High Performance jumper starters.

[michaelluscher]

I've been served well with the Gooloo range, I ran a 4.6 Northstar off one for a few blocks (emergency)
I have a feeling if you're trying to awaken an old 7.3 Powerstroke in the Midwestern winter, the more expensive (Noco) models will serve you better
I'm a city boy, trying to get a 1.5 Civic going in above freezing
Get the largest capacity you can afford, the little GP500 model I started with got most V6's going with little hesitation
I stepped up to the GP2000 model, it never failed me up to a 5.7 Hemi RAM truck
Bailed out many a person at work, the mall, the drug store @ midnight Christmas Eve
There's an excellent sale on for the AstroAI 4000A model for $60
https://a.co/d/di1iXUe
It made light work of my Fusion, and I like the longer leads

I got my sister the weaker 1750A (but combo tire inflator unit) for her birthday, because she needs to be able to conduct minor breakdowns herself

Project Farm probably needs to do a 2024 line up retest, but I doubt there's major performance gains


I've been there, waiting for AAA past midnight, after a wretched cold and wet day of work
I prefer being independent, and people can often suck
The mid tier one is $40 with another 10% off, there's no reason in 2024 we should be waiting for someone with cables
https://a.co/d/dbZB7zb

I think I've got one for every car now

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

I have zero experience owning one of these yet. Still waiting for it to arrive. I was not even looking for one at the time. I found what I ordered from Amazon , (WeeGoN70 + storage case) reviewed in back of automotive magazine I have been reading for years. They review lots of auto related products that companies send to them. Since ordering , I have seen so many different types and prices of these to make one's head spin. Walmart even had about 10 different ones on the shelf last time I was in there looking.

 

[TazzySpazzy]

I have the StartAll 5000a 12v jump pack and have no complaints. Yes it is expensive. But I would not own a GooLoo for all the tea in China after my neighbor had one that started a fire in his shop/garage that resulted in massive losses. My neighbor is a professional race car mechanic and is not an idiot. The GooLoo was being recharged after a race weekend and next thing you know black smoke is pouring out of the shop and it's pucker time. I am sure others will continue to have no problems with their GooLoo products but I simply can't own one after seeing the results of a failed unit. I only charge my StartAll when I can monitor it and hopefully catch a problem before it needs a 911 call. Paranoid? Absolutely!

Edit: Even before my neighbor's incident I heard other people talking about building what would essentially be a small, fireproof bunker outside to be used for charging lithium batteries. Now that was in the wake of a wildfire we had about 4 years ago and is probably overkill, but our community has had to reevaluate a lot of things that were previously not thought of as an issue or potential issue. Technology is great when it is working as intended but when things go FUBAR it really does suck. I'm sure there were plenty of people in the past who cursed the boiler that exploded on some steam powered machine.

 

[y_p_w]

All in all, I would still prefer a real sealed lead acid battery jump starter. The first time I ever saw one was when thought I could leave my parking lights on and it drained away my battery. I was staying at a place where the manager said he could give me a jump, but brought out one of the bright colored, no-name jump starters. Now I did get lucky in that I didn't stall (did that once after a jump start test driving a car from a dealer) and I was able to drive about 18 miles where there was plenty of charge when I got back.

I then ordered a couple of Schumacher Mity-Mite jump starters for $40 each from Amazon. They were rated at 12 Ah. They also didn't require a power adapter, but had a captive plug on the side and only needed to be connected to AC. The plug was recessed, so it needed either a heavy duty extension cord or maybe one of those 2 to 3 prong adapters, where then it was pretty easy to use a normal extension cord. And the input current was maybe 1A, so a cheap cord was fine. One I gave to my parents, although they never maintained (i.e. charged) them unless I visited. That one stopped working when it was needed. Mine was more or less maintained. Perhaps not as well as it should have been, but it only started flaking out after about 13 years of use. I'm thinking I must have done at least 15 jumps off of it - often my parents asking me to come over after they got back from vacation (and they didn't know how to use the one I gave them or it was dead from not charging) or my wife left the headlight on. A few times it was just a coworker or even a random person with a dead battery. A few times it was my own car where my wife has this habit of leaving the map lights on.

I kind of regret not getting a compact Schumacher Li-ion jump starter at Walmart when they had them for maybe $15. Maybe it sucked, but the worst that could have happened is I find it doesn't work and I just use it as a USB power pack.

 

[Ranger83]

While I bought each of the kids a Li jump pack (which can recharge cell phones and laptops as well), at home still have a Clore JNC 660.

It’s an AGM battery so holds up much better when cold. Popular choice for AAA drivers (when they aren’t trying to sell you a new battery). Zip tied the 12V charger plug to the handle so I don’t lose it. Charge it every 3-6 months.

Caveat: It does not have reverse polarity protection.

https://cloreautomotive.com/product/jnc660/

 

[Jokester]

Last Christmas I got several family members a decent quality lithium jumper from Amazon and one has been used quite heavily and still doing great according to him. Decided to get myself one to replace the large 35-40 lb SLA device I was keeping onhand periodically and went with this for my use. Haven't actually used it for jump starting yet, but like the build quality and feature set better than the Amazon type I bought for them.

https://quickjack.com/jackpak-ultra2500a/

 

[Vercingetorix]

Not sure where this cold affects lithium more than AGM thing came from. Everything I have read says the opposite. Only issue is lithiums cannot be charged in below freezing temperatures. From the Battle Born website:

It is true that LiFePO4 batteries cannot be charged in the cold, but this implies that our batteries do not perform as well as lead acid in the cold. The purpose of this study is to show that all batteries experience a reduction in power at cold temperatures, but that cold temperatures impact AGM batteries much more than they impact LiFePO4 batteries
Graph:

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

All in all, I would still prefer a real sealed lead acid battery jump starter. The first time I ever saw one was when thought I could leave my parking lights on and it drained away my battery. I was staying at a place where the manager said he could give me a jump, but brought out one of the bright colored, no-name jump starters. Now I did get lucky in that I didn't stall (did that once after a jump start test driving a car from a dealer) and I was able to drive about 18 miles where there was plenty of charge when I got back.

