Portable power recommendations

[Tony A]

Looking for a portable jump box.

Anyone know of a reasonably priced and dependable battery jump box that will start a 350Mag?

 

[capecodcruiser]

Go to northernhydraulics.com. Buy one of theirs. Don't waste your time or $$$ with a cheap one. They have very small batteries and just don't work. A good one will run you about $100+ or so. Please report back what you get.

 

[Robski97]

Tony,
Just like any battery. If u dont keep the " Jump box charged " its useless. A guy at work has a short in his car. Instead of getting it fixed he carries a " JUMP BOX " cant tell u how many times the cars dead and so is the BOX...


Rob

 

[Tony A]

Go to northernhydraulics.com. Buy one of theirs.

Nothing on that site. :huh:

Tony,
Just like any battery. If u dont keep the " Jump box charged " its useless. A guy at work has a short in his car. Instead of getting it fixed he carries a " JUMP BOX " cant tell u how many times the cars dead and so is the BOX...

Right. But still would like to keep one on hand...fully charged. Been out once where I needed one...don't want to be in that situation again.

How about this.....I see a bunch online:

12V and various amperage (400 and up). As the amps go up, so does the price. What amperage would you suggest? And, are all 12V 900A units (meaning...different 'brands') the same (I'm using 12V 900A only as an example)? :huh:

 

[unlvrebel]

Go to northernhydraulics.com. Buy one of theirs. Don't waste your time or $$$ with a cheap one. They have very small batteries and just don't work. A good one will run you about $100+ or so. Please report back what you get.

I got one of the cheap ones at West Marine. Think I paid $40 for it. Worked for two years without a hitch until a buddy of mine used it to jump his PWC. Throttle was stuck in GO. When it fired, into the drink the box went.

Now maybe $100 will get you some water resisitance. I don't know. But that was the best $40 I ever spent. Took it out fully charged and plugged it into the charger on a regular basis.

 

[tdappleman]

I think you're looking for Northern Tool - try this link: http://www.northerntool.com/

 

[white glove]

like with starting batteries the bigger and heavier the better I can't advise on a particular brand but my 350 mags are started with1000amp starting batteries. The idea is the speed at which the electrical event needs to happen and the pack with the greatest cranking amp load is for you. This is the difference between deep cycle and cranking batteries the ability to deliver a large load now .As for volts and amps 12 volts is just that and the amps rating is what will be delivered in the electrical event quickly. If this type of need happens often I would use a 1000 amp set of starting batteries and maintain them well . your engines computer will also benefit. I believe this is truly a case of big and heavy is best.

 

[Tony A]

Thanks for the info.

Sounds like I'll need 1000Amps or better.

Hope I NEVER need one again! :smt009 But they are nice to have! :thumbsup:

 

[JimG]

I bought one years ago at Advance Auto (I think) for ~$60 and it worked great on the 454 in my 270. I would recommend the simplest, heaviest one you can find in the price range your willing to pay. What I mean by simplest is no air compressor or inverter... thats more stuff to fail and they will downsize the battery to fit it in.

 

[Newbie]

With the beating people are taking about having a 110V outlet in the bilge, I'm surprised no one has mentioned the risk of sparks caused when connecting jumper cables?

Be carefull
SB

 

[white glove]

You're absolutely right!

 

[Larry&Leisa]

But you do have to open the bilge to get to the batteries, thus ventilating it somewhat. I think the plug concern is having it down there with the bilge closed up.

And I also learned a hard lesson of buying cheap and not keeping it charged up.. now I can't get a charge on the darn thing at all.