I have been looking at those small portable battery booster / starter gadgets instead of relying on jumper cables and waiting for a kind soul to help. Down here in AZ, in addition to death and taxes, you can count on your battery going suddenly dead with no notice every 2 years. If it happens when you're alone on the trail, it can get a little stressful. So I have been looking into this as an alternative to start the jeep if the battery has gone dead or nearly dead.
Here is a video that I watched that has a comparison:
Let me know if you have and use these types of things (not just limited to the ones necessarily mentioned in the video) and whether you would recommend one or not.
I have a NOCO GB40 and it is awesome. I keep it in my Jeep at all times, and have needed to use it 4 times and it has worked on every time. I would recommend to have one.
So how often do you refresh the charge on yours. Normally I charge before long trips, but I haven’t looked at mine in awhile now and I’m wondering if it looses its charge after time? Awhile being maybe ten weeks.
I strongly recommend it. Used it a half dozen times over the last 2 years, for both my JK and various trucks and sedans, it's worked first try every time. I try to remember to charge it up every 6mo or so, or after each use, and it's always had plenty of charge.
Money well spent for simplifying stranger jump-starts, your own piece of mind if caught out alone, and works great as a backup battery for other misc devices.
I would recommend choosing a unit with small physical dimensions. All these "just in case" items start to add up.
+1 on the Noco GB40. @VelvetPower. I am also in AZ and my wife experienced exactly what you described with her JKUR just this past Thursday. She went out to head to work one morning and her 20 month old OEM battery was dead. I popped the GB40 out of the back of my Jeep, showed her how to use it, jump started her Jeep and off she went to work. She had to jump it 3 more times throughout the day. I can’t remember when the last time was that I topped off the charge before that day but when I went to charge it that night, it still read 100%. I wound up replacing the battery that night after work.
I have probably jumped a dozen stranded motorists with my GB40. It is well worth the investment.
I am happy with it. I have used it to jump my Jeep twice now (and have replaced the battery since then), as well as using it to run a motorcycle with a dead battery while I was tuning the carbs.
Well, just received my NOCO GB40. Disappointed. Won't charge all the way up. Get's stuck around 75% or so. That's after 24 hours of charging. I went out again on Youtube to find another comparison video like the one I originally posted just to see what I would find. Again... GB40 didn't do so well at all....
After watching the above review video, I think I am going to order the iClever:
Also, another thing I noticed in the NOCO GB40 documentation. Says max storage temp is 140 degrees F. Well, that concerns me too being in AZ. It routinely climbs above 140 in the jeep.
I have a model simply called “Duracell“ 1100 A on the box. Side of the box says 400 cranking amps. $100 at Pep Boys. Has a USB port, supposedly will re-charge your cell phone five times.
I have never had to use it so can’t comment, but my input here is simply to the recharge question. I just keep it plugged into the car electric port and it sits on the floor of the backseat. Seems like a simple way to keep it always charged as it charges whenever the car is on.
When I researched and bought it a couple years ago, it was one of the more highly rated. I wouldn't be surprised if cheaper ones work just as well though, as Li-ion battery prices have continuously fallen in recent years. I've only used it twice (most recently a couple weeks ago to help somebody out) but it worked perfectly both times, and a single jump start of a gas engine hardly taxes the battery, so you could jump many times before needing to charge it. This last time I used it, I hadn't charged it for at least 6 months and it was still full.
Here's a link to the one I have. It's served me faithfully for the last 3 years, although I use it more for powering do-dads or charging phones than I do for jump starting dead batteries.
This is the same one I have. Used it at least a 1/2 a dozen times. It always works and maintains a charge really well. I to live in Arizona and its surprising how often you get to use these.
Yea, I was going to comment on the temperature thing as well. Lithium Ion batteries are not recommended to be kept at high temperatures. They will degrade very quickly above 140°. In AZ, I imagine you can hit this quite easily in the summer with the car baking in the sun.
It might be wise to leave it at home and use cables in the summer, and swap it back in for the other 3 seasons. This is just the reality of the chemistry of Lithium Ion cells.
I bought this one a few weeks ago after I hopped in my 1 year old GC to leave for work and the battery was dead. I may have left it on in ACC mode the previous night because the dealer could not find anything wrong with the battery or charging system after they ran 3 hours worth of tests while I paced back and forth between the waiting room and showroom.
I chose it over some of the others because of 1,500 4.5 star average rating reviews. I will not be stranded again due to a dead battery.
Not only am I impressed with it, I was shocked at how much "cranking" power it provides.
As an experiment, I completely drained the battery on the Sonata and it was dead and I mean dead. I used my new iClever unit and it cranked the car over like there was a fresh battery in it. Did it 3 times in a row. No degradation in cranking power. The unit also has a variety of output plugs and high and low power USB ports for charging other devices.
As an added benefit, it came with a real nice zippered hard case and everything inside gets strapped in place to keep it neat while in storage.
Any of these capable of starting a jeep without a battery? I recently had a AGM fail on my after only 8 months, and my jeep is garage kept doesn't see extreme temps. I have a crappy 600a craftsman or some other brand. After having that AGM fail on me without any warning I'd only consider buying something that'll start it with complete absence of battery.
I would be very leery of this. After starting, the alternator is going to try to raise the system voltage. If your booster allows itself to be charged via the clips, that's probably going to be ok for a short time, but Li-ion batteries don't like to be overcharged (they "vent with flame" i.e., they get kind of explodey). And if the unit refuses to allow itself to be charged via the clips (or shuts itself down once fully charged) , your alternator may not behave properly without a battery in the system -- you may blow out it's rectifier diodes (each with an audible pop!). And that's assuming the noisy spikey alternator voltage output (normally smoothed by the battery) doesn't fry other things first, such as the computers.
I mean, you might get lucky... but I wouldn't try it.
Perhaps I was being too binary when I posted my inquiry above. I had an AGM die on me out of the blue, after trying to charge it would only take something like 4 volts even after 24 hours of charge. My Stanley Fatmax 700 which I bought a few years ago for about $100 didn't even come close to starting the Jeep. I'd only consider buying a jump starter that is capable of jumping my jeep with a totally shot battery, and it would have to be able to jump it at least twice on a single charge, but preferably three times. Any suggestions?
I have used an Antigravity XP-1 unit but recently picked up a Noco GB70. I haven't used the Noco yet but have charged it up and used it to charge a cell phone.
It's a pretty rugged unit with some nice clamps. My Antigravity pack came with some pretty small clamps and I was always afraid they would fry when using them to jump a dead battery. I went with the beefier GB70 since I also have a camper van with a V10.
i've had the antigravity xp-10 going on 4 years now. its been a trooper for sure, never failed me yet. They offer a beefier set of clamps you can buy to replace the smaller ones that come with it. I too purchased a while back based on the reviews at the time, it was the best i could find.
I've had the Noco GB40 for a couple years now. Admittedly, it's been stored in the garage, but it has never had a problem charging to 100%. Boosted maybe 6 times since I got it, charged twice, never been below 50% capacity.
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