Best Portable Jump Pack ?

[patrick_g]

Steve and Pat -

Great points all! I do think the batteries in my F350 diesel are needing replacement. 4 years outside in the MI winters, and 6 weeks at a time of non-activity have taken their toll.
Which leads me to a side question - which battery to purchase? I was thinking about 2 nice Optima gelcells? Or is there a better choice?

Right before I left, I had enough of seeing the truck outside so I put it in a heated storage unit while I'm away. I hooked up a HF "float charger" don't know if that is the same as what you are talking about but I'm assuming close.

I do need to get a GOOD set of jumper cables. I was absolutely amazed when my neighbor (retired Chrysler engineer & motorhead) showed me the difference that wire gauge makes in jumper cables. I tried my set (cheapies) which wouldn't start my truck, and he broke out his monster set (can't remember....2 or 4 gauge?) which started the truck right up. This will be a purchase when I return in addition to 2 new batteries.

And, when the jumppac finally quits, I will look into a spare batt with the recharging setup you described.
Thanks again all, great thread!

If you can lay hands on some good battery clamps (or whatever they are called, the things that clamp onto the battery posts that come with jumper cables) just go to the welding supply store and buy some welding cable. Pay a little more and get the cable made of fine strands the kind the welders use to make a "whip" as it is way more flexible and easier to use than the standard welding cable, especially in the winter when the cables are more likely to be used. These will git 'er done. If you use the good HD clamps and the flexible welding cable you will have great performance from your DIY jumper cables and they should literally last several lifetimes.

Ever see the jumper cables that the tow/service trucks that service the 18 wheeler big rigs usually carry? THOSE ARE JUMPER CABLES. They are so much better than the Wally World cheapies.

About starting your truck after weeks of storage. Cumins recommends that you install a switch in series with the fuel cutoff solenoid so you can disable the fuel flow so you can crank the engine to oil it without it firing up. Once you crank it long enough to get the oil flowing to the bearings you then flip the switch and turn on the fuel and start up with oiled parts instead of dry ones. Industry estimates vary but most agree that dry starts are responsible for 50% of engine wear. This is not required for a daily driver but is recommended by Cumins for engines not started for a couple weeks. I don't think this is a failing of Cumins diesels. It is just a fact of life recognized by Cumins and they offer advice of how to offset the deleterious effect of dry starts. It is good advice for any vehicle (especial diesels due to high compression loading the bearings) that are not run every week.

Pat

 

[jenkinsph]

scoutcub,
I have two sets of cables, one cheaper set 12' with 4 ga. wire and one heavy duty set 20' with 2/0 ga. welding lead wire.

For a great battery that will have long storage times, maybe 6 months between starts I would go with an Odyssey or DieHard Platinum (a rebadged Odyssey) group 65. The DieHards are going for $189 at Sears.

For a good battery at a low cost I would go with the EverStart Max group 65 at WalMart for about $75. These starting batteries seem to hold up well for me and are fine for daily drivers.

For my uses I buy the EverStart batteries for less critical applications and have had very few problems with them. For critical use, deep cycle use and long storage use I buy the DieHards.

I don't care for the Optima batteries anymore as I have had too many failures with them and don't see much point in buying middle priced batteries from other brands as these seldom seem to be any better than the EverStarts for less money.

That is the skinny in my opinion.

 

[patrick_g]

I don't care for the Optima batteries anymore as I have had too many failures with them.

That is the skinny in my opinion.

UHOH, Optima failures. That sure burst my bubble. I thought they were supposed to be superior batteries. That is what I have as a starter battery for my automatic standby generator and so far so good but of course it could die at any time. The system has a built in battery minder and the starting battery is oversized for the application ( I wanted bigger than stock just to be sure.) It starts the genset every Monday morning and whenever I force it to run or commercial power fails. Pretty light duty, actually, so maybe it will last a good long time.

Any particular mode of failure in yours?

