Is it possible that these things have a
DC-DC converter in them? I was thinking of
using one of these to charge an RV battery from
the vehicle without the engine running.
does anyone know what's inside these?

josephf31 wrote:Because you won't get some spoon who connects the cables backwards and fries your system that's why. These are more like 'jumper cables for dummies'.

perhaps sorry driver in your example could LEARN how to use jumper cables correctly, even though he is apparently too cheap to buy a set, and then while observing the help-providing-and-equipped-but-not-too-bright-driver (or 'spoon,' per Woot), could correct the method. of course, this might lead to differences along the line of:
SPOON: well if you're so smart, why dontcha use yer own dang cables? Whut? You don't HAVE none? Well, ain't that just too bad for you!

(at which point, mr spoon either gets back in his rig and roars off, leaving you S O L; or else he goes on to muse: "you're hairier than a bear." You best hope it's the former, cuz I know if you got no cables, there's no way you carry a crossbow.)

koebsco wrote:does anyone know what's inside these?

very tiny gerbils on very tiny gerbil wheels.

Perfect to put in your daughter's kit bag to take off to college - yeah it will take a while, but the first time she calls in a panic because she left the flashers on in a no parking zone for a short 4 hours or so and you can reminder her to look under the seat for the battery charge-up device that is a no brainer to use - you will think this is a well spent couple of bucks.

Spiky wrote:40 minutes from a dead battery. In what State, in what season?

I'm in Minnesota, where if you don't have actual jumper cables in your trunk, you deserve to freeze to death. And even in the cold, a dead battery can start after about 15 minutes on real cables. (cold means below 0 deg F, above that is picnic time)

I'm good with the 6AWG cables I already have, and my hood opens just fine. Maybe these will benefit some Texas people. Do batteries actually need jumping in 60 deg?

No down here in Texas after it gets above 60deg the batteries just charge themselves...although you do need to open the hood so the battery can get the full affect of the heat.

FrankSchwab wrote:Probably safety as much as anything. Jumper cables (especially the 35 year old, 2 ga monsters that I have in my trunk) can generate tremendous current and voltage surges in either the jumper or jumpee vehicle depending on precisely how they're wielded, and can cause significant damage (including blowing up a battery) if wielded incorrectly, just based on the amount of current they can carry. Have it slip off the battery post when it's carrying 200 amps over to the other vehicle, and you can get a voltage surge from the alternator of up to 50 or more volts; running the risk of frying anything sensitive (Google "Alternator Load dump").

You realize that there are dozens to hundreds of different microprocessors in the average new car, right? You realize that a replacement ECU can be $1000-$2000 if you fry it, right? I took out the ECU and PATS modules (combined total: $1500) on my Ford Explorer just from a bad battery cable; the arcing and sparking it caused when I wiggled it trying to see what was wrong caused a spike that the electronics couldn't take.

Anyway, with the lower amperage possible here, the magnitude of voltage spike you could cause is almost insignificant. Limiting to 15 amps also means that you can easily put a fuse inline to solve any incorrect hookup problems.

Yes, You'd have to be patient. But, you're more likely to make it home with all your original hair than you are with bad-ass jumper cables.

Been jumping cars with the apropriate cables for years and never anything blown up burned or otherwise. It's very simple + to + and - to - or red to red and black to black

quantamm wrote:A little math:

Cig lighter = 12V @ 15A = 180W

500 CCA @ 12V = 6000W

6000/180 = 33X

Roughly speaking then, for every 1 second you want to crank the engine, you need to let this charge for 33 seconds. So, letting it sit for 30 minutes, should give you about a minute of cranking, which is more than enough to start the engine.



And to those of you who say that jump starting the battery can damage the ECU (the computer), I say 'bah'. Cars have had computers in them since the 1980's and manufacturers know how to protect them. Consider this - a new laptop has one of the most sensitive and delicate computer chips on the planet in it, but you can plug it into a 115V @ 15A wall socket with no worries. Why? Because engineers know how to design things not to break.

