mcpltret
Well-Known Member
have been monitoring this thread since the start, found it
interesting. we have two different small pack battery jumpers,
they have worked great, too, mostly for starting vehicles of other folks.
on a very recent utah elk hunt, we took both after ensuring full charges,
but doubted we’d need them.
while camped at 10k feet/msl, night temps would get below 20deg.
our toyota fj started no problem each day….until last morn after we were
ready to be homebound. neither battery pack could start the fj, but would
move the flywheel just a tad followed by the annoying clicks of a dead battery.
we invested a few hours into helping the no maintenance battery to start the engine.
warming temps, sunshine directly on engine & battery, cleaning posts, etc.
we’d recharge each battery pack on other vehicle, making sure full charges before each start attempt.
still a no go. so be be sure the battery was the culprit, swapped out batteries btwn vehicles.
that verified a doornail dead battery.
local utah mercantiles sometimes have car batteries, but slim chance of finding correct size for
our vehicle. our choices were richfield, panguitch, or bryce canyon. off to bryce i went.
an hour off the mountain, another hour to bryce, and a quick swap out w/the core had me back in
camp 4+ hours later. a quick meter check at the large service station, that carries > 450 batteries,
indicated totally deceased core, i think meter indicated 5v.
tina had entire camp cleaned up, just had to install new battery & finally homebound.
learning points for us:
-two battery packs are good, but take the old fashion jumper cables too. (kinda like “trust
everybody, but cut the cards”).
-bring along one of our many testing meters
-we generally replace lead acid engine start batteries at the 3 year mark in our boat. have allowed
car batteries a longer life, but still swap out in 4-5 years. will rethink that since our northern mojave
desert life in blistering heat (105-115deg) is also hard on batteries. cheap insurance….kinda sorta.
appreciate everyone’s commentary on this. marina bum, rbb, & rc71 especially.
interesting. we have two different small pack battery jumpers,
they have worked great, too, mostly for starting vehicles of other folks.
on a very recent utah elk hunt, we took both after ensuring full charges,
but doubted we’d need them.
while camped at 10k feet/msl, night temps would get below 20deg.
our toyota fj started no problem each day….until last morn after we were
ready to be homebound. neither battery pack could start the fj, but would
move the flywheel just a tad followed by the annoying clicks of a dead battery.
we invested a few hours into helping the no maintenance battery to start the engine.
warming temps, sunshine directly on engine & battery, cleaning posts, etc.
we’d recharge each battery pack on other vehicle, making sure full charges before each start attempt.
still a no go. so be be sure the battery was the culprit, swapped out batteries btwn vehicles.
that verified a doornail dead battery.
local utah mercantiles sometimes have car batteries, but slim chance of finding correct size for
our vehicle. our choices were richfield, panguitch, or bryce canyon. off to bryce i went.
an hour off the mountain, another hour to bryce, and a quick swap out w/the core had me back in
camp 4+ hours later. a quick meter check at the large service station, that carries > 450 batteries,
indicated totally deceased core, i think meter indicated 5v.
tina had entire camp cleaned up, just had to install new battery & finally homebound.
learning points for us:
-two battery packs are good, but take the old fashion jumper cables too. (kinda like “trust
everybody, but cut the cards”).
-bring along one of our many testing meters
-we generally replace lead acid engine start batteries at the 3 year mark in our boat. have allowed
car batteries a longer life, but still swap out in 4-5 years. will rethink that since our northern mojave
desert life in blistering heat (105-115deg) is also hard on batteries. cheap insurance….kinda sorta.
appreciate everyone’s commentary on this. marina bum, rbb, & rc71 especially.
