New Jump pack

[Coyote Chris]

I must say, as Amazon reviewers are, I am very impressed with this new jump pack. When I carry it on a bike, I would make sure to put it in a small pouch with the jump cables and cigar lighter outlet..while it is bigger and heavier than the ones I have been using, it drops a full volt less under load than my others.....The case is semi hard and proably too big to carry as it comes with lots of accessories...note that the cigar outlet is conntected right into the jump jack. It also has a button override. Normally, you hook it up to the battery terminals of a car/bike with a low battery and away you go...if you hook it up to a completely dead battery, or a tester, you need to push an override button...no biggie as this jump pack comes with real instructions.....
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MRU6FCK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[DirtFlier]

When I worked at Hughes Aircraft in the 70s, it was a required that photos of hardware either have a pack of Lucky Strikes or a 6-inch scale in the foreground.

 

[mikesim]

It looks just like the one I got from Amazon last August. Impressive case and accessory connectors but last month it died. Would not recharge. Contacted Amazon and they have the company sending me a new "improved" one on a slow boat from China. Hope you have better luck with yours.

Mike

 

[Coyote Chris]

When I worked at Hughes Aircraft in the 70s, it was a required that photos of hardware either have a pack of Lucky Strikes or a 6-inch scale in the foreground.

And THAT is why I have the cigar lighter sitting there! or you can go to the link and just read the specs.... LOL!

 

[Coyote Chris]

It looks just like the one I got from Amazon last August. Impressive case and accessory connectors but last month it died. Would not recharge. Contacted Amazon and they have the company sending me a new "improved" one on a slow boat from China. Hope you have better luck with yours.

Mike

I have noted that people like the ones of these with the three year warrenty. Lithium Ion batteries must be conditioned before being put into use and then they last only about 3-4 years....if you want full capacity, you may only get about 3 years.....there are all sorts of articles on the web about how long they last and what you have to do to make them last but at the end of the day, how much work do you want to put into them for what they cost? I have to say that over the years since a forum member told me about these things, I have bought maybe 12 of them. Everyone that has gone bad has gone bad "slowly" where I can detect it. They hold their charge over a shorter period of time or the internal resistance goes up to where the voltage drop under load goes up.

I am willing to charge them every three months and test them once a year.....they get a sticker with the date when they were new and then the test dates....the red one in the pic was new a year ago but seemed to be loosing its charge too fast. Over the last two days, I discharged it and recharge it and its voltage drop under load is going down, so maybe I can save it. Not in the rule book but whatever works works. One thing is for sure. It is always good when you get a new one to discharge it and charge it up again a few times, just like we did with the old nickel cadmium....

 

[Coyote Chris]

How many of these do you have???

I am in the process of switching to the linked one. I have two here and one on order...I am impressed with the one I am testing.....I have jump packs in all my three cars and three bikes, and my wife has one in her car.

We have used them many times. You would not believe how many people think they can milk a bad battery till winter.....

When I was working for the state patrol in Electronic services, the patrol took away everyone's jumper cables and gave everyone jump packs, which at that time were nickel cadmium. It was too easy to blow up a patrol car's computers and radios by jump starting with
cables. Just jump start a car with a runaway alternator and see what happens to YOUR engine control computer.....State Patrol "Fleet and Supply" manages about 1400 vehicles....they have seen it all.

One nice thing about the current crop of jump packs is they now have reverse voltage protection so some idiot who hooks one up backward wont hurt anything.

Since we can no long bump start our bikes, I reguard these as a necessity if you camp alone in the national forests....I have had three battery failures due to the Yuasa plant having a bad contact welder....I like having my own spare battery.

 

[Coyote Chris]

Only for dirtflyer would I do this...
A ruler and a tequila bottle and a toaster.

 

[Coyote Chris]

I probably should mention that if you need one of these and it has gone dead due to the owner not keeping it charged (ie wife 2.0), you CAN place it across a running car's battery for 30 seconds and you would be surprised at how it will come back to life.....to test this, run one down and do that and then read the meter.....

 

[karl]

They work great for keeping a cell phone you are using for GPS in your tank bag or some other place without power alive as well.

 

[Coyote Chris]

I simply bought three at Costco. I've come to trust Costco to carry products that are top of the line at good prices. And if you've ever watched the documentary on how they test their toilet paper ...well, you won't worry about a battery jump pack.

I've only used them twice. Once on the Subaru when I left the "dome" light on for a couple days. It impressed me on how well it worked. I also used the one I carry on the BMW on someone's bike when we had breakfast. It worked like a champ.

I'm on four years now with the BMW's battery. Still cranks over great. One of these days...

Chris

I am paranoid as a three time victum of GoldWing Batteryitis. I replace my OEM 1983 Wing battery with a Walmart special. 2-3 years later I was on a tour and hit the starter button. Just as soon as I hit the button, it was like the bike HAD no battery. I was able to walk to a store and buy another generic battery. Boom. Same thing 2-3 years later....I was able to walk from my motel and get another one. 2-3 years later, I was coming back from a tour and was at a rest area 20 miles from home. Boom. Same thing. I called a trooper buddy who took the battery out of his wing and brought it over to me....years later, I learned that there was a US Yuasa factory in Pennsylvania, I think, that had a bad plate contact welding machine and made all these bad batteries...you would hit the starter button, all that current would flow through the connections inside the battery, and they would burn open.

Thankfully, most of my bad bike batteries just got weak over time....now, if they show any signs of getting weak, out comes the ole tester....I bet I have used my jump packs on my wife's ole Subaru heap 12 times....she refuses to donate it but has taken the insurance off of it and lets it sit on the ranch, so I start it up every month or so.....

I should mention that it is important to make sure that the clamps can be placed on the bike battery. The clamps are designed so that you cant touch the positive and negative metal parts together accidently. Sometimes, I have to grind a bit of plastic off a clamp.