Furthermore, the only real risk to your electrical system from a jump is by reversing the polarity of the cables, which is impossible with a cig-to-cig charger*.

*Unless you happen to have a positive ground vehicle, but as far as I'm aware, no one has made one of those in over fifty years.

Your rough calculation means nothing. There are so many variables that can affect your formula like other draws, ambient temperature, viscosity of engine oil, age of engine, compression etc. I say stay behind your keyboard and get road side assistance from AAA.

Remember that even with a bad battery but a good alternator, you can jump start a car and then keep it running (dont shut it off!). With this system, you can only eventually start the car if the battery is good, but just out of juice.

+1 to jump cables or those strong portable jump-start systems with those batteries they come with.

I've used these, and there is a trick to using them right.
The first thing you need to do is unwind and untangle them completely. Otherwise the electricity gets stuck in all the bends. This may seem to be a common sense kind of thing, but you would be surprised at the number of people I see trying to use wires that are tangled. Avoid cable ties at all costs. Those are the most lucrative snake oil products that have been produced in the past century. Yes, they make the wires more organized, but they create all kinds of bends and twists in the wire.
Another thing that you need to do (if at all possible) is to put the charging car (producing electricity) at a higher elevation than the dead car. This allows gravity to help move the electricity to the dead car.
If you are in a big hurry, try rubbing the length of the wire with fuzzy mittens or socks on your hands. Even though static electricity is not very strong, rubbing vigorously can shave as much as 10% off the charging time.
If you follow these tips, using this product should be safe, quick, and above all, fun!

Some of the comments by people about how they are jump starting vehicles concerned me enough to post.

NEVER jump start a vehicle by putting both jumper cables on the battery terminals, that can lead to fires, shorts, and damaged electronics.

Attach the black cable to the motor, frame of the car, anything with a good metal contact to the frame. That prevents it from slipping and hitting the positive jumper and makes a better connection.

Do not try to start the car with the weak battery after attaching the cables. Leave your car running about 10 minutes connected to the other car before you ever try to start the weak car. No matter how thick the cables are you are using , the connection points on both ends are so small and poor that proper current doesn't flow straining both cars electronics if you try to start it through the cables. So you let the good car charge the weaker one for about 10 minutes. Now disconnect the cables from the weak car and try to start the car, if it was just the battery it should start.

Trying to use jumper cables as a link to use a good battery to start a weak one may work but it is safer to do the charge for 10 minutes, then crank method.

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/jumpstart.htm

juzijuzi wrote:Probably the best investment I ever made was buying these this past winter. They literally saved my life when I was stranded!

only if you used them to tie up the serial killer in your back seat.

mattageddon wrote:I'm not sure how well these would work to replace jumper cables. Jumper cables seem to be a sure fire way to get your car moving again while this a hit or miss.

On a "Snails Pace" mind you.
If you have that kind of time, fine,
Go For It!

freelance wrote:This beats jumper cables by a mile. Easy to carry and easy to use.

PEACE

Your way of thinking sure beats mine!
You must know alot more than my technical back ground.
Good for You
spread the word!!
Not!

DaZoneRanger wrote:If you really want to do the cigarette lighter thing, they actually have portable jump starter thingies that have a cigarette plug on them (and are attached to a sealed lead acid battery).

I was going to use one of those sealed things on my car just two weeks ago when I had a dead battery, when I read in it's manual where it said not to use it on cars with computerized systems or something like that. I put it back in the box and we jumped it using jumper cables. I'm assuming this thing may have the same warnings...

testing the test for the testicles

as a mechanic and owns one thinks they are terrible and blow more fuses than its worth

how many can you daisy chain together? if we have a woot convention, and we get more than 128 or 256 vehicles, can we generate enough electricity to power up a mainframe? these are questions that computer geeks need to know!

