Those fancy jumpstarters

[vic008 17]

Any recommendations for them, for emergency start they would be invaluable. And failure to start is a bad nightmare. Anything one should know?

[ballystick 73]

I bought a little jump start pack as you see on TV, it starts diesels and petrols plus charges cellphones. It is about the size of a large cellphone and I bought it for $100 a couple of years ago. No one can believe what it starts, although if it is not topped up every 2 months it struggles. I would get a slightly more heavy rated (still small) unit but they are really useful.

[Island Time 1,240]

if you have trouble jump starting, try direct to the starter terminal rather than the battery. That often works...

[Povnation 3]

Mine is supposedly 36,000ma. From using it I'm not to sure about that but it did charge 5-6 Go Pro batteries and a Sony Z1 4 or so times without recharging, but I suspect it may not have had much left.

 

I think they are great but I would agree with Bally and suggest getting a grunty one and try to go for good quality.

For context your Sony Z1 has a 2,200 Ma/h battery. Thr GoPros are about 3,000-4,000 Ma/h so theoretically it would still be able to charge the phone/GoPros a few nor times... That is without calculating use while charging etc. it's been a while since I sold them so my stats might not be 100% accurate.

[ScottiE 174]

I have a couple of poweralls. Bought on off Amazon when they 1st came on the market. brilliant.

[too_tall 15]

Remember that when using these for charging other devices, that they ah rating is never going to be able to be fully "relocated" to the charged devices. Some energy is lost as heat along the way, and when the voltage begins to drop below a certain level they may not be able to provide the full voltage to the device being charged ( although a car jump starter, being nominally a 12v device, should have no issues charging a 5v device even if it is getting a bit low on voltage ).

 

I tried one on a 9l diesel motor once. The poor thing caught fire it was having so much current drawn from it. It was a supposedly 50ah rated device but I strongly doubt that. They are probably a great option for yachts who use a combined start/house battery where the risk of running your start battery down is far greater than separate banks. I have seen quite a number which have a 12v charging input, using a smps to get the voltage up higher internally. This would be a great option on a yacht, wired to the ignition circuit so it only is charging when the motor runs. 

[ballystick 73]

Their output is rated at 400A and by having short charging leads they seem to be able to start quite big engines. If the battery is totally flat then it is needed to be connected for a little bit before attempting to crank the motor.