Had a battery go out on me Friday morning with zero warning. It was good at 5:30a.m. and I drove to work. It 7:00 a.m., went to start the car and battery was completely dead. I was in a remote place and nobody around to jump me.

I have seen the battery jump and carry and am starting to think it might be a nice tool to keep in a vehicle. Any thoughts?

I've never used them before, but can I assume that they are like other batteries in that they lose their charge over time? If so, then my next question would be, how do you keep it charged while stored in the trunk? Unless you mount a small inverter in the trunk which is turned on via the ignition switch.

I have one of these:


I have had it so long that the battery is fried, but it was a real lifesaver. It is great to roll around with it, and not have to worry about it. You can jumpstart people worry free, and my unit also had on board air compressor, work light, and inverter. The only problem was having to remember to take it out of the car to charge it after several uses. If you can sort that out, you will have a hard time imagining life without it.

I have had mine so long the battery is completely fried. It predates even the PA, which has been around over 6 years. I need to see about replacing the battery in it.

I had one, but I let my brother use it, he told me it was not holding a charge well anymore, so I never bothered to get it back.
It did come in handy a few times when my battery died on me, but I had to keep it inside and plug it up every now, and then, as it does lose charge slowly over time as Mike said.

one of the guys in the atv club has one, seems handy because nobody takes care of those batteries and they let the machine sit. the atvs now have every electronic thing all wheel trucks have these days and no pull start

My neighbor had one for a while. Problem is they have their own motorcycle battery that also goes dead from sitting in the trunk (and possibly leaks, eating your carpet and floorpan). If you are really really worried about needing a jump somewhere the best solution is some kind of roadside assistance plan, almost certainly work better 2 years from today and probably cost less.

Ya they are handy to have and I got the Cadillac of Jumpers.
Firstly mine is an 600 Amp AGM (absorb glass mat battery inside) fully sealed wont vent or leak. (replaceable battery inside as well) It also has a built in air compressor.
Inverter 500watt which is handy and can be charged by car or 120 volt plug in.
Comes with jumper cables and it is my camping friend all the way around. It stay in the truck of car or moves over to the 4x4 quickly.

Even though this is a Canadian edition I have seen identical ones in the us or similar.
In the photo I am topping up my car battery, using the 120volt and a C-tek charger for an hour to really top up the Odyssey, where there is no power cables handy. Powers a drill too etc...

Art,

Very sweet setup= thanks for posting a pic, I will be watching this on Amazon.

I have been researching these Power Jump Starters this week. The JNC660 the OP has pictured seems to be well reviewed, for the most part.

They must sit around in warehouses for years (slowly deteriorating) before people purchase them. Some get a priming charge (not full) from the factory before shipping - which is worse because the popular batteries in these require complete full charges to set their full capacity for future recharges and power storage. Like eating 20 lbs of ribs every day for a week to stretch your stomach so it will hold more. One or more partial charges will set the capacity at that (low) level and not permit further charging.

You can carry these in your car for short periods, but they require frequent recharges - every 1 or 2 weeks at least, if not every 2 or 3 days. You really have to stay on top of this or the battery will discharge and completely die on you. Some have charging systems that allow them to stay plugged in indefinitely with no worries about overcharging - some don't.

Should the CCA rating be as high as the battery in your vehicle?

This is just what I've been able to dig up online about these, I haven't bought mine yet so we'll see.

Most of them now should come with an AGM battery (absorb glass mat)
The AGM'* are sealed and will offer better performance long term.
They do not require charging evey couple of weeks. Mine, once a month or so, but if it is used frequently, then charge it every week or two.
Of course the larger the CA the better, leaves more for reserve capacity overall.