(FYI if you don't know what daisy chain means, you aren't from ole school tech, nor do you know what ring networking means)

My car has headlights on all the time when the key is turned, pulling up on the emergency brake will turn them off.

I don't expect to ever use these for charging my car's battery, but what about using these to charge a smaller 12V 7Ah battery with my car's battery? I already have a cable I can plug this into to connect it to the smaller battery, but will it work well? Will I have to have my car running or will it not drain the car's battery that much?

Halifax wrote:I don't expect to ever use these for charging my car's battery, but what about using these to charge a smaller 12V 7Ah battery with my car's battery? I already have a cable I can plug this into to connect it to the smaller battery, but will it work well? Will I have to have my car running or will it not drain the car's battery that much?

Exactly what I had in mind except for larger batteries. I use multiple batteries for a trailer and have had the battery run low far from anywhere with AC for a trickle charge. Maybe this has already been discussed, but I couldn't make it through all of the rants about whose jump start technique is the best. (I've got at least three sets of jumper cables and can't remember the last time I needed to use them).

I think this would be a convenient tool for charging the trailer battery from the car and the price is right. But then maybe I'm the only one on here that travels with a freezer full of meat. :D

MrD3a7h wrote:I've used these, and there is a trick to using them right.
The first thing you need to do is unwind and untangle them completely. Otherwise the electricity gets stuck in all the bends. This may seem to be a common sense kind of thing, but you would be surprised at the number of people I see trying to use wires that are tangled. Avoid cable ties at all costs. Those are the most lucrative snake oil products that have been produced in the past century. Yes, they make the wires more organized, but they create all kinds of bends and twists in the wire.
Another thing that you need to do (if at all possible) is to put the charging car (producing electricity) at a higher elevation than the dead car. This allows gravity to help move the electricity to the dead car.
If you are in a big hurry, try rubbing the length of the wire with fuzzy mittens or socks on your hands. Even though static electricity is not very strong, rubbing vigorously can shave as much as 10% off the charging time.
If you follow these tips, using this product should be safe, quick, and above all, fun!

how do you like your blue eyed boy now, __ _____ ?

o & btw: that higher elevation thing won't work on magnetic hill, where cars roll contrary to gravity. but otherwise, very valuable advice; although you left out the part about recommending the use of left handed tools wherever possible, as they also help improve the flow of electrickery.

Seriously? People are willing to sit around that long just to charge a battery?

michaelsalley wrote:Secondly, I would *never* buy one of those that operated through the cigarette lighter. It simply wouldn't be SAFE to use it to start the engine through that circuitry. There's a reason batteries are designed to deliver 300-600 amps to starters every time the key is turned. They NEED that kind of current. A 15A fused circuit is not a proper connection point for an emergency jump start. For trickle charging... maybe it's okay. But the advantages to just directly clamping to the battery posts are numerous. And attempting to do an actual engine start through the lighter is murder on the car's wiring. Drawing 500A through a 15A wiring (until the fuse goes) produces one thing: heat. And heat produces one thing: fires.

500A through 15A wiring? 15A fused circuit? - How long do you think the fuse would last? Hardly long enough to get the wire warm. Add to that the fact that most vehicles today, with switched lighter/aux power sockets, disconnect them when cranking.

Speaking of Hondas, if you disconnect one side of the battery on newer models when jumping to another battery, as proposed earlier, your radio is disabled until you reload the security passcode.

