12 volt

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Pete:

Not to spoil your fun, but you might find an old battery, take it home, charge it up, and find that it'll put out 12 volts and shout 'whatta deal'. However, if you'll check each cell with a hydrometer, bet you'll find at least one cell thats weak. This means you'll run outta juice real quick. The battery will have something like a 10amp/hr capacity when 'fully charged' instead of 85amp/hrs like it did when it was new (and the voltage will be lower). These are the kind of batteries that might start a car as long as it will fire up on the first crank but if you have to grind a while, it'll give up, won't hold the charge.

Not much to rely on!

When shopping for 'jump-its' check the amp/hrs. They seem to range from 10 to 18 amp/hrs.

P.S. I also love the thrill of a good 'curbside' find....bicycles, wheel barrow, vacuum cleaner, even a pedistal type dining table, etc, etc.

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Pineconedon,

Yeah I know. But I found one ...snicker,snicker, hands rubbing together.
I'll let you know how it turns out

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Many recognizable brands, many generic or house brands, many capacities.

It appears from posts that you all are having satisfactory results both from generic brands and more-expensive name brands. When I look at these devices in catalogs, such as JC Whitney, in X-Mart, Sams, AutoZone, etc. the main difference seems to be capacity (amp hours) and the resulting weight of the higher-capacity ones. I presume that bigger is better, not so? Personally, I'd prefer lighter and smaller, 'cause we try to minimize what we carry along with us. (Our dogs require all the space that's available.)

Also, these seem to be sealed lead-acid devices. Does that mean that the life expectancy of a jump-it would be 3-5 years?

(B.t.w., Charles, I had a catalog the other day that had 3 of them for $99--sounds like a deal made for you. And, C.W., yes we do have a gen, but prefer to leave it and the gas can at home unless we are boonie camping.)

:snowmanThink Snow!

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This is the only battery we need for lighting. We camp in a pickup. True, we will need more power once we have a trailer, but this works fine for now, and is a good adjunct in a trailer as well.

It is a 7 Ah AGM, available at any battery store for about $25. The three-stage charger will set you back another $50, but they last a lot longer than the battery. If you already have jumpits, use the jumpit charger.

The light bulb is a 15 watt DC compact fluorescent, purchased from Real Goods for $12. The drop light is a pretty standard item, of course. For plugs, I use 125V twist-locks, because I had a good free source of these at one time, otherwise I would suggest SAE plugs. I use a 10 A type ATC fuse.

This setup is used mainly for cooking dinner on the tailgate, setting up camp, and for finding stuff roadside. It is too bright for a "bedroom" light, especially when compared to starlight (our favorite situation). It will easily last three nights of normal use, and usually we are able to plug in sometime before that.

We used this light a few weeks ago to assist another motorist who had hit a deer. Having a completely portable 900-lumen light source not only makes unbending bumpers and changing tires much easier, it also makes it much safer if you have no choice but to be 20 inches from 70 mph traffic.<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3df40781bec6612vlite.JPG/>

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Also I have this cool solar lantern. I don't like to shell out big bucks for D batteries to run lanterns. This one is very lightweight. I leave the solar panel on the dashboard. The only problem is that when road atlases and things are shuffled around the cab, it sometimes comes unplugged.

http://www.lightcorp.com/solaris-index.htm

It is very durable, and there is a low-voltage cutoff built in, to save the ballast and tube.

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I've been looking into jump-its and just about decided that it wouldn't hurt to have one on trips. I started looking into the different ones available but since I don't really need one with an air pump (I already have a 12v pump) then I guess there's not much difference. I love a bargain. However, I have also discovered that although more isn't always better, less can be disappointing at best and more costly in the long run.

I ran across this thing at Camping World. I know I could buy three for the price of this one, and I know that it is probably heavy, but my question is: Is it good? How does it rate compared to the less expensive ones? If I don't own an inverter, wouldn't it be better to buy this one and not have to buy an inverter (I know, I could use an inverter on any of them).

Are there any advantages to something like this other than making my wallet lighter to carry?

Rechargeable XPower Portable Powerpack

Thanks.

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If I am understanding what I am reading, then I could have a less expensive unit as a secondary power source to this one. That way, I could still use it as an inverter, right?



Description
Rechargeable XPower Portable Powerpack gives you the emergency and auxiliary power that you want right now! Integrated 300-watt inverter/deep cycle battery with multi-step battery charger that can run both AC and DC equipment, plus jump start a 12-volt battery. Has dual AC outlets and DC socket, battery status indicator, recharge indicator, automatic charge regulation circuitry and the capacity to recharge its internal battery from an AC or DC source, as well as tap a secondary battery for extended performance. Can be used upright or on its back. Case is sturdy ABS plastic with molded handle and no slide rubber feet. Accessories include AC adapter, DC to DC cable, jump start cables, trouble-shooter's manual User's Manual and accessory case. 9 1/3'' L x 5 2/3'' W x 12 1/2''.

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Hi Suz
That looks good to me.:wave

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The invertor that is on it would not even cost $30 so dont add more than that to the cost of the jump it for the invertor. IMHO, if you are gonna spend $160, buy a Colman 400 watt invertor from Target ($29) and a Jump it from Harbor Freight ($59- 650 amp) and save the other $60 for another jump it later or you could just buy 2 jump its now and still have the same invested as the unit you are looking at. In other words, although Camping Worlds unit is all in one, it is a little high in price. On top of that the invertor is a little smaller and attached to the jump it ( but can you remove it when the jump it is shot?).

I just bought the above mentioned Colman invertor and it is a modified sine wave (good) and will run every light I own in my spacious 60 sq. ft. as well as a radio (dont have a TV though).

HTH
Rich

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Thanks, Rich. I was wondering if it was more fluff than function. I could get a pretty good sized converter for that and a jump it or two, right?

I just like the fact that it was in one package and you could even recharge that one with another jump it. Perhaps they are all that way, huh?

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Coleman 400 watt converter=$29
Jump it #1 =$59
Jump it #2 =$59
Total = $150 and they want $160 for the one from Camper World.

If I understand it right, you want to charge a dead jump it with another jump it? Do you mean without one of them pluged in? Forget that option, its lose-lose. I believe if a jump it is dead and it has an invertor on it, another good jump it can run through the invertor so you still have use of the 120v power. If you want to recharge one jump it with another with one pluged in, ya that should work but probally not the most efficient way (takes longer) and probally not the best for the batterys (shorten life).

Im not saying the Camper World one is a bad value, it just dont seem to be as good of a value as doing it another way. Of course, there is more than one way to skin a cat, you just have to find a way that works good for you and your pocketbook.

"more fluff than function" I think it has a pretty hefty price for the all in one convience.

HTH
Rich

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one nice things about having two jumpits, is one can be recharged when the other is running what ever. I bought one of those inverter battiey things on wheels. sounded really good, powerful, found you can not charge it and run off it at the same time. why I would want to do this I'm not sure, but I might :).