Rednroll

I've been looking around for a replacement jump starter power pack. The last 2 I purchased, I only used a couple times where I just kept it plugged in and charging, where the battery on the jump starter pack just seemed to eventually die over time, and when I needed it, that's when it seemed to no longer work.

So this time around I wanted to get a Lithium battery jump starter which hopefully means the life of the battery would be extended with that battery technology. Then recently I've been seeing these more compact "Polymer" Lithium battery jump starter power packs. I ran across one on Amazon which currently has a lightning deal, reviews limited but decent so I figured what the heck, I'll give it a shot.

If anyone is interested, the lightning deal is on for the next 3 hours for $50.99, apply the available 5% off coupon, brings it to $48.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FD228SJ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2VOA5SWIDK369&psc=1

Anyways, it says it is rated up to 1200 "Peak" amps, which I highly dislike when they provide "Peak" ratings since it is a hyped rating but after I shopped around, this seems to be common among all these types of jump starters. It also states that it can jump start up to an 8.0L engine 40 times, which I highly disbelieve. So anyways, was just wondering if anyone else has had experience with one of these compact Polymer Lithium battery Jump starter packs , and what was the Peak amp rating you found which was able to jump start our JKs if your battery was dead?

jedg

When I get home today, I'll upload the information for my jump starter pack. I purchased mine from Napa at the recommendation of a friend who runs a recovery service. When he sends his trucks out for vehicle jumps, they use this jump starter pack now instead of jumper cables. The one they use is good for even diesel trucks. He claims he could jump 3-4 diesels in a day with it without recharge. I keep one in my truck and one in my jeep. I've used the one in my truck several times for people who needed jump start without issue. Seems to hold a charge for a very long time (months).

Rednroll

Thanks jedg, these little power packs sound pretty awesome where I'm starting to feel glad I got one of these rather than lugging around the larger/heavier jump starter packs I've used in the past. Kind of excited to get this one to try it out and determine if it's powerful enough to jump start my JKU.

As an FYI, I'm starting to get into the programming of the timers for my dash cam setup and was thinking it would be a good idea to have some way to jump start my JK while on the road, just in case I drain my battery while trying to determine what the best delayed off timings will be without draining my battery too far for my dash cams while parked.

To test this jump start pack out, I was thinking of disconnecting my battery cable connections and then just connect the jump start pack to my Red/Black wires, thus completely removing my battery. Kind of wondering if the jump start pack would still work that way, or if it needs to detect the load of the battery to go into jump start operation mode?

rob_engineer

In my experience, the small jump packs need to sense a battery voltage. Also, my experience with successful jump starting is mixed. I successfully jump started a Chevy pickup truck that died on a cold snowy day, but then the same jump pack failed to start Harley motorcycles on 2 separate occasions. I cannot figure out why the motorcycles wouldn't start.

Rednroll

Interesting. What was the peak amp rating on the jump pack? These things seem to come in various sizes. I went with the 1200 amp just based upon that it seemed the best value in regards to performance rating vs price. There were 2000+ amp rated ones I looked at as well where the price seemed to double.

I also divided 1200 by the SQRT of 2, which is 800 amps where I know our JKs require around 300-400 amps of current draw from a battery to start. I don't think the 800 amps is a true RMS current draw rating, but figured if it's double of a min battery, I may be ok.

Your experience with the Harleys is what has me concerned in choosing the correct size. My thought is that it could have been that the Harley batteries were just drained more than the truck. That's the reason I wanted to test this one with the battery disconnected so there's no questioning if this jump pack will start my JK regardless of how dead the battery is.

Too bad I just disposed of a dead 12V car battery, I had sitting on my garage floor for the past +4 years. That would have been a great experiment sample to use for a completely dead battery. It was a bad battery I had replaced and hadn't seen a charge connected to it in over 4 years.

rob_engineer

Mine that started a truck but not Harley is a scosche 700 amp.

jedg

Mine is a Blue Fuel 85-901 ( ). I've had great luck with it. It's not a polymer jump starter, it uses another technology.

Also, have you looked at this site for timer options? I've used several of the devices on this site on the 72 Cuda my father and I are building. (timers for heated seats, delay timer for dome light fade in and out, a couple other items). They are very reliable and super programable. - 12 Volt Programmable 30 Day Dc Timer | Timers Shop The company has great customer service as well.

Rednroll

LOL on the timers! Those are the exact ones I purchased. I was originally considering building my own, ya know EE and all, but then was doing some googling and found those and was like "These are so much better and way more flexible than anything I could build myself and cost less as well." Glad to hear you have experience with them, and they have worked well.

jedg

Hahaha... yep, I've used the heck out of them on the Cuda build. I like them so much, I keep a couple spares in my cabinet just in case I need them for something.

I used the timer relays for the heated seats (modern heated seats use timing and just turn the current on and off rather than voltage division.. for example, low may be 10 sec ON and 20 sec OFF whereas high may be 20 sec ON and 10 sec OFF... those timer relays are perfect for that.)

I also used one of their dome light relays because they've built in so much to it, it fades in and out as well as fades out when the key goes to KEY-ON and also times out and shuts off to save the battery.

And, yep, great customer service. I had one relay (out of like 12 I've purchase over the last few months) that was bad. I emailed them and they responded the same day and shipped a replacement that same day with no charge.

Rednroll

I've been thinking the same things about these timers....I've been like, I can think of a lot of uses for these things....but then I'm like....Uhhg..Don't even think about it, you don't have time for another project.

Back on topic!

Thanks for sharing the jump pack info. These jump packs sound like a great thing to have around, where I'm starting to feel more comfortable that the one I got should be powerful enough to start my JK if the specs of it can be relied upon.

What about charging maintenance in regards to ensuring the best longevity?

My typical uses are that I like to keep a jump pack in my garage, plugged in all the time, so it's charged and ready to go when I need it. That sounds like a bad idea for these packs. Think of a cordless tool type of use, in that it's there more for convenience in that if I try to go somewhere and find my battery is low or anyone elses at home and a car won't start, then I just pull out the jump pack, no extension cords needed, jump the car, throw it in the car to buy some time to either recharge the battery or get a replacement battery if needed. I guess that may be the reasons my leaded battery jump packs tended to die as well over time since I left them plugged into the charger all the time? I dunno.

Anyways, what I'm starting to learn about these Polymer Lithium Ion packs is that it's best to fully charge it, then put it in your car and throw it back on the charger every 3 months or so to top it back off? Or do some of them have some built in logic to only charge when needed instead of being in constant charge mode when left plugged into an AC outlet?