I've seen mention of surges when connecting another battery for a jump. Don't think so. Most of the power will be going into the battery, thus it will act as a surge suppressor. The business about blowing out ECUs/ECMs during a jump has been hyped by dealers frequently to cover their asses for failed equipment. Of course, if you're stupid enough to hook up jumper cables wrong, you deserve what you get.

ripnrik wrote:Perfect to put in your daughter's kit bag to take off to college - yeah it will take a while, but the first time she calls in a panic because she left the flashers on in a no parking zone for a short 4 hours or so and you can reminder her to look under the seat for the battery charge-up device that is a no brainer to use - you will think this is a well spent couple of bucks.

yeah, heaven forbid you should get her real jumper cables and teach her how to use them... getting all self sufficient and that, she'll never land a husband - that's why you're sending her to college, to find mr. right, right?

fluffhead67 wrote: judging by the wire gage it should jump start a car in about 3 days...You're better off calling AAA.

By 'calling AAA', you mean calling on your AAA batteries, right? Not a bad idea - that's what I do. I take my TV remote when I drive anywhere. And if my car battery dies, I start looking for someone who knows how to mod a TV remote so I can press Power to start my car. It's more convenient than these charger cables because I'm used to carrying my remote around in my hand, but not cables like these.

Strick28 wrote:Been jumping cars with the apropriate cables for years and never anything blown up burned or otherwise. It's very simple + to + and - to - or red to red and black to black

worng!!!

here's whatcha do:

1) red (+ or pos) on dead battery terminal to red on live battery terminal;

2) black (- or neg) on live battery terminal to engine block of dead car NOT THE BATTERY TERMINAL!

3) Gun Live car while starting dead.

4) Disconnect in reverse order.

Ask a Canadian, we know what we're doing and the best beer to drink while doing it.

(Creemore; although Mill St Organic Lager is fine... and for yinz south of 49, J.W. Dundee's Original Honey Brown)

you're welcome.

At least with these you don't have to worry about ruining the alternator on the donor car.

quantamm wrote:A little math:

Cig lighter = 12V @ 15A = 180W

500 CCA @ 12V = 6000W

6000/180 = 33X

Roughly speaking then, for every 1 second you want to crank the engine, you need to let this charge for 33 seconds. So, letting it sit for 30 minutes, should give you about a minute of cranking, which is more than enough to rev his engine while I crank mine. If this doesn't work, then I tried to get the operator of the charging vehicle rev his automobile engine to about 2K rpm for 3 to 5 minutes and then a little more while I crank again. That usually works. And I'm talking about warm weather. The only time I lived in snowy weather was a winner in Colorado and I had a brand-new VW beetle. It always started. As always, YMMV



And to those of you who say that jump starting the battery can damage the ECU (the computer), I say 'bah'. Cars have had computers in them since the 1980's and manufacturers know how to protect them. Consider this - a new laptop has one of the most sensitive and delicate computer chips on the planet in it, but you can plug it into a 115V @ 15A wall socket with no worries. Why? Because engineers know how to design things not to break.

Furthermore, the only real risk to your electrical system from a jump is by reversing the polarity of the cables, which is impossible with a cig-to-cig charger*.

*Unless you happen to have a positive ground vehicle, but as far as I'm aware, no one has made one of those in over fifty years.

I tend to agree with everything you said except for the math. It is not like pouring a little bit of electricity from one battery into the other. in fact, the only I have been able to reliably jumpstart a car, particularly one with a larger V6 engine as the dead one, is to use heavy gauge charging cables bbattery to battery and then hand signal the operator of the charging car

Mr. Smith was stuck out there in nowhere on a back country road and without jumper cables ( he went to look at a cow and left his lights on. I drive by with my Harley he waves and I stop see if I can help. Clearly one would doubt that a biker can help and yes I happen to have one of these devices in my saddle bag. I plug it into my lighter and into the cars. We chat about biking and after a few minutes (it was about 10) Mr Smiths car started and I packed up my Go Car to Car Charging System and another good deed done. True story. No they are not jumper cables but more than once I have used these suckers and made someones day. Hopefully I will not need them for myself but if I do I got something. Beats waiting an hour for AAA or cursing that there are no cables around. Oh I am getting 2 more for gifts. Ladies if you need a boost stop a biker!