I then ordered a couple of Schumacher Mity-Mite jump starters for $40 each from Amazon. They were rated at 12 Ah. They also didn't require a power adapter, but had a captive plug on the side and only needed to be connected to AC. The plug was recessed, so it needed either a heavy duty extension cord or maybe one of those 2 to 3 prong adapters, where then it was pretty easy to use a normal extension cord. And the input current was maybe 1A, so a cheap cord was fine. One I gave to my parents, although they never maintained (i.e. charged) them unless I visited. That one stopped working when it was needed. Mine was more or less maintained. Perhaps not as well as it should have been, but it only started flaking out after about 13 years of use. I'm thinking I must have done at least 15 jumps off of it - often my parents asking me to come over after they got back from vacation (and they didn't know how to use the one I gave them or it was dead from not charging) or my wife left the headlight on. A few times it was just a coworker or even a random person with a dead battery. A few times it was my own car where my wife has this habit of leaving the map lights on.

I kind of regret not getting a compact Schumacher Li-ion jump starter at Walmart when they had them for maybe $15. Maybe it sucked, but the worst that could have happened is I find it doesn't work and I just use it as a USB power pack.

Schumacher - has been a highly popular name in battery maintenance products for over 50 years. I actually forgot all about them when I saw the article that promted me to order the (WeeGo) product from Amazon. I rarely buy something so fast after hearing about an item without doing a bunch of research first.

I think I jumped so fast because I respect and trust that magazine (HemmingsAuto). Plus with AmazonPrime shipping is free. (of course we all know NOT TRUE...nothing is really free). Only reason we even have AmazonPrime is due to the wife ordering so many things for the grandkids and the convinience of shipping straight to their homes across the country.

Oh well. I hope it is good quality , safe jump/charger. Mostly I hope not to need it too often.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

So, I got my WeeGo charger/emergency light today. Arrived today very well packaged and shipped in decent time (ordered last Thur) from Amazon. This unit came with a soft carry bag along with the hard zippered storage case I added to order for $18. I just figured the extra hard case will protect it better riding around in the trunk. WIll use the soft carry bag for the assortment of charging items that it arrived with and some smaller battery related hand tools I keep in trunk. It arrived fully charged with a set of very clear laminated instructions cards. I can tell by the weight and the very durable hard (plastic?composite?) body that if it works as well as it seems it was made it will be a good purchase.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

I got some weird China off brand for $30 on an Amazon deal. Works better than the $100 CAT jumper pack it replaced.

 

[Ranger83]

Not sure where this cold affects lithium more than AGM thing came from. Everything I have read says the opposite. Only issue is lithiums cannot be charged in below freezing temperatures. From the Battle Born website:

It is true that LiFePO4 batteries cannot be charged in the cold, but this implies that our batteries do not perform as well as lead acid in the cold. The purpose of this study is to show that all batteries experience a reduction in power at cold temperatures, but that cold temperatures impact AGM batteries much more than they impact LiFePO4 batteries
Graph:
View attachment 245525

This reminds me of the joke about MicroSoft tech support.

Spec sheet from the NOCO GB50.

Spec sheet from the Clore JNC305.

The Li batteries are so much lighter and more compact that you can get around this if you are snowmobiling, for example, by keeping it inside your clothing. Which is what we do.

We “tricked” the Li battery in my motorcycle turning on the key so that the lights came on. This generated enough activity to warm the battery, and we eventually got it started. But it was only 34° F.

EarthX now makes Li snowmobile batteries so there seems to be some way to get them to work in extreme cold.

https://earthxbatteries.com/product-category/vehicle/snowmobile/

 

[Vercingetorix]

This reminds me of the joke about MicroSoft tech support.

Spec sheet from the NOCO GB50.

View attachment 245656

Spec sheet from the Clore JNC305.


View attachment 245657
The Li batteries are so much lighter and more compact that you can get around this if you are snowmobiling, for example, by keeping it inside your clothing. Which is what we do.

We “tricked” the Li battery in my motorcycle turning on the key so that the lights came on. This generated enough activity to warm the battery, and we eventually got it started. But it was only 34° F.

EarthX now makes Li snowmobile batteries so there seems to be some way to get them to work in extreme cold.

https://earthxbatteries.com/product-category/vehicle/snowmobile/

And? Why don’t you show the operating temps for an AGM jump pack?
Here’s Snap On. Oh yeah same range. Not sure what you’re trying to prove.

 

[michaelluscher]

I can vouch for the AstroAI I bought this evening outside Home Depot
E90 328xi with very dim headlights, and a faint click when you attempted to start it

Those remote jump points under the hood are a little awkward, the guy went into HD and bought a jump pack, except he didn't know they don't come pre charged
I tried explaining this to him, but there's a language barrier

Once I got a good bite in the ground post, it lit right off

 

[TazzySpazzy]

It's not a jump pack but I have a bunch of lithium batteries from Stihl and they are incredibly cold sensitive. Once the temps hit 50 degrees F, yes that's +50 not -50, the batteries usually will not charge until it warms up a bit. I can only guess that individual manufacturers have different specs/thermal management profiles, but it does make me wonder if there is something like an objective baseline in terms of lithium batteries and cold weather operation. I suspect Stihl has very conservative battery management but that's just speculation.