Pat

 

[jenkinsph]

Patrick,
I posted this before but I had 4 out of 6 Optimas' fail on me that would not accept a charge. These were not drawn down over 50% either, they lasted from 2 months to about 8 months for the last one. I still have 2 out of the 6 that are red tops and still holding up after 3 years though.

 

[patrick_g]

Patrick,
I posted this before but I had 4 out of 6 Optimas' fail on me that would not accept a charge. These were not drawn down over 50% either, they lasted from 2 months to about 8 months for the last one. I still have 2 out of the 6 that are red tops and still holding up after 3 years though.

Thanks. That seems to be a large enough sample to be valid, scary too. I guess I will just have to wait and see, maybe monitor the voltage to see if anything funny is happening. I have a carbon pile type battery tester that can load a battery up to several hundred amps if you need to do it. I guess I can note how fast the genset cranks on Monday mornings and if it seems to be taking longer then perform a load test to see if the battery is going away. Lucky me, I paid a premium to get the Optima because of its reputation. Oh well, we'll see.

Pat

 

[scoutcub]

My neighbor had exactly that, welding cables with HD clamps. That is what I will be looking for.

And burst my bubble as well, I always thought Optima's were at the top of the heap....will have to reconsider.

 

[patrick_g]

My neighbor had exactly that, welding cables with HD clamps. That is what I will be looking for.

And burst my bubble as well, I always thought Optima's were at the top of the heap....will have to reconsider.

I sure hope you got satisfaction from the warranty. I'd have sent a message to Optima along with copies of my warranty paperwork and receipts to see what if anything they might want to do for their customer.

Don't forget at the welding supply shop to ask for the cable the welders use for their "whip" as it is way more flexible than the standard cables. It is made of finer strands but still conducts as well as other wire of same gauge. Cost more but worth it when wrestling with heavy cables, possibly stiffened by cold weather.

Standard welding cables will work fine, just not so handy.

Pat

 

[jenkinsph]

Patrick,
You keep referencing the high strand count welding lead, I am just curious about this as that is all I have ever seen. So are some shops trying to sell simple stranded (lower count) wire to welders? I have several hundred feet of lead and it is all what I consider welding lead and is very flexible. I have had whips too, about 10 ft which are the same type wire but usually one size down.

 

[patrick_g]

Patrick,
You keep referencing the high strand count welding lead, I am just curious about this as that is all I have ever seen. So are some shops trying to sell simple stranded (lower count) wire to welders? I have several hundred feet of lead and it is all what I consider welding lead and is very flexible. I have had whips too, about 10 ft which are the same type wire but usually one size down.

I'm not aware of any shops selling standard "thick" stranded wire like for electrical service wires for welding but (I could be delusional) I thought I'd seen a couple different strand arrangements on welding wire and given the use of the cables in cold weather thought the really flexible stuff to be a good idea. Hey, if what you can get at your supply is flexible enough then all is goodness and light!

Better is the bane of good enough.

Pat

 

[scoutcub]

I sure hope you got satisfaction from the warranty. I'd have sent a message to Optima along with copies of my warranty paperwork and receipts to see what if anything they might want to do for their customer.

Don't forget at the welding supply shop to ask for the cable the welders use for their "whip" as it is way more flexible than the standard cables. It is made of finer strands but still conducts as well as other wire of same gauge. Cost more but worth it when wrestling with heavy cables, possibly stiffened by cold weather.

Standard welding cables will work fine, just not so handy.

Pat

Oops perhaps I mislead, I was looking to replace the OEM batteries in my powerstroke with Optima's. I guess 4 years is OK for OEM batteries? Especially under the conditions these have endured.
I will definitely get the "whip" cables, and also check into the cutoff switch for the powerstroke. Hopefully there's a kit made, sounds like I need one.

And what is up with these Odyssey's costing $300+, even on Ebay??? And I need 2???!! That's gonna be a big ouch.....anyone know a good source selling cheaper or is Ebay the cheapest?