort, I got on the horn to USAA and told them I was going to need a jump and prepared to wait a while until the tow truck showed up. Then I remembered my little Lithium Ion battery pack from Amazon that Project Farm recommended in his video on such things.

Amazon.com

To make a long story short, I hooked her up and said a little prayer and expected nothing from the 6.7L Cummins. I was pleasantly surprised when she sprang to life immediately! What a relief! Called USAA, canceled the roadside assistance and went on down the road. When we stopped for fuel, I had to do it again and it barely used any charge in the power pack at all to jump the truck. We got home Friday and I changed both batteries on Saturday. I'm buying another one for the farm, best $90 I ever spent!

 

[Hay Dude]

Last weekend, Mrs. Omega and I took a 7 hour drive to Kaufman Trailers (thanks @Hay Dude !) to pick up our new equipment trailer. We left after work on Thursday and stayed in Asheville NC for the night.

Bright and early on Friday morning, we packed up the truck with our suitcase and I hit the "GO" button on our Dodge 2500 diesel. She clicked but no go on the starter. Mind you, we're three hours from home and three hours from Kaufman in a Marriott parking lot. I inspected the batteries and they looked original to the truck (they were). I had left my battery charger for my Ryobi battery plugged in overnight and I guess it drained the batteries out enough to prevent starting.

Being the prepared sort, I got on the horn to USAA and told them I was going to need a jump and prepared to wait a while until the tow truck showed up. Then I remembered my little Lithium Ion battery pack from Amazon that Project Farm recommended in his video on such things.

Amazon.com

To make a long story short, I hooked her up and said a little prayer and expected nothing from the 6.7L Cummins. I was pleasantly surprised when she sprang to life immediately! What a relief! Called USAA, canceled the roadside assistance and went on down the road. When we stopped for fuel, I had to do it again and it barely used any charge in the power pack at all to jump the truck. We got home Friday and I changed both batteries on Saturday. I'm buying another one for the farm, best $90 I ever spent!

I’m surprised there was enough grunt in that battery pack to jump start a diesel engine. that’s impressive.

My factory batteries in my Ram were disappointing. They only lasted 2.5 years, which i thought was terrible. They died with very little warning and left me waiting for my roadside service to get me going.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Batteries that has lasted since '09 (the last Dodge pickup) is impressive.

I recently replaced the ones in my '17 Ram, just to be safe. Lots of places around here with no cell service, so even though I had started carrying a somewhat potent Noco jump starter, I chickened out since I already had new AGM batteries for it.

Also, it's rare that it gets driven less than 600 miles at a time, so a failure probably wouldn't happen close to home.

 

[mjonesnh]

Last weekend, Mrs. Omega and I took a 7 hour drive to Kaufman Trailers (thanks @Hay Dude !) to pick up our new equipment trailer. We left after work on Thursday and stayed in Asheville NC for the night.

Bright and early on Friday morning, we packed up the truck with our suitcase and I hit the "GO" button on our Dodge 2500 diesel. She clicked but no go on the starter. Mind you, we're three hours from home and three hours from Kaufman in a Marriott parking lot. I inspected the batteries and they looked original to the truck (they were). I had left my battery charger for my Ryobi battery plugged in overnight and I guess it drained the batteries out enough to prevent starting.

Being the prepared sort, I got on the horn to USAA and told them I was going to need a jump and prepared to wait a while until the tow truck showed up. Then I remembered my little Lithium Ion battery pack from Amazon that Project Farm recommended in his video on such things.

Amazon.com

To make a long story short, I hooked her up and said a little prayer and expected nothing from the 6.7L Cummins. I was pleasantly surprised when she sprang to life immediately! What a relief! Called USAA, canceled the roadside assistance and went on down the road. When we stopped for fuel, I had to do it again and it barely used any charge in the power pack at all to jump the truck. We got home Friday and I changed both batteries on Saturday. I'm buying another one for the farm, best $90 I ever spent!

Just had a dead battery last week in my Escape. Looked at the project farm clip and then ordered the Yesper jump start in your link Ordered the blue one on sale for 74.28 delivered. Thanks for the heads up!!

 

[WranglerX]

You have to consider that a "jump" battery (or any battery) will try to produce all the amperage it can when there is a demand, its a natural chemicals reaction of battery to try and maintain its "voltage".......... Most early jump packs have a 12 volt 12 amp hour battery.... I was surprised recently how well my jump pack powered a 3500# winch to unstick a tractor....

 

[2manyrocks]

I bought a less expensive lit ion battery that is very lightweight, but has been very handy for starting various pieces of equipment where the battery has run down a bit. I think it was about $60.

 

[sea2summit]

I’m surprised there was enough grunt in that battery pack to jump start a diesel engine. that’s impressive.

My factory batteries in my Ram were disappointing. They only lasted 2.5 years, which i thought was terrible. They died with very little warning and left me waiting for my roadside service to get me going.

When I bought my F700 the batteries were so far gone the dome light wouldn’t even come on but the owner had a NOCO, don’t remember the model, he brought out and started it cold. Then again after I test drove it. And a final time when I was trouble shooting brakes. I was more impressed with that than I was in the truck! His was pretty well used too, he swore by it. I came home and watched the first ProjectFarm jump pack video then bought the largest NOCO at the time, the GBX155, and even though I’ve only used it for real once since I got it about 18 months ago to jump our generator I have no regrets.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

+1 on the NOCO! When in need it's so nice to have!

 

[deserteagle71]

I have had a Microstart XP10 for years now. Great investment; it is so small and can charge phone batteries and a myriad of other things in addition to jump starting vehicles. Yes, it will start my old Dodge/Cummins 5.9 easily. I pack it with me on all my trips - in my 4x4s and in the side-by-side - just in case. What I find is impressive is that I can pack this thing around for nearly a year without using it - but when I do, it still shows fully charged. Doesn't seem to lose its charge like a normal battery would. Actually, I've used it starting other people's rigs more than my own!

Amazon.com

 

[arrow]

Last weekend, Mrs. Omega and I took a 7 hour drive to Kaufman Trailers (thanks @Hay Dude !) to pick up our new equipment trailer. We left after work on Thursday and stayed in Asheville NC for the night.

Bright and early on Friday morning, we packed up the truck with our suitcase and I hit the "GO" button on our Dodge 2500 diesel. She clicked but no go on the starter. Mind you, we're three hours from home and three hours from Kaufman in a Marriott parking lot. I inspected the batteries and they looked original to the truck (they were). I had left my battery charger for my Ryobi battery plugged in overnight and I guess it drained the batteries out enough to prevent starting.

Being the prepared sort, I got on the horn to USAA and told them I was going to need a jump and prepared to wait a while until the tow truck showed up. Then I remembered my little Lithium Ion battery pack from Amazon that Project Farm recommended in his video on such things.

Amazon.com

To make a long story short, I hooked her up and said a little prayer and expected nothing from the 6.7L Cummins. I was pleasantly surprised when she sprang to life immediately! What a relief! Called USAA, canceled the roadside assistance and went on down the road. When we stopped for fuel, I had to do it again and it barely used any charge in the power pack at all to jump the truck. We got home Friday and I changed both batteries on Saturday. I'm buying another one for the farm, best $90 I ever spent!

Great to know.Thank you.
Great Xmas gifts for daughters and sons' in laws.