I never used one but like all batteries they must have a life span like the cars battery, the portables also need to be charged periodically and as they age may not hold the charge (for 15 days). The larger units also take up cargo space. I would go for the largest (CCA) battery that can fit the Crosstreks tray and test and replace it more often. Tesla anyone?

 

I do carry one of these

Have not used it for jump starting cars but I carried it in my car and used it to charge random stuff as I find a need to. Without using it, it barely drain out any charge over a month (10 minutes recharge is all it needs). I have it in my car for over 6 months so far without any issue (-7 to 90 degree weather). However, it does not work well in extreme cold weather (10 degree and below). Not a big deal since you can just warm it against you before using it. I cannot recommend this particular unit since the warning about disconnecting within 10 seconds after jump starting the car indicates a less than ideal feedback protection. There are better units out there for higher price. In your case you will want to invest in a better one.

Since I do not have subscription to consumer report... How does the one I have compare to others? I'm not going to rely on it in life or death situation but would like to know if I should eventually get a better one or not.

 

Thanks for the feedback, guys. The solar charger idea, in particular, sounds pretty interesting ... though I guess I'd be a little worried about the possibility of theft/vandalism if it were left out in a remote, public location for a couple weeks.

I do carry one of these

I don't have a subscription to CR either, so all I can say is that your model is one of the ones on their "recommended" list, which I guess would be good enough for me. I would assume that all the brands of those mini-chargers share the same basic design, and would have the same issue about needing to disconnect quickly after a jump.

The main thing is ... it's nice to know that they work! The place I leave my Crosstrek for these adventures is 40 miles from the nearest pavement, on a dirt road that likely only sees a few vehicles a week and is out of cell range, so the maximum possible amount of self-sufficiency is definitely important.

As for the Tesla, I'd love to have one, but considering where I live and travel they're going to need to quadruple the battery range before there's even a chance of it being a viable option.

 

I purchased one two years ago like vahallaoven's but from Cobra. According to the instructions, you should top off the charge every 6 months which I do and it's never dropped below 75% (3 lights out of 4). Two weeks ago, I was able to use it for the first time to jump my neighbours Venza. The unit was in my trunk for about 6 months and jumped the Venza just fine. I charged it afterwards but according to the lights it still had more the 75% (4 out of 4 lights).

NB> I only purchased mine since it was relatively small. The older ones were huge and was probably built on SLA batteries so I don't believe their lifespan was great. But these new small Lithion ones seem to be much better in holding a charge. Of course, as with any Lithion battery pack, YMMV for the various brands out there.

With the small size, you might want to hedge your bets and pick up two different ones - one to leave in the car and the other as a USB charger that you take with you. As long as you watch what you are charging, you might have enough power left just in case the one you left in the car fails.

 

For the particular situation you were in, I suggest a solar charger/maintainer.

Amazon.com: Battery Tender 021-1163 5W Solar Maintainer: Automotive

 

I used to have one of these, but never used/needed it. Last time I had a dead battery I got a jump and AAA is always close by. They would be a good backup if going into a remote area though. For normal driving the one I had was a bulky-heavy item and never used

 

I'm taking mine camping next week and will report back if it is not as advertised. I have not need to drain it all the way for anything so it will be interesting to see how much battery life I do have. I'm hoping I would not need the jump start portion of this power pack.

In your situation I would carry two just in case one suddenly decided to die on you. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

I'm definitely interested to hear any reports on how these things work ... thanks!

And I agree that out here, I need a backup. My current thought is that anytime I leave the Crosstrek for more than a couple of days in the wild, my plan will be to disconnect the car's battery before heading out on my hike, and also leave a charged jump-start unit in the car. Pulling a battery cable should reduce the likelihood that the battery will slowly discharge while I'm away, and if that doesn't work I'll still have the jump-start unit as a backup.

 

The GF once left her headlights on (I think) when she was sitting in her car and charging her phone. Battery died. She had the unit from Costco (one of those starter/air compressor combo units that sells for around $70) and it got her back on the road with no issues. Ultimately, the most important thing about these jump starters is the battery amperage. You are literally using the jump starter battery to start the car, you're not charging the dead battery with it. Therefore, if your car battery is completely discharged, nothing will save you, as it will absorb a lot of current from the jump starter.

