Testing Jump Starter batteries

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Mar 21, 2004
Messages
29,639
Location
Near the beach in Delaware
So is there a way to easily test a jump starter battery to see if it will come through when you really need it? Similar to using a carbon pile load tester or Midtronics type of tester on a car battery?

Would there be any advantage to pulling the battery once and awhile and putting it on a Battery Minder that charges and has desulfating circuit.

I am kind of assuming the built in chargers for the jump starters do not do desulfation.
 
depends on your definition of easily and what you have.
I have an aircompressor that runs 12v that you are supposed to clamp to the car battery. if I use the Jumpstart to power that and it can run for a few 30second cycles then I call that good.
 
Best thing is to keep it fully charged. Charge it on at least once a month to top it up.

other than that.. YMMV.
It wont hurt anything as long as you dont burn the battery up.
 
Originally Posted By: raytseng
depends on your definition of easily and what you have.
I have an aircompressor that runs 12v that you are supposed to clamp to the car battery. if I use the Jumpstart to power that and it can run for a few 30second cycles then I call that good.



I would not say that test equals jumping an average car when its 10F outside.
 
You can get a small handheld battery tester that puts about 150-200 amp load on it to see. Id say thats a pretty good test of its capabilities. Ive been using the MicroStart 600A booster pack at my shop, and its pretty powerful. It started an A6 3.2 the other day from 8v, and has no issues with any Mercedes V6 or BMW Inline 6. It struggles with the bigger V8s, and if its anything less than 10v in those car batteries its not turning it over.
 
I bought the Senco jump box, ended up pitching it. It was garbage. Batteries wouldn't hold a charge, and the inflators burned up.
 
The AGM batteries in most lead acid jumper packs are not impressive batteries.

They are usually the UB12120 or UB12180, 12Ah and 18Ah respectively, and can be purchased for 25 to 40$.

http://www.mrsolar.com/content/pdf/Universal/UB12180.pdf

Their self discharge is not very impressive, so recharging them monthly to keep them as full as possible is mandatory, or they can fail to perform their duty when required, when still relatively new.



http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_measure_cca_cold_cranking_amp

The chargers which come with these jumper packs are usually simple single voltage wall warts which will only seek to eventually bring battery to 13.6 or perhaps 13.8v. This can be Ok when the jumper pack is new and not depleted very much and it is plugged in for a long time.

These batteries when new, or when older, and more deeply discharged, will benefit from a higher amperage charging source seeking 14.7ish volts and holding that voltage for a few hours. Slowly getting them upto 13.6v over 12 hours is not as good for them as getting them to 14.7ish fairly quickly and holding voltage there while amps taper to 0.5% of capacity.

I know this is opposite of grandpa's trickle charge everything mentality, but it is a fact AGM'S can be tickled to death with low charge currents.

Limit amperage to 1/3 the rated capacity. When depleted the battery can easily absorb more than this.

In that PDF above of the Ub12180(18Ah capacity), it says the internal resistance is 18mohms

The Odyssey pc625 is also 18Ah capacity and has only 7 milli ohms, and 200CCA
http://www.odysseybatteries.com/batteries.htm

Huge price difference, huge difference in cranking amps, and self discharge.

As for knowing if an older jumper pack AGM will perform its task, Without a load test at low temperatures,....well your jumper pack might need a jumper pack assist.
 
well better define what you want to test . if you want to test if it can start a car, then just disconnect the main battery and see if it can start a car by itself every so often.

if you want to see if it can do it at 0F, then test at 0F. it's up to your own standards on what meets your intersection of easy versus a practical test.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top