Portable Jump Starter/Charger

[massimofinance]

Hi all: I need to buy a jump start/charger for my boat, PWC, ATV, tractor, etc. Basically, any application where I might be out away from power and need a jump (out on the water being the main concern). I noticed that these chargers run the full range, from $50 to $300. For my application, what do I need? Is the below fine or overkill? What Amps, volts, etc. am I looking for?<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />KK-Jump-N-Carry® 660 Battery Booster- 12 Volt, 1700 Amp ($120)<br /><br />The K&K Jump-N-Carry® series establishes the standards by which other jumpstarters are judged! Intended for frequent professional use each lightweight portable unit is extremely versatile and easy to use. The Jump-N-Carry® Pro 660 delivers 1700 peak amps of raw starting power and weighs only 18 lbs. Pound for pound the Jump-N-Carry® Pro 660 is the most powerful jump starter on the market. <br /><br />Specifications:<br /><br />Peak Amps: 1700 <br />Voltage: 12V <br />Battery Type: Sealed Lead Acid (AGM) <br />Battery Capacity: 20 Amp Hour - High Performance <br />Cable: #4 Gauge Welding 46" long <br />Charger: 500mA - Built-In Charger <br />Indicator Display: Volt Gauge <br />Unit Weight: 18 lbs.

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

IMO, "Amps" are not going to matter in the least for any of those applications, unless you're turning over a big 'ol diesel in that boat or some such thing. Amp Hours are going to translate into how much capacity it has for running inverters, lights, etc, so that's a far more useful measure. Unfortunately, Ah is pretty well directly related to weight with those things, so there's a practical limit to that. Bigger is better because not only do you have a lot of capacity for running stuff, but also because you tend to drain the battery less which leads to a much longer battery life.<br />I like seeing the AGM battery in there.<br />If you plan to use it for charging batteries regularly, it's "got" to have an intelligent automatic charger.

 

[briannh1234]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

I had a K&K jump-n-carry. Paid 120 for it too. Died after about 5 years.<br /><br />I then bought a Prestone brand one at big-lots for 40 bucks. When I checked inside it had the idential battery as the $120 K&K. The Prestone is about 3 years old now and hold's a charge at 12.9 volts very well.<br /><br />Both units came with the cheapest non-smart charger available. I recommend that if you don't allready have a smart charger than get one and use it with whatever jump starter/charger you decide to go with.

 

[massimofinance]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

thanks, what is a smart charger?

 

[massimofinance]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

also, is a "Ah" battery also OK, or do I need the "AGM" battery?

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

Smart (intelligent/electronic/3 (or more) stage) chargers will charge lead acid batteries quickly and safely, in a pattern of how they like to be charged. That simply makes the battery last a lot longer. Normally these chargers have a switch to change the charge profile to deep cycle, gel-cell, and AGM type batteries because they like to be charged in subtly different ways.<br /><br />AGM is a type of lead acid battery. It is superior to other lead acid batteries in almost every way except price. They're truely maintanance free, can be operated in any position, can dump large amounts of power quickly (ie, cranking), but will survive discharging better like a deep cycle. You can even smash one and it won't leak acid everywhere. <br /><br />Ah is short for Amp Hours. It's the measure of the amps a battery can supply for how long, rather than a type of battery. Say you light a 12 watt bulb (draws 1 amp @ 12 volts) with a 20 Ah battery. The light will stay lit for 20 hours.<br />There's things that affect that number in Real Life, so use it as a guide when calculating things. And normally if you can keep your battery charged at over 50% of it's capacity it'll last much longer.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

Pretty much all jump starters have the same battery inside, the important things are that it's at least 17ah, and is a good name brand. (not some cheap chinese POS) I had a Vector jump starter that lasted at least 6 years with some serious abuse on my part. I also had two $25 no name jumpers...both of them lasted about 2 months. I recently made my own using a Hawker 39ah AGM battery...1200 cranking amps. <br /><br />I highly recommend this charger for charging sucht a device:<br /> http://www.vdcelectronics.com/batteryminder_12v_1a.htm

 

[b.gagnon]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

If you are going to be in the salt buy a good one. I had a cheep one and it did not make it one season before everything on it died.

 

[chaparral442]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

so what is a good one? I need to buy one and have no problem spending in the 100 dollar category if it makes a difference

Cheaper than adding a second battery install which I priced parts and battery at around 300

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

Another two year old thread gets resurrected!

 

[chaparral442]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

Another two year old thread gets resurrected!

You know its hard to do the right thing on this forum. If you start a new thread you get slammed for not searching-- If you search you get "brilliant" comments like yours

Whatever happened to courtesy, respect and helping out others???

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

The problem is that I read the entire set of posts and finally got down to yours and realized that I wasted a ton of time dealing with all these 2 year old posts before I even got to your question?

I think you will find that you will get a lot more information on your question if it is the first post in the topic.

 

[chaparral442]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

sorry to bother you- I am sure your time is more valuable than mine, and you are more important than I am

Nice way to make a new poster feel welcome!

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

Believe it or not, it wasn't my intention to offend you. Obviously I did and I apologize. Typically, when one of these older threads gets re-started, someone posts like I did to keep others from adding to the old thread.

 

[chaparral442]

Re: Portable Jump Starter/Charger

Believe it or not, it wasn't my intention to offend you. Obviously I did and I apologize. Typically, when one of these older threads gets re-started, someone posts like I did to keep others from adding to the old thread.

apology accepted