Portable Charger for T@B Battery

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Ford Escape car battery needed to be jumped. Ideas for prevention.

DesertDweller

Hello all and Happy New Year.  I don’t want to hijack someone else’s thread, but a quick question on the PowerAll type devices mentioned above: in a pinch could they be used to charge a T@B battery if nothing else was available?  Moderator, please delete this post if I should have started a separate thread. 

mreric

solar!

ScottG

Seems like a good question, @DesertDweller, so I went ahead and gave it its own billing.

My limited understanding of portable jump starters is that they are basically just a battery pack with a built-in charger and clamps. The battery itself is designed to give a big burst of power for a short period of time (such as what is needed to turn over an automobile engine.

I don't believe one battery can just give its power over to another. My guess is you'd end up with a very slight charge to your T@B battery and a very dead jump starter.

Depending on the amp-hours of the device I suppose you could actually use it to power your T@B for a short period of time, but if that were your intent you'd probably do better to just carry a spare deep cycle battery intended for the purpose.

Ratkity

There are normally 8 (surge) car battery jumps in one of those chargers. There is surprisingly less energy in those things to charge a laptop or cell phone (2-4 hrs). I don't know the engineering of how these work, but I think carrying a charged extra 12V battery is the only thing I can think of if it's been cloudy and solar has failed (this is barring setting up 2x golf cart batteries for extra power). 

Awca12a

If you are looking for a general tool to jumpstart a large battery and work as an emergency spare for laptop/etc during power outages, then the Jump-N-Carry is a good tool.  Mine was a SNAPON but the specs are what tell the story and thats where they get expensive.  If you need a large CCA capability or longer duration of capacity/use then you need a larger battery than what you'd find in the CostCo automotive aisle.  The good ones used by professional tow companies and mechanics have always been in the $200+ range and that the same story today.  You pay more than you would for a basic battery but it's portable and won't leak.

Check out the comments for the JNC950 which is about as small as I'd go if I was buying one today.

https://www.amazon.com/Jump-N-Carry-JNC950-2000-Peak-Starter/dp/B000KPSA0W/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1546024646&sr=1-1&keywords=JNC950

DesertDweller

Thanks all. I do have the factory solar package on my Boondock lite, but I got rid of my very heavy suitcased-sized solar panels that I used with my now sold larger trailer. I used to move that solar panel throughout the day to make sure the trailer battery was getting charged. Now with the rooftop panel and the shade of the forest canopy where I usually camp, I am a little concerned that the T@B battery may not get a full charge. I was just wondering whether those PowerAll units would make a reasonable backup. Seems like maybe not. So I can either park the T@B in the sun, get the larger backup battery pack, or maybe look for a lighter solar panel that I can chase the sun with. I guess I will try it for one season next summer and see how the rooftop panel fares the way I normally park it when camping. 

Happy New Year all!

Verna

My PowerAll’s directions say to disconnect the cables from the battery within 6 (maybe 5) seconds of the former dead battery’s starting. This in itself tells me that the PowerAll is simply for jumpstarting the larger batteries. While it can charge a phone, that takes no power compared to powering all of your T@B. 

What I do while boondocking with solar is to charge my battery bricks (portable chargers) during the day while the solar is charging the batteries. This way I can charge the phones, iPad, and Kindle at night from the bricks, while conserving the power in the house batteries when it is needed the most. 

I did install two 6-volt golf cart batteries in my 320 and those served me very well for the three winters I spent in Arizona in the 320. I never ran out of power in the 320. 

If you choose to stay with your single 12V battery, I would agree that a spare battery would definitely help in the forested area you camp in.  

DesertDweller

Thanks for your input. The 6 volts may be the way to go but I am not handy so I will have to hire someone to fabricate the changes to the front box to mount the two batteries. In the meantime, winter camping is in the open desert. Plenty of sunshine!!

Ratkity

Keep in mind that while you have a LOT of sunshine in the open desert, the sun is further from the earth and the amount of sun needed is more to fully charge your battery.

Ratkity

P.S. Keep your solar panels clean! Dust, pollen, ice, bird "stuff", road mud and rain mixed with dirt. All will decrease your charging potential. Best to you!!!!

Travelin3D

@Sharon_is_SAM posted earlier today that Renogy is currently having a sale. 25% off their 7.5 lb suitcase. Might be worth checking out.

ScottG

@DesertDweller, you might check out this discussion regarding spare batteries and last-ditch charging options. There's no perfect solution, but if it's the difference between another day or two of power or not, why not try anything?

As you'll note from my last post in the thread, my homemade charge cable has yet to get a real world test. So far I've done just fine with solar, though keeping the panels is the sun is sometimes a challenge!  :-)

WilliamA

Ratkity said:

Keep in mind that while you have a LOT of sunshine in the open desert, the sun is further from the earth and the amount of sun needed is more to fully charge your battery.

Ummmm.... Not sure what that means.  While it is true that the earth moves about its orbit in an elipse (see Kepler's laws of planetary motion) the actual difference in solar absorbtion between apogee to perigee is, for all practical purposes, too small to measure without specialized equipment.  Angularity of the energy through the atmosphere makes the most difference because of diffraction, but the difference in energy absorbtion relative to the difference in miles is tiny to several places past the decimal point.

WilliamA

jkjenn

For those interested in how geographic location and time of year impact your solar results, there is a good website that has a solar calculator and good basic information. You can plug in locations and dates and see the difference. The guy who put this together is very well researched but keeps everything in easy to understand language.

http://www.where-rv-now.com/Notes/Solar/index.php#Calculator

When I was in Colorado, I found notable differences between May, July, and September. 

Sharon_is_SAM

Thanks Jenn.  That is a great resource.