Battery Jump Starters

[lxskllr]

I like having both cables and a box, but currently only have two boxes. Not sure where my cables are. For a long while I was using a battery charger hooked up to an inverter. It's not quite as stupid as it sounds. I used the stuff to charge batteries in the field, so it was already there. I charged/boosted several batteries with that setup.

 

[woodman1999]

We had to jump my wife's acura 3 times in the past year and I finally asked the AAA guy what they recommend. He told me get this one:

Charger

He said they use it for every truck in their fleet. It's compact and will jump anything. Not cheap though...

 

[NutBucket]

Yeah. Well, the place my top rated mechanic sent me to wanted $550 (probably tax on top of that) for the same system with them installing it.......s.

What I was really getting at, do you really think an alarm is necessary at all?

 

[lxskllr]

What I was really getting at, do you really think an alarm is necessary at all?

How else are you gonna wake the neighbors at 3:22am? Get up and do it yourself?! Fuck that!

 

[dullard]

I am about to buy the Gooloo jumper/charger system. I figure it's cheap insurance and has multiple potential uses. I wonder how long its rechargeable battery will last.

I bought my Gooloo GT3000 about 3 years ago. It is running strong so far. It is lithium polymer not lithium ion. So it is more robust (no liquid to evaporate or leak causing a dead battery), tends to last longer, and tends to accept more power cycles. The tradeoff is lithium polymer batteries are heavier.

All lithium batteries hate to stay drained at 0% for very long. So the easiest way to destroy it is to drain it down and ignore it. There is always some self-drainage in any equipment, so even if you turn it off with a bit of power left, it will get down to 0% eventually. I have a regular (every 4 months) phone calendar reminder to drain and quickly recharge all of my lithium batteries in the whole house. I happen to drain the Gooloo at that time by plugging in all my old cell phones/tablets and charging them up to 100%, then I recharge the Gooloo. That should get me 10 years or so on each battery.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Well I didn't need to use it a 2nd time leaving work and heading to the dealer yesterday. I guess I drove around long enough for it to hold a charge for a few hours after getting it going. Dealer said i had a few cells out so swapped it under warranty. Took forever though. They had to charge it 100%, load test it, recharge it 100% then load test it again to get the correct codes for warranty. Thank goodness my parents didn't have anything to do so they just picked me up and I had a nice time hanging out with them for the afternoon. Never fails before a vacation that something happens to either the truck or our trailer and needs fixing lol (heading to the coast to camp this wknd).

 

[Torn Mind]

What I was really getting at, do you really think an alarm is necessary at all?

Not trying to be political...but densely populated city in California...like 2+2....

 

[Torn Mind]

We had to jump my wife's acura 3 times in the past year and I finally asked the AAA guy what they recommend. He told me get this one:

Charger

He said they use it for every truck in their fleet. It's compact and will jump anything. Not cheap though...

Project Farm's most recent jump start review utilized the Noco GBX 175 of 370 dollars he bought one year before. It outperformed all the Chinesiums.

 

[NutBucket]

Not trying to be political...but densely populated city in California...like 2+2....

I live in SoCal...so similar. I can recall a couple of instances over 30 years ago where an alarm may have made a difference...assuming someone woke up to hear it and then cared to see what was happening.

Last year there were a few catalytic converter thefts on my street..again probably just lucky I didn't get hit but would I (or anyone else) have woken up and cared to see what is happening?

So that's my thinking, plus the fact he's got a ~30 year old car that isn't exactly a theft magnet.

 

[Muse]

What I was really getting at, do you really think an alarm is necessary at all?

Oh. Well, I don't need an alarm. I could just use my key to lock and unlock the doors. l could have had the recommended shop install a remote lock/unlock system without security. $350. That's $100 less than their initially recommended security system, the Viper 3103v. So $100 more and I get the security. Alarm gives me some protection from theft of my golf clubs in the trunk. I didn't pay premium bucks for that stuff but replacement would be a pain, take a lot of time and I would be unhappy. Alarm going off would be a deterrent to a thief trying to get into my trunk. So, I like the idea of an alarm for that reason, plus it's possible someone would want to steal my car although old (1997).

Alarm not necessary but gives me a lot of protection especially if the ignition kill relay is properly installed and I hope to see that happen in late February by Best Buy.

BTW, over the phone all the people I talked to at Best Buy (haven't set foot in one for must be 2+ years) in doing this were very civil, professional, highly efficient, and straight with me. That's given me considerable hope that the installer will know what he's doing. OTOH the shop that wanted more than double, $300 more for the same system + installation, was not very professional at all and I was told different things by different people. They weren't there when they said they'd be and didn't return my call like they said they would. They weren't horrible, but Best Buy's been a dream in comparison... so far. Really, it's been night and day. The system itself should be delivered to me today or tomorrow, via free shipping.

 

[Charmonium]

I'd like to believe that everyone knows this, but unless your car has been sitting idle for several weeks, and/or it's been below freezing for some period of time, it should never be necessary to use a jump.

The first thing you do after jumping your car is to bust open the wallet and get a new battery.

edit - and if you tend to leave your car idle with say, interior lights on, then get a deep cycling battery.

 

[Red Squirrel]

My truck can't survive being sitting for more than 12 hours off. I have to plug it in all the time. In summer I'm going to try to figure out the cause by testing each fuse draw. The problem started in fall, and I was not fast enough at taking time to troubleshoot it then winter came. It was surviving a whole day though, but now it won't last being parked at work for a 12h shift without needing a boost. They finally got the plugs working so at least I can plug it in now instead of having to turn off the battery switch.