Anorion wrote:If all the batteries on your hybrid are dead, in the words of the internet, "UR DOIN IT RONG".

WRONG! So in their wonderful cheapness, the big power batteries that drive the car WILL NOT "start" the car sadly. And there is no "jumper" to even use all that power if the 12 volt battery goes dead.

The Prius, like a regular car, uses the 12 volt battery to start everything. So having a fully charged drive system can still result in a dead car if the 12 volt battery is dead (if you left the dome light on over night for example.)

That said, getting your Prius to "ready" state takes a lot less power than a normal car IF the drive batteries have sufficient charge. I have "started" my Prius with a household charge on a dead 12V batter in just a few minutes; just enough charge to get all the electronics to turn on and get the car to ready. Seems once the drive system is on, the engine had no trouble starting. Perhaps there IS a 12V charging system once the car is on? Not sure.

Lstly, given the stupid location of the 12V battery on a Prius (behind a kick panel in the hatch section, which you cannot open without power!!!), this is a LOT easier than jumper cables.

dangerhaus wrote:

2) black (- or neg) on live battery terminal to engine block of dead car NOT THE BATTERY TERMINAL!

You of course forgot to say WHY you should do it your way. The other way is not wrong, but it could lead to sparks near the battery which could ignite a small amount of hydrogen that bubbles off the battery when charging. By moving the second connection away from the battery, you also move the spark you will get away when connecting AND disconnecting. After a long bit of charging, I have seen some good "pop" flashes from sparks near a battery.

bandk1000 wrote:By 'calling AAA', you mean calling on your AAA batteries, right? Not a bad idea - that's what I do. I take my TV remote when I drive anywhere. And if my car battery dies, I start looking for someone who knows how to mod a TV remote so I can press Power to start my car. It's more convenient than these charger cables because I'm used to carrying my remote around in my hand, but not cables like these.

Thanks MacGyver

jakegpv wrote:Was there not a deal just like this a couple months ago? Everyone bags on these things so why bring them back? These are good for people who have no knowledge of their car. Kind of like settling with a $3000 Mac instead of researching an equally good PC for much lower price?

You opened the floodgates!! (Go PC! Steve Jobs stinks!)

ceschker13 wrote:I keep one on my boat and actually had a need for it last year...took a little while, 1+ hours, but managed to start her up. We drank beer and watched hotties, so the hour really flew by!

Now that's a use I can buy into!

This past winter my fiancee's battery died and when we tried to jump it with my car, her hood latch was frozen shut. One of these was the only way for us to get her car out of taco bell. Definitely not as efficient as jumper cables, but for that worst case scenario they do work. Two for this price sure beats the $20 for one at pep boys

Good for you though, being so helpful, getting that "frickin' drunk", as you say, right back on the road...where he belongs!! Well done!

covertkoala wrote:This is great for the ladies and less mechanically inclined. A lot of people just don't go under the hood (Watchmen ref). Now the wife and her friends can charge up a battery while they chat. It certainly beats asking a stranger or waiting for AAA. Now I personally could change out the entire battery in a parking lot in less than 15min (try timing yourself), so jumper cables don't bother me. However I have also had a stranger I was helping almost destroy my battery in my face when he connected red to black (frickin' drunk) on his end, so I could see using this myself.

freelance wrote:This beats jumper cables by a mile. Easy to carry and easy to use.

PEACE

Yeah...if you don't mind hanging out for an hour for it to work...beats jumper cables? Perhaps you should read the reviews...

These do not work! I been trying to charge a dead battery for 3 hours with no results LOL

I drive 2 hours to camp. I figure since the suv has two lighter outlets, I can charge the lawnmower battery on the way up, maybe even the boat battery? Time will tell whether or not I just wasted the wherewithall to stop at Arbies once this season on my way.

Don't waste your time or your money on these. Use the right tool for this job. Jumper cables will do the job in 5 minutes. The likelihood of these working at all is very small.