Brian
Brian UltraDork
11/24/19 7:03 p.m.

we've got an older es5000 jump box at the shop that is showing it's age.
I bought a harbor freight jump box, but it's basically worthless.  it can barely jump a half dead battery 1 time.
I'm looking for something that will start a completely dead battery in the depths of winter AND allow the car to run for about 10 minutes off of it alone.

Yes, I've considered just grabbing a battery with jumper cables to lug around, but a unit with a handle built in and easy to charge would be much preferred.

 

John Welsh
John Welsh Mod Squad
11/24/19 7:38 p.m.

I have a Clore JumpNCarry 4000.  Its great, after about 10 years I just unscrewed the red case open and replaced the battery a couple of years back for $50-ish with a battery sourced from my local enterprise dealer.   My biggest dislike of mine is how the cable store.  They are just expected to hang-in-place, which they often do not.  

If I were doing it again I would go with a Clore JNC 770 which has longer cables and stores the cables by clamping them in place.  

John Welsh
John Welsh Mod Squad
11/24/19 7:42 p.m.

Is this what you have? ES5000 

Have you considered opening up the case and just replacing the small battery that is inside?  For my JNC model, the case is just closed with phillips screws.  

Inside will be a battery similar to this:  

At $45 on Amazon, this seems to be the replacement battery for an ES5000

Brian
Brian UltraDork
11/24/19 7:48 p.m.
John Welsh said:

Is this what you have? ES5000 

Have you considered opening up the case and just replacing the small battery that is inside?  For my JNC model, the case is just closed with phillips screws.  

Inside will be a battery similar to this:  

That would be the unit.  it's not just battery failing at this point, the charging port broke and is jerry rigged back together, plus I want a second one for outside the shop use.

 

rustybugkiller
rustybugkiller HalfDork
11/24/19 8:37 p.m.

Another recommendation for JNC. FWIW that's what most of the car auctions use so that's why I bought one when I was driving a rollback.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
11/24/19 8:52 p.m.

Car battery (an old Optima) in a tool bag that also has jumper cables in it. That’s what I use. 

Cotton
Cotton PowerDork
11/24/19 9:59 p.m.

I have had many of them and now have a JNC 660 and 770.   I like the 660 more for continuous duty, like running a trailer winch  because it tends to keep a charge longer, but the 770 is more powerful for actual jumpstarts.

californiamilleghia
californiamilleghia Dork
11/25/19 7:59 a.m.

What do you need to look at when you are buying a new one ?

There is so much junk out there, I threw away 4 or 5  of them in a cleanup a few years ago because they would not hold a charge .,

Also nice to have a tire pump :)

mtn
mtn MegaDork
11/25/19 8:26 a.m.
Keith Tanner said:

Car battery (an old Optima) in a tool bag that also has jumper cables in it. That’s what I use. 

This is what the shop I walked into when I left my lights on used. Made perfect sense to me. 

Curtis
Curtis UltimaDork
11/25/19 6:24 p.m.

I picked up a Battery Tender brand jump box.  It is actually quite good.  My only gripe is that it comes with the world's wimpiest charger.  It is a small 500mA transformer with a 28ga cord that will rip the first time I forget to unplug it and yank on it.  Charge time is listed as something like 19 hours.

But the jump box itself is fantastic.

John Welsh
John Welsh Mod Squad
11/25/19 6:32 p.m.

Seen here is my backup system, my bigger than a jumper box version.  An Optima Yellow and a set of cables in an Ikea bag.  

Note, on a Prius the battery is in the R-rear trunk area.

Credit where credit due:  This idea taken straight from a long ago Keith Tanner posting!

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