Advice needed for buying a jump starter

[sh0rtlife]

my solution would be a totaly different direction

run a smaller secondary battery with an isolation unit, idealy maybe a drag racing battery like one of the 3 cell optima, mounted in the trunk with HEAVY guage battery relocation wiring

this then allows your to jump, charge and maintain BOTH batterys and everything works with nothing more than the flip of a switch for the isolation relay, nothing to carry nothing to use jumpers on(which are a crap connection anyway)...heck you could even use a wheelchair AGM the trick is you just need something with an "ok" amount of CCA

[RMcG]

Originally Posted by sh0rtlife

my solution would be a totaly different direction

run a smaller secondary battery with an isolation unit, idealy maybe a drag racing battery like one of the 3 cell optima, mounted in the trunk with HEAVY guage battery relocation wiring

this then allows your to jump, charge and maintain BOTH batterys and everything works with nothing more than the flip of a switch for the isolation relay, nothing to carry nothing to use jumpers on(which are a crap connection anyway)...heck you could even use a wheelchair AGM the trick is you just need something with an "ok" amount of CCA

That's an interesting and clever approach sh0rtlife. In fact, I decided to do something like what you are saying. I ordered the Schumacher SJ1329, which is the smallest sealed lead acid AGM jump starter I could find. I decided that Lithium based jumpers are too potentially dangerous (fire/explosion) to be kept in a car that is hot. Such an explosion & fire may be rare, but I don't want to take the chance.

I think that SJ1329 may be small enough to keep with the spare tire in my hatchback, which is the closest thing I have to a trunk. This is pretty close to what you are suggesting, except for the jumper contacts, which as you say may not conduct that well. On the other hand, in thinking about it, I guess there would be some increased resistance from the long cables in your solution, but I'm not sure it would be significant. The jumper also requires manual charging, which is another inconvenience and difference compared to what you are suggesting.

I'm hoping to keep the spare tire area cooler in the summer by attaching a strip of reflectix to the underside of the spare tire compartment cover using velcro. I can then remove the reflectix in the Winter. And I may also add some old plastic bottles filled with water and put them in the spare tire area to moderate the temperature extremes; that is, try to keep the temperatures closer to an "average."

I will let everybody know how well the SJ1329 fits in the spare tire compartment of my hatchback.

Thanks to everybody for their input.

R.