 

[Muse]

I'd like to believe that everyone knows this, but unless your car has been sitting idle for several weeks, and/or it's been below freezing for some period of time, it should never be necessary to use a jump.

The first thing you do after jumping your car is to bust open the wallet and get a new battery.

edit - and if you tend to leave your car idle with say, interior lights on, then get a deep cycling battery.

My battery went to 0.00 volts 3 weeks ago and I got a jump from a neighbor. Drove to my mechanics facility and the battery and alternator tested fine. No need to buy a new battery.

 

[Charmonium]

Having your battery go to zero volts is NOT normal. You probably have a current leak somewhere. A healthy battery doesn't discharge itself, especially since they started putting those plastic caps on the terminals.

I would guess that either you have a very old car, as in last century or someone removed the terminal caps. Either that or you never had them.

If you live in a very humid area with a lot of rain, maybe the battery can discharge itself. But I have 2008 Honda Civic and live in NJ. I got one of those Cross monitors and it's rare that the humidity here dips much below 50%.

Plus, I won't drive my car sometimes for a week or more and I never have trouble with it starting.

 

[Torn Mind]

Having your battery go to zero volts is NOT normal. You probably have a current leak somewhere. A healthy battery doesn't discharge itself, especially since they started putting those plastic caps on the terminals.

I would guess that either you have a very old car, as in last century or someone removed the terminal caps. Either that or you never had them.

If you live in a very humid area with a lot of rain, maybe the battery can discharge itself. But I have 2008 Honda Civic and live in NJ. I got one of those Cross monitors and it's rare that the humidity here dips much below 50%.

Plus, I won't drive my car sometimes for a week or more and I never have trouble with it starting.

Something is stuck on. Knowing Ford, their electronics are "very tender" when age strikes. The failure of a switch or relay item is all but inevitable on fords from that era. I bought a project Ranger, the Fan switch was partially failed, a common problem documented on Youtube.

Muse's location is basically paradise for cars; they're essentially immortal but for the emissions laws of the People's Republic. I bought two steering knuckles with unblemished paint from a Cali junkyard for a Toyota Matrix.

 

[manly]

What I was really getting at, do you really think an alarm is necessary at all?

His Mazda 626 is about three decades old. AFAIK he lives in a good neighborhood in Berkeley.

I think that about answers the question LOL. 😛

(I see, rhetorical question 🙂 )

 

[Muse]

His Mazda 626 is about three decades old. AFAIK he lives in a good neighborhood in Berkeley.

I think that about answers the question LOL. 😛

(I see, rhetorical question 🙂 )

I live in an OK neighborhood in Berkeley, not good. I know good because I hike up to the hills several times a week. My neighbors had their cat converter stolen a couple years ago. Before that I had a cat converter shield custom installed when I had my exhaust pipe reattached (it had broken free). Cost me an extra ~$300 or so.

My sister just visited Oakland and rented a car for 2 weeks. Early on somebody broke the window of the car. There was nothing of hers inside.

Property crime is high around here, less in Berkeley, certainly, but I'm about maybe 3/4 mile from the border with Oakland and the space between me and Oakland is some of the worst in Berkeley. Also, of course, who knows where I might drive? An alarm system with starter kill relay is some protection.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It definitely sounds like there is a drain. Same issue with mine, when it's warmer out I will try to troubleshoot it. I don't want to put too much more money in this truck but hoping to make it tough until my mortgage is paid off in a few years. If I can't figure it out I might throw in a couple golf cart batteries in the back and wire it so that it provides extra amp hour capacity, then hook it up to a solar panel I mount on the roof of something. The draw is like around 600ma if I recall so it's not that much, but still enough over time if it sits for a while.

I wonder why vehicles don't have a LVD at the battery. If there is any sort of drain at least it would cut off before it destroys the battery. A 2nd battery tray where you can add a reserve battery that you can manually switch to to start it again would be nice too. I may set something like that up in my truck if I can't figure out my drain issue.

 

[nakedfrog]

It definitely sounds like there is a drain. Same issue with mine, when it's warmer out I will try to troubleshoot it. I don't want to put too much more money in this truck but hoping to make it tough until my mortgage is paid off in a few years. If I can't figure it out I might throw in a couple golf cart batteries in the back and wire it so that it provides extra amp hour capacity, then hook it up to a solar panel I mount on the roof of something. The draw is like around 600ma if I recall so it's not that much, but still enough over time if it sits for a while.

I wonder why vehicles don't have a LVD at the battery. If there is any sort of drain at least it would cut off before it destroys the battery. A 2nd battery tray where you can add a reserve battery that you can manually switch to to start it again would be nice too. I may set something like that up in my truck if I can't figure out my drain issue.

Because they're largely unnecessary. Batteries are heavy, expensive, and take up a lot of space. If your battery is losing charge, the solution isn't to add weight, expense, and give up space, it's to figure out what's wrong. No point in complicating things for edge cases that generally happen once a vehicle has passed a certain age and can be solved by remedying the actual issue causing the problem.
It's hard to imagine thinking that it's a better idea to spend money on additional backup batteries and a solar panel setup and then a system to enable all that instead of paying someone to figure out what's wrong if you can't figure it out yourself... you're introducing additional failure points and possible problems.