Portable Jump Starter for 12v power source?

[vreihen]

I think the real question is, is one of these devices a deep cycle battery?

An even better question is to ask exactly what kind of battery is used in those jumper packs? Is it a general purpose, off-the-shelf commercial battery, or one engineered specifically for jumper packs featuring high output and a long trunk storage life?

I was working on a solar-powered race car many moons ago, and had an interesting conversation with a battery manufacturer. He explained in great detail about how they could construct batteries to meet any requirement, including my request for a super-juiced deep cycle battery that could drive an electric drive motor for 8 hours per day at the lightest weight possible. Long story short, the tradeoff for the high output and high stored energy capacity was a design lifetime of a week or so before its recharged capacity would seriously degrade, which was fine for our application since the race was only a week long.

When jumper packs first came out, I assumed from the above experience that they also contained custom batteries engineered to be light enough to carry yet powerful enough to crank a car over. I have never opened up a jumper pack to look up the data/spec sheets on the battery they use, but it is possible that they have selected one with a design lifetime of only a few dozen recharge cycles. Hmmmm.....

[KenC]

Does anyone have any experience using one of those portable jump starters and a 12v power source while camping? I am particularly interested in running a few LOW amp LED lights for just a short time at night... while getting settled for bed for example... maybe 30 minutes max each might. Trips are never more than 5 nights.

Let's assume a draw OF 24 WATTS or so max (that's a LOT of LED light)...

(amps=24/12)

...so that is 2 amps x .5 hrs x 5 nights = 5 amp hours.... do I have that ABOUT right?

I don't use the trailer often enough to make a full blown deep cycle/converter-charger electrical system worthwhile... I just want to have some interior lights that are an upgrade from a flashlight...

I have another thread discussing the "solar shed light" option but those units seem to be poorly constructed for the most part...

Mark

Mark

I did not have much luck with my HF portable jump starter, battery would never hold a charge. You could always use some LED type lanterns with batteries, solar, or crank type. lots of options without having to go hardwired.

[rowerwet]

if you look inside most of these you will just find a stack of D-cell batteries, save your money anf make a power pack out of PVC pipe and D cells, when you're done camping use the batteries some where else. the cheap store brand batteries from radio shack used to say they could be recharged once, if you matched the voltage you might be able to plug into the TV to recharge. (use a long cord and keep it outside of the TV)

[woytovich]

Rechargeable D cells will give you no significant Ah and no ability to jump start... and you'll end up spending $50 anyway once you buy the batteries and a charger.

[ParTaxer]

I had a battery go bad in my TD and I hooked the power pack to the 12V terminals and I was back on line.

[ARKPAT]

Well ...... I have four of these ....... yep; if you run them down too far too many times ..... they will not keep a charge ...... and need replacing .....


The out outdoor charger is a 40 watt Kyocera Mono Crystalline solar panel =)



The red thing on top is a jump-start battery and the silver thing on top is the solar panel =) I like them and use them dry camping and emergency radio communications when needed. When they die ; I replace the battery inside with another one when they are on sale and keep the shell ( recycle them =) They have an LED light / air pump / 120 AC inverter / jump-start cables / 12 outlets =)



Pat

[woytovich]

Ok... so I have an event coming up July 5-10 that I need SOME solution for so I bought this Sears AGM battery jump starter:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02871987000P?rioptype=SRS&i_cntr=1308876261170&sid=IExTransSearsStoreReady&lid=IExTrans_ItemNumber_link

I will give it a try for the 5 nights that I'll be camping. I have access to recharge during the day if I need to (at the campground with friends that have RV sites with electric - I'll be at a primitive site)

I'll report back.

Mark

[vreihen]

Out of curiosity, did you read the online reviews at the Sears link that you posted? I hope that all of the negative reviews were because those owners did not keep their units on float charge between uses.....

[woytovich]

Out of curiosity, did you read the online reviews at the Sears link that you posted? I hope that all of the negative reviews were because those owners did not keep their units on float charge between uses.....

I did. I am hoping to get a better idea of it over this trip... within a 30 day window.

I was happy to buy a "better" unit but I could not find one that had an AGM battery and float charge feature and was in the $100 range that I felt had as good a warranty...

[Shadow Catcher]

If you already have a battery tender why not just go to one of the replacement battery places and buy a sealed lead acid. I replaced the battery in my uninteruptable power supply for my computer a year ago and was surprised how inexpensive it was. My feeling, parts left out don't go bad and why spend money on someone's rather expensive packaging.