Emergency Jump Starter- Review

As a follow-up to the excellent suggestions of a portable jump starter posted by Jenn and Randy in the previous Emergency Gear List post, I thought I'd start a separate post and see what thoughts it elicits.

I went and got one. I estimated that the chances of experiencing a dead TV battery, and the risks (or at very least, the inconvenience) of not being able to start your TV, were significantly higher while towing and travelling. Particularly if you sometimes travel in out-of-the-way areas.

Many of us have a 12V cooler that we keep plugged in to our TV, as the ambient temps inside the car are usually lower than in the the hatch of the trailer. Depending upon your TV model, your 12v sockets can be live, regardless of whether or not your TV is running (our Outback's 12v sockets go dead when the car is shut off). If you don't find another power source for the cooler, or forget to unplug, a cooler can run your battery down overnight to point where the TV won't turn over the next day.

Further, if you do not have a battery isolator installed, and you forget to disconnect the trailer wiring, then your usage of the trailer's 12V system could run down your Tv battery simultaneously to the point of no return, as well.

Both of these scenarios up the risk factor of being stranded, over and above the normal reasons for needing a jump start.

After reviewing the online market, I settled on this one...NOCO - 1000A Lithium Jump Starter - GB40.

Many portable lithium jump starters try to do too much and come with lots of connectivity to charge phones etc... That's not what they were designed to do. They are a specialized battery that's designed to provide a lot of oomph over a very short period of time, and not a trickle over a long period. Many can only perform 2 cell phone charges before they are depleted, but can jump start a dead car battery numerous times. If you consistently use it to charge peripherals then you likely will have a brick that can't start a car when you need it to. Unlike many travellers, we have the trailer's deep cycle for that stuff. So I didn't base my decision on whether or not it was an electrical Swiss Army knife. I carry a separate air compressor so the combo units did not interest me.

Most portable jump starters are "smart"; they have on-board safety circuitry that won't let you jump start if you have the leads crossed, or short circuited, or if the jump battery is too low. However, one safety feature of most is that it it won't turn on at all if it detects that the "dead battery" has less than ~2V across its terminals. I suspect that many of the online 1-star reviews of various jump starters are because people are trying to jump a completely dead battery. However, this safety feature sort of negates the reason for carrying one around in the first place.

The NOCO line , on the other hand, is unique amongst its comparators in that if the dead battery is less than 2V, you can manually bypass the safety system and still jump your battery. You just have to be certain you have the connections correct so as not to cause damage to the TV electrical system. In other words, bypass the safety features at your own risk.

The other purchasing factor was that the clips were well-designed and the cables (though a little short) were 8ga as opposed to the smaller 10ga on many others. It was U.S. designed, robust, and the ports are reasonably weatherproof. The LEDs are easy to read and understand. It fits in the center console. It charged from dead out of the box to full in 3 hours by way of USB.

I jumped a completely dead 14 year old Acura this morning and can confirm that the safety bypass works, along with having the power to do multiple turnovers and starts.

The only downside to all of these units, not just NOCO, is that although they have very wide operating and storage temperature ranges, you can still easily damage it or make it useless by storing it in the vehicle in Southern summer temperatures, or Northern winter temperatures. Its best to keep it fully charged and outside of the vehicle during these times and places.

For your consideration.

Steve

 

No worries.

I should add that this device is really only to get you out of a pickle, once or maybe twice. If you’re jumping a battery that’s been drained below 10.5V, or it is so low it won’t activate the jump battery under normal settings (like what happened with me today), then sufficient damage probably has been done to the battery such that a simple recharge, or even a more technical desulphate process, cannot bring it back to a fully charged and reliable state. Your first destination after jumping it, and before shutting the car off, should be a battery store, or garage for a load test.

 

Interesting thread to learn how others use a charger.

I have had several over the decades and for the most part have found them to be similar in cranking ability compared to cost.

I always have one plugged in around the house but seldom ever take it with me. When I do it was for extra power in my Little Guy because I didn’t have a charge line in the TV. I would charge it in the daytime in the cigarette lighter port during the day. This only works on long trips.

I had one with an air compressor and used that function more than the battery. Great if you take a bike on the road.

 

Before you buy it watch this video on the best Jump Starter:



The video is a comparison test between Autowit, lithium ion jump starters, Harbor Freight Viking, Noco Boost GB 40, Sanrock, Topvision, DB Power, Audew, and a sealed lead acid jump starter made by Duracell.

Noco Boost GB 40 did not perform well.

Audew brand performed the best.

 

Thanks for posting. Food for thought. Hadn't seen this one. Had I seen it, it might have altered my selection process. The Audew was also in the running with me at the time. Here's my thoughts:

Of course, all the advertized specs of each model from each manufacturer should be taken with many grains of salt. So for the tester to be able to select off the shelf a number of (what appear to be similarly sized) units and be able to compare Apples to Apples would be a very difficult process. And given the variety of different types of units he chose... lead acid, capacitor, lithium... means that comparing apples wasn't really his primary objective at all. While on the one hand his testing methods appear technically valid, objective and consistent across the brands, the comparison test fails in that he assumes he's testing all Apples. Or... he want you to think that he's testing all apples.

In this video the GB40 fails to turn over a diesel tractor and a pick-up with 2.9L and produced fewer cranking amps than some of the other models he selected for testing. Which, viewed on its own, may be a concern to a potential buyer. Or not.

In the tester's mind, the NOCO fails primarily on the standard of cranking amps per $$, (and possibly the cheap carry bag that comes with it). Which really is only half the story. No consideration was given to the manual override feature, which was the only thing that allowed me to start my 'test vehicle.' I don't believe that any of the the models he tested that exceeded the NOCO in amp department have this feature. But I could be wrong.

Nor did the tester consider that NOCO makes several models larger than theGB40 and that he could have selected one of those to test, and it would have undoubtedly performed better and fallen in line with the other models he chose.

Anecdotally, the power of the GB40 was sufficient for me to get a 14 year old 3l Acura at 40F started several times (2-3 seconds cranking each time) with the reserve capacity to do it several more times. And the ability to start it from a totally dead car battery. That's all I need for my Outback. In the end, you only need what is going to work for your particular jump starting emergency situation. Anything over and above that is wasted dollars. Which is why manufacturers suggest that you size it properly. But that's nearly impossible to pull off, unless you buy it and try it.

Of course there are many other considerations that determine whether or not something is good value or a wise purchase: ease of use, ease of purchase, ease of return, ease of maintenance, warranty, company reputation, reliability, longevity. These factors weren't part of the video.

It's not that the NOCO GB40 is a "bad" jump starter. Its that this test showed that it wasn't large enough to do the tasks required of it in this particular test. And that the Audew model and a couple others had a higher cranking capacity, and were less expensive per amp. Admittedly, those finding should comprise part of a buyer's pre-purchase analysis.

In the end, the only truly useful information the tester is able to impart to the viewer is that he is reasonably able to rank the jump starters in terms of capacity. And whether or not there's much correspondence between the numbers printed on the box and what he sees on his meters. That's about it.

 

Just want to share if anyone is interested in. Price drop to $67.65 at audew website this Black Friday.
Bought 2 of the Audew. They are awesome. Have used them several times.
https://www.audew.com/Audew-2000A-Peak-20000mAh-Car-Jump-Starter-for-All-Gas-Engines-or-Up-To-8_5L-Diesel-Engines-with-LCD-Power-Display-p-100058.html?