That jump starter in your car is most likely useless due to poor implementation
Those mini jump starters are cool. They work. They’re probably useless for most however, and I’ll tell you why.
TL;DR – I have no prepackaged answer, feel free to post a solution / point me to a product.
I mentioned yesterday we had a bit of a bad battery day. The event culminated in finding out a CAT 3-in-1 jumper battery failed after being charged completely three weeks prior and not used, two campus cops, another bad jumper battery, and yeah. This got me thinking.
You know with these things that you’re supposed to charge them on a regular basis. Be that by charging from your car’s charge port, or bringing inside for wall outlet charging. When you don’t, the battery slowly dies and also deteriorates (yes, letting it run down will kill the life span of these things quite often.)
So you’re taking this in and charging it regularly right? No? It’s sitting in your trunk in extreme heat and cold and not getting charged? Really? No…. you’d think manufacturers would account for that.
Most vehicles I’ve run across have power outlets somewhere near the back. Both my car and my wife’s have trunk power outlets. Both trunk outlets unused. Are we using this, and 30+ year old battery tender technology to make sure our emergency battery is up to the task and properly maintained? Probably not.
The few jumper batteries I can find that even support charging when connected to a power outlet in a car, the manuals tend to indicate there’s no shutoff and danger of over charging. The mini jump starters seem to be taking the lead in this at least with some having USB-C charging, although you’ll have to get it back there with a separate charger most likely.
Am I telling you to buy something? No. Just mentioning if you’re not actively participating in the charging of your emergency battery, most likely you’re just hauling around a 3-20 pound piece of junk.
These need in-car charging, no danger of over charging, and warnings of some sort when they’re failing. Otherwise they’re a brick.
