Lithium jump packs to save the day?

Have you guys seen these? They are small portable hard drive sized units with enough power to jump start your truck a few times on a single charge.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...pL._SY300_.jpg

heres the main seller:
http://antigravitybatteries.com/microstart/
I see there are quite a few others on the market as well and they all seem to contain the same flashlight optic and similar features. Its a Chinese product being re-sold by the American company so the "clones" may in fact be the same guts. Some apparently come with different cells though. I believe the micro-start has lipos and one of the clones has Lifepo4. Both of those have pro's and cons so its just a choice I'd say.

This video shows you a guy doing this a few years back with just a hobby lipo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iflMpvM21Pk

They look pretty handy for the money ($80-140) and the things I like so far are:
-smaller and lighter then a good set of jumper cables
-using fairly robust/dependable technology (id think cell failure rate would be low)
-Priced similar or lower then most lead/acid jump packs
-requires charge only twice per year
-Charge your cell phone too in the event of dead car battery.

Cons I can see would be:
-low AH rating on them compared to true dual battery set up.
-at least one manufacture requires removal after vehicle start withing 10 second meaning its not shielded from the alternators charging current (lipos cant be charged incorrectly or they catch on fire)

Seems like a nice new middle ground between clunky large lead acid jump packs and the 100% redundancy of secondary battery set ups.

That's pretty cool! I'd be curious to see how well they work.

I hate carrying around my lead acid jump pack. It's so odd shaped and seems like it is always in the way.

There's a big thread about them on t4r.com (I think) and the Antigravity is the popular one. In fact, I picked one up last week and put it to use not 2 hours after opening up the package. Worked like a charm!

sweet! apparently you can weld with three of them tied together lol

No way!

The Antigravity comes in a nice binder, with a ton of additional plugs to charge iphones and other things. Pretty handy kit, but I'm considering ditching all of that to make the kit much more compact in my truck.

200amps? That aint gonna jumpstart your truck if its dead, maybe a small car but not a truck that needs 700-800cca. Maybe if it wasnt drained down very far, but your not jumping something you left the lights on overnight with this all to easily.

My jump pack has 1700 peak amps and about 500cca!

they are 200 sustained and 400 peak. the real life rating they have is up to 4.0L gas engines and less for diesel . I would have not figured it would work either, but there are lots of youtube videos about it now.

here is is on a 5.7 hemi. You can hear it throws over with a little less gusto but does respectably
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXk9bBkAdr8

Yup, the car I did it on was a 4 cylinder (no idea what size) but it started right up. Lots of stories on t4r about V8's and even diesels being started with it, too.

A diesel? Seriously? Diesels with 2 batteries were talking about like a ford powerstroke?? My boostpack wont even jump a dead powerstroke, I gotta hook the truck to one batt and the booster to the other..

Being int he towing industry tells me these little things wont stand up to abuse, good to have laying around for the DIY but aint no way they would hold up daily. Im just skeptical really, seems almost too good to be true.

I'm not awesome with batteries but could lithium tech replace lead acid for a vehicle? Seems like a great device to have around in the winter time if you live where it's really cold.

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Ford and Samsung had a battery at ces I think. It was on autoblog not long ago. Looks promising.

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/06/09/f...-brakes-video/

There are lithium motorcycle batteries, but I haven't heard of lithium car batteries yet though.
And there's a thread about several of these lithium jump starters over on Expedition Portal (not t4r, http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...d.php?t=119464

Lots of them on the market...The micro-start (price drop on XP1 to $111 right now on amazon) is the only one I can find any real testing and first hand reviews on. These others are kinda randoms. They certainly look to have similar construction and in the spirit of Chinese things they may be made by the same people or just pure cloned by other Chinese. Hard to tell from the descriptions what differences there are between them all. Most all have the same LED optic, the same 5 led charge indicator, and same 200/400 amp ratings. The clamps seem to be about three different types.

Bestek
http://www.amazon.com/13600mAh-Multi...5RY36J06SJJD6Y

"hot sale"
http://www.amazon.com/15000mAH-Start...EV9MGF8W68N67S

ABN
http://www.amazon.com/PowerAny-Multi...EV9MGF8W68N67S

PowerGo
http://www.amazon.com/PowerGo-Portab...TDJE9ZRVYV3Y58

Foxnova same as hot sale?
http://www.amazon.com/Foxnovo%C2%AE-...TDJE9ZRVYV3Y58

PowerAll
http://www.amazon.com/PowerAll-PBJS1...5RY36J06SJJD6Y

Jackco
http://www.amazon.com/Jackco-ZT50400...ENNVF5NE5S75BM

On the go
http://www.amazon.com/Compact-Starte...9VPNEW4TWREXAT

Jumbl
http://www.amazon.com/Jumbl-Portable...9VPNEW4TWREXAT

Electric cars that are powered by lithium ion traction batteries, still use a lead acid battery under the hood to run the 12V drive accessories. Lithiums degrade with high heat exposure, so I'm guessing the high heat under the hood of a combustion engine would not be desireable for long term lithium ion battery capacity. (It's not good for a lead acid either, so I don't know...)

I think it might be a durability issue now that I think about it. Lithium batteries are widely used in rc cars but you have make sure they have airflow on the battery as you can "burn" them up when they are discharging at such a high rate.

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Lead acid batteries are forgiving. You can discharge them and most times they will come back. You can charge them with varying amounts of voltage, over a wide range of temps. They will take vibration and heat well too. Li ion at best just fail to hold a charge when they go bad. At worst, fiery death. They are far too volitile for the types of abuse that a typical starting battery suffers at the hands of owners who barely change the oil on interval, let alone ever check the battery.

Now, that's not to say it won't happen soon. But I don't see myself buying a starting battery from auto zone with Li Ion stamped on the side.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seanz0rz

Lead acid batteries are forgiving. You can discharge them and most times they will come back. You can charge them with varying amounts of voltage, over a wide range of temps. They will take vibration and heat well too. Li ion at best just fail to hold a charge when they go bad. At worst, fiery death. They are far too volitile for the types of abuse that a typical starting battery suffers at the hands of owners who barely change the oil on interval, let alone ever check the battery.

Now, that's not to say it won't happen soon. But I don't see myself buying a starting battery from auto zone with Li Ion stamped on the side.

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I think battery tech might develop again here soon. That's one good thing about hybrids and electrics. They are pushing battery development in new directions.

I didn't know about fiery death. Think I will stay away from them for the truck.

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