Jump Starters

[Jim Oaks]

I have this one from harbor freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=40615

I love it. It was a great investment.

I bought one because my trucks sit for a long period of time and sometimes the battery dies. I also use it in the winter time to start my lawn tractor so I can plow my driveway. The battery on my tractor gets cold and the tractor cranks slow. The jump pack makes it start right up.

(2) years ago we were at Attica and the truck in front of me had problems and then needed a jump. There was no way to get around it to jumpstart it. I had my jumppack in the back of the cab, carried up it to the truck and started the truck right up.

My wifes car died at the gas pump because of a bad alternator. I met her, put my jump pack on her battery and then had her move the car away from the pump out of peoples way.

Once you have one, you'll wonder how you ever got by without one.

 

[mccoady]

The deal about having one which will start a completely dead battery to me is a must as I've had two instances in the past two weeks that this has happened to me. I help my brother farming part-time and last week he had me work some ground 35 miles away from his farm. I got in my pickup to leave before sunrise and it was dead so I jumped in my mother-in-laws old 1990 buick we inherited and headed to the field but when I got there I forgot to turn off the headlights (it has no warning). I didn't realize it until I got ready to leave that night after dark, so here I was stranded not knowing any surrounding farmers and kind of in the boonies. Too make a long story short my wife finally found me but it took awhile and I couldn't communicate with her since her cell was in my car, she was not happy. Don't want to go through that again.

So even though I thought I'd read where some don't will most jump starters start a completely dead battery or does this have anything to do with how much starting amps/peak amps it has or possibly some are just not made to do so?

The deal about having to charge the battery every month, if you forget just once is the battery completely ruined or will it just not charge fully/ properly from that point on?

Do most of you have jump starters that have more charging power than 400/900, and if not how are you getting along with that amount of amps?

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

i understand where your coming from.my work vans dead,my partner left the lights on a week or so ago and i haven't gotten around to charging it yet.should be a good test.ill try it tomorrow and let you know how it works.

i don't think it would kill the battery.SLA battery's do not develop a memory.

something i forgot,you can also charge this from your cig. lighter.

 

[mccoady]

i understand where your coming from.my work vans dead,my partner left the lights on a week or so ago and i haven't gotten around to charging it yet.should be a good test.ill try it tomorrow and let you know how it works.

Yeah I would like to know how easily it starts it and which model Rescue jump starter you used.

Do the cable clamps easily clamp upon side post batteries I haven't been able to find any info on this I've been told some do better than others?

 

[177CIOfPureLove]

I never thought these things were worth anything until we used one to start a big old Detroit in a Bucyrus Erie 22B EVERY morning, the generator off of the motor did not work anymore and it started that motor on a dead battery every morning. It was also the same size as the harbor freight one Jim put up. Don't remember the make, but it wasn't a good name like you would expect. I might have only charged it every other day.

 

[BigJohn76]

that thing is cool. ive got one but it doesn't have the compressor. how much does that one run?

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

i sell them for $150

 

[daniel3507]

might be something worth looking into when i get some extra cash flow

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

jumped the van today........
300 six cyl
battery had 7.5 volts 40 cca.
spun it for about 10 to 15 seconds before it started.
then i aired up all 4 tires on my truck.
plugged it back in to charge,took about 10 min. to top back off.
was kinda impressed with this jump box.

 

[mccoady]

Copperhead85 you've convinced me these QuickCable Rescue units are pretty neat and I should probably get one.

Just curious I'm assuming you used the Rescue 950 to start your van (and air up your ties) but with it only having a "400/900 amp rating, 18 AH battery", did it pretty much deplete the charge or would there have been enough juice left to start another car or two? Not that I would ever be in that situation (lol). In all my searching I thought I remembered coming across a video showing a 950 being used (in very cold weather) to start 12 cars but I can't seem to find it again.

I emailed QuickCable with some questions and got a quick response that along with your replies have been very informative. He did say noting that he didn't know how often I would use it, but highly recommended the all-in-one Rescue 960 with the built-in 300 watt inverter for just a little more (actually quite a bit more). I guess it's something to consider.

I had actually read the 960 online manual and it had all these warnings about how it could damage whatever was plugged into it so that scared me off a little. Don't know if that was nothing more than don't hold me liable talk but hard to believe they would promote and sell something that would damage your equipment.

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

to me to much stuff in one box is just that.sounds like he was giving you the old upsell...lol.
glad i could help you.i just gave you my customers input on something i have hands on 6 days a week.i value their input over anything,when someone dumps their hard earned cash in something and their buddy or relative comes in a month later and says" gimme one of those ________ you sold Fred".
makes me a believer.

 

[daniel3507]

i need a little help understanding something before i go out and pick one up. the higher the amp rating would mean they can start the cars faster or start more cars on one charge correct? and what exactly is the AH battery mean?

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

Amp Hours

The Amp Hour rating tells you how much amperage is available when discharged evenly over a 20 hour period. The amp hour rating is cumulative, so in order to know how many constant amps the battery will output for 20 hours, you have to divide the amp hour rating by 20. Example: If a battery has an amp hour rating of 75, dividing by 20 = 3.75. Such a battery can carry a 3.75 amp load for 20 hours before dropping to 10.5 volts. (10.5 volts is the fully discharged level, at which point the battery needs to be recharged.) A battery with an amp hour rating of 55 will carry a 2.75 amp load for 20 hours before dropping to 10.5 volts.

you could kinda say its the size of the battery "gas tank"