Charging a Power Pack

[Phishin]

I was recently given an off-brand automotive power pack for jump starting a car.

It did NOT come with the charging plug. The battery is "moderately" charged. The front of the pack has "low", "moderately", and "fully" charged LED's, and the middle light illuminates when you press the TEST button.

I went to Walmart and bought a universal battery charger that had the correct plug on the end. According to what I could find online, the charger should be 12V and 500milliamps. I found a 600milliamp unit. I plugged it in for 12 hours. The charger is still stuck on the "moderately" charged mode. I don't think the charger did anything.

Can I use a regular battery charger to re-charge this unit? Has anyone ever tried this?

On this unit, there are 2 button on the back that you press in to "activate" the jumper cables on the unit. I haven't done this yet, but when you press these buttons (to complete the circuit from the battery to the cables), I was thinking I could hook a battery charger to the jumper cables on the unit and therefore, fully charge it.

Anyone ever try this?

But perhaps when I depress the "activation" buttons on the rear of the unit, they will only stay depressed for a short period of time. I'm not sure.

What you all think? I only have one battery charger, and it's a nice digital unit. So I don't want to fry it trying to work on something that was given to me....that I may never use.

 

[cmorr]

Does the polarity of the adapters plug match the legend next to the jack on the unit

 

[racer12306]

Got some information on the unit?

 

[Phishin]

There was no legend on the unit. But once again, I found on the net that it had the typical positive polarity in the center of the electrode. The universal adapter I bought, had a switch on it that I could change the polarity of the plug end.

I never tried it the other way, in case the info was wrong on the net.

 

[Donald]

I have recharged a jump pack with a automotive battery maintainer via the normal jump cables. But remember to turn the switch to ON so the cables are powered.

I think you need more than 12V to recharge a 12V battery. More like 14.

How heavy is the one you are fooling with? If you can easily carry it its not worth a lot of effort. It should be heavy to carry.

 

[Phishin]

Originally Posted By: Donald
I have recharged a jump pack with a automotive battery maintainer via the normal jump cables. But remember to turn the switch to ON so the cables are powered.

I think you need more than 12V to recharge a 12V battery. More like 14.

How heavy is the one you are fooling with? If you can easily carry it its not worth a lot of effort. It should be heavy to carry.


It's a 600 amp unit with 25AH capacity. This is pretty "standard" right? Not anemic, but not overly powerful either.....

Thanks Donald....I'll try to charge it tonight with my charger. Thanks.

 

[Vikas]

I have very old jump starter pack and now it is just permanently kept on the HF eqvt battery minder. I don't think it has much capacity left but it managed to jump start my friend's car last month.

 

[GSCJR]

Just looked at mine, reads as follows: 400 amp peak. Charging time, 15 hrs with AC charger, 8 hrs with DC charger. Charger reads 12 VDC 500mA. HTH.

 

[JHZR2]

25Ah batteries shouldnt be charged at a CC rate higher than 3.1A (C/8 rate). The charge max voltage should be based upon temperature. You charge at constant current until you hit a stopping voltage, then you hold at that voltage until the battery only accepts, say, 0.25A.

 

[Donald]

I bought an ATD. It has the charger built in and only needs an AC cord. I just tie the AC cord around the handle when its not plugged in.

I went for one with a high amp capacity. In the northeast one mostly uses it when its very cold out, so lots of power is needed.

 

[Da Game]

Originally Posted By: Donald
I bought an ATD. It has the charger built in and only needs an AC cord.



Which model ADT did you buy???