But, a dead battery after 15 days is not normal. When I lived in NYC the first year, I left my previous truck with my parents, who let it sit for months. Started up like always. You may be having some inappropriate current drain somewhere, I don't know if you did any electrical mods or not. Alternatively, your battery itself is on it's way out. But either way, while having a jump starter is a good idea, your car has a problem that should be addressed.

 

If I were in your situation Mark I would invest in a Low Voltage Cut Off unit. The kind that prevents complete battery discharge in cars, in addition to getting a portable jump starter.

 

Thanks, James! That's a really good idea, and one I hadn't thought of.

Talking with others, I'm discovering this is actually a fairly common issue among those of us who do backcountry work. It doesn't happen if you drive a 20-year-old car, but with the electronics in newer cars there's inevitably enough parasitic drain that it's always something to keep in mind.

 

You have a lot of options, all mentioned here already. To sum it up with my experience:

Those small lithium battery packs work good for cars and most medium+ sized vehicles. I've found the bulky old SLA ones work a bit better, as I was able to boost a big pickup truck when a little lithium one wasn't able to, and kept its charge for several months before needing to recharge as well. It's obviously more bulky so that could play into things.

If you're leaving your car out in a remote area, solar panel could be a good idea, though I know you're concerned about theft.

For battery protection, you can get something like this:
PriorityStart

I like the battery pack concept mostly because it's one less thing to fiddle with the car, and I've boosted cars of many others, and rarely myself so it can help benefit others as well. When people are stuck with a dead battery, it means a lot for you to help, and without buggering around with booster cables.

 

I like the battery pack concept mostly because it's one less thing to fiddle with the car, and I've boosted cars of many others, and rarely myself so it can help benefit others as well. When people are stuck with a dead battery, it means a lot for you to help, and without buggering around with booster cables.

Or frying out the electronics of either car...

 

Or how about a switch on the battery that you can just turn on and off? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001N729FS?psc=1

At under $10 (there are cheaper ones as well), it seems like a simple solution - keep the key with you, pop the hood, lock the car, turn the battery switch, remove the knob off the switch and take it with you, close the hood. It's also anti-theft as long as you upgrade the bolts to something hard to remove.

 

Thanks, Richard ... I've gotta get one of those.

I like the PriorityStart thing a lot, too, but since this is only going to happen once or twice a year I'm not sure I want to invest $100 on something like that ...

 

Back from camping and here's how the PowerAll perform.

I didn't charge it for 2 months and it only lost 1 bar of power. However, that 1 bar took over night to get back to full. Charged crappy phone 3 times and a kindle fire once during the trip. Got the thing down 2 more bars before I get home. Didn't need to do a jump so nothing to report there. Took another over night to get it back to full.

I think car security system is one of the things that drain the battery. The "ghost" of Crosstrek, the evap system, will also turn on/off sporadically and cause some drain to battery. Best to disconnect the battery and carry a battery jumper.

 

Thanks, vahallaoven.

I'm actually slightly tempted to buy one of those things and then deliberately let my battery run down so I can test it ... but that wouldn't be good for the battery, so I guess I'll just take it on faith that the one I get works.

 

Or... you can go to a junk yard and try to jump start a junker? The theory on jump starting are the same for all car in the same class so any car with battery problem is good candidate for a little experimentation.

 

Going up to a summer cabin in a few weeks where there's an old GMC Suburban that hasn't been started in years. Might be the perfect test vehicle.

 

Let us know how it goes. I'm particularly interested to see just how much power or how big of a vehicle it can jumpstart.

 

Just make sure whatever you get can jump start the bigger engine size. Powerall can only handle 4.0L and lower I believe.

 

I have one of these for jumping cars. its worked great for ~5 years (the light is useless but the jumping capabilities are quality)
https://www.amazon.com/Jump-N-Carry-JNC300XL-Ultraportable-Starter-Light/dp/B000XQ9MGE/

also I recommend the "battery tender" as a battery charger / maintainer
https://www.amazon.com/Deltran-Battery-Tender-021-0128-Charger/dp/B00068XCQU/

 

Hi Montanan,

You might want to consider a battery tender as elislider notes, rather than a portable charger (if you have an extension cord long enough from the car to the lookout structure). Hope this helps!

