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Portable lithium ion jumpstarters


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Have any of you got one of the many small body portable lithium jumpstarters? The 400-600A ones which claim can start multiple cars from a single charge.

 

I've been thinking about getting one recently since the car is quite often flat from not being driven. They all seem rather small and light duty for the power they claim they can output which has me wondering if they're just a gimmick or not. They seem to review well but even looking at the size of the jumper cables doesn't exactly give confidence in them.

 

Powerall seems to be the brand to get from my limited research so far.

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I've got 3 of these smaller jump starters, different brands etc. TBH none of them are as good as a battery and decent jumper leads. Every time I go to use they seem to be out of juice, just from sitting in vehicles with no use.

One is a Repco one with a capacitor & it seems to be the best, if the battery isn't super flat it'll jump a vehicle at least once. But otherwise you have to wait 10-15min for the capacitor to charge, once that's charged it seems to start every time.

 

Maybe I've had a bad run but they seem kind of pointless if you have to charge them all the time.

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That's exactly the answer I was expecting. The size and form factor makes them seem too good to be true. The powerall one’s claim they can do multiple vehicles from one charge and sit for 6-12months without draining enough to hinder use

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I have the Powerall one

 

good for what it is, had to jump the e34 off it once & yep new battery in the Commy today as winter killed it : had been Jumping it on & off for he past two months every couple of weeks after a charge

 

keep it in the car plugged in

 

Leads have just about s*** themselves tho so a new set on their way from Ali-express ($6 vs ripco $60

 

mate got one similar (not sure what brand) and it would never work for whatever reason so sent it back

 

pretty good for a portable USB power source too & a light (though mines stopped working for whatever reason)

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16 hours ago, Joker said:

I have the Powerall one

 

good for what it is, had to jump the e34 off it once & yep new battery in the Commy today as winter killed it : had been Jumping it on & off for he past two months every couple of weeks after a charge

 

keep it in the car plugged in

 

Leads have just about s*** themselves tho so a new set on their way from Ali-express ($6 vs ripco $60

 

mate got one similar (not sure what brand) and it would never work for whatever reason so sent it back

 

pretty good for a portable USB power source too & a light (though mines stopped working for whatever reason)

 

Do you know what size your one is?

Pretty set on one of the powerall ones but struggling to make the call on which size one to get. 

With the aftermarket ECU mine is quite slow to start so needs to have enough juice to crank a lot longer than usual. Powerall only gives peak amperage and haven't been able to find how fast that decays and what it decays to.

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Ahh cool, that's the Element one which is only 400A peak. Had been considering the XL3 as it has the better clamps and should have enough juice for just about anything. Super overkill though. Think the element or the 600A standard one will be the way to go then. Both are 250 at hunting and fishing, way more at Ripco.

 

Geez you've given that thing a rough time. Probably should have retired those leads quite some time ago haha

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yeah by design they are snug & hard to get out so tended to pull on the leads (bad) when packign away

 

have since just left if plugged in & on charge in the car at all times, comes in hanby for Locksmithy type jobs too (lost car keys often car is flat too)

 

would start the BG5c in my yard so i could move it with no battery in it

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Just looked up which ones I've got:

PBJS12000-RD - POWERALL JUMPSTARTER POWERBANK 400A 12000MAH 12V

PBJS16000-WS - POWERALL JUMPSTARTER POWERBANK 600A 16000MAH 12V WITH SPEAKER (been replaced under warranty as it stopped accepting charge)

REPCO ULTRA CAPACITOR JUMPSTARTER 12V 1200A

 

As mentioned, repco one seems the best at holding charge, although it is the newest. I generally go to start the car, find 2 or 3 are flat and end up waiting 15min for the capacitor to charge or get jumper leads.

Admittedly most of the time i'm trying to start an old v8 bmw which keeps draining it's battery.

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Ended up grabbing the standard 600A Powerall one. The local H&F didn't have the Element or XL3 in stock which made the choice much easier. The 600A one with a speaker didn't really interest me for what it'll be used for. Will report back later tonight once I've had a go starting the Legacy. 

 

Was seriously considering the smaller 950A projecta one, Repco currently have it on sale for half price at $200.

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Well it failed its first test.

Battery tested at 3.5v

11.9v with the jumper attached.

Everything else worked but just clicks when trying to turn over. 

 

Think I was hoping for a miracle here as usually even when hooked up to the van with jumper leads it needs 5ish mins of above idle connection before it would try crank. And this time the battery was even flatter than normal. Normally the dash and central locking works at least but this time it had nothing at all.

Ohh and plus the fuel pump currently having no switch at all means it always runs at ~18A when the ignition’s on which makes jumping a heap harder too 😒

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I've now had further tries with the fuel pump fuse removed, no luck.

Negative battery cable disconnected and the jumper connected directly to the battery cables (read a review that tried that way which worked, plus it worked for Joker too), no luck.

The two above methods at the same time, again no luck.

 

To me the clicking means the relay is engaging so it has enough for that but just can't draw enough current to turn the motor over. 

 

I'll have a go with the usual jumper leads tomorrow to see if they can get it started the old fashioned way, or grab a new battery. 

Regardless of battery health, if it can't get me started in a situation like this it isn't a whole heap of use to me as it'll never work when it's most needed.

 

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Bugger, but yea not much good if in worst case it won't start it. If you can get a refund I'd be tempted to try a Repco one with the capacitor.

 

Side note, what ampage cables does everyone have?

Generally the jumper cables I've had are too s*** to start drained battery without leaving them connected for a while, but borrowed ones from a workshop and it fires first pop.

I'm very sceptical about $20 "1000a" trademe ones when Repco 750a ones are ~$130

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