 

Well, the lookout where I'm stationed is roughly 6 miles by trail from the nearest road, so the extension cord for a battery tender would need to be pretty long.

(The lookout itself is off the grid, but there's a small solar panel there to keep the two-way radio charged. I could probably hook an inverter into that, and use it with my six-mile extension cord. The closest 120v outlet is probably a good 20 miles away from the trailhead where the car would be.)

 

Well, the lookout where I'm stationed is roughly 6 miles by trail from the nearest road, so the extension cord for a battery tender would need to be pretty long.

Holy cow six miles long. Yeah, that won't do. That cord might just start the fire that you so diligently hope to prevent from your lookout.

 

This is a simple solution as well. Buy Car Sunshade Board Solar Powered Panel Auto Car Battery Charger with Suction Cups

 

Just my two cents...
I use a Odyssey battery for my main start and car battery. I run my fridge full time when in use, external lighting, LED light strip for cooking, and USB ports for phones and cameras all off my main start battery. I have the Micro-Start as my just in case battery. I also used it to jump start an old quad about two dozen times recently that had a bad battery. And if I feel like it, I have a Goal Zero battery kit that just connects to the Odyssey directly with my solar panel outside to top things off on hot days. I have never run out of juice on this set up and been quite happy with it. Simple, small, and keeps me away from having to run a 2nd battery system which are expensive and can without notice fail.

Also, Long time ago, maybe 5 years ago or so,I picked up one of Motomaster eliminator power packs https://10carbest.com/best-jump-starters I don't think it's a Li-Ion., but it not too big - probably size of standard car battery but not as heavy and has a handle, 110V and 12V output, flashlight and compressor. I used it for camping as a power source for recharging phones, running air pump for air mattresses and stuff like that. What was a pleasant surprise is that after few years of occasional use battery was still strong. In a camping trip after 2 days of light use the battery pack was still able to jump start my friends truck 2 times in a day. : ) And after that it has more than half of charge as per the indicator. The battery pack can be charged from 110V at home or from 12V in a car. Manual recommend to keep it connected to wall outlet all the time when not in use, which gives me some emergency power during power outage. Never used built-in flashlight. Built-in compressor is a very weak it takes forever to air up a tire and I don't think it can air up anything over 32 psi, but probably it's better than nothing.
So I'm pretty happy with mine, I guess that modern power pack should be even better since battery technology keeps improving.
On Youtube, there are a lot of interesting videos on this subject.I will leave one of them here, I hope someone will help in the future. Good luck.

 

Used one my buddy let me borrow. I was skeptical. It was the size to be used for a 4 cylinder car and I had a V-6 at that time. The level of charge on the jumper battery registered at 75% (according to the little led's on the side of it).
That little sucker jumped my car immediately. The car didn't sputter or slowly crank itself into running mode; it started like it had a fresh battery.

The kicker is that jumping my car didn't drain the jumper battery at all. We checked the charge level readout about an hour later and it still said 75%.

I hope y'all have similar experiences if the need arises.

Edit:
I forgot to mention the style/size/etc. The one I used was the "handheld" variety that looks like a big cellphone (i.e. soon-to-be-standard-size cellphone). It is thicker than a phone but overall about the same footprint.

 

We have Stanley Powerstations in each car. Use them for all kinds of things. There's even a 110v outlet to blow up the mattress when we go camping.

 

Chiming in on old thread.

I have two of the NOCO GB40 , got them at northern tool with a $20 coupon. @ $90.00. EA.
1000amp.

This first one I got was for adventure bike riding. Out in the woods with a dead battery and you are done. Then I found I used it for my lawn mower, boating etc.

Two things you need in a car now, cell phone and battery pack. Jumper cables are awesome, but I haven't found a place to grab onto a tree yet.

I took some small clamps and soldiered short cable to them for tight motorcycle battery spots.

I dont know if the brand I have are any better than most. But a guy on YouTube starts all kinds of cars in the snow with this brand.