MontanaBud Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 Abut a year ago I was introduced to the micro or slim lithium battery power packs that will jump start dead batterys, and (purportedly) also recharge phones, ipads and laptops. For example: http://www.amazon.com/PowerAll-PBJS12000R-Rosso-Portable-Starter/dp/B00D42AFS8/ref=pd_bxgy_auto_text_y When traveling I often tent camp without a power source. My netbook loses power quickly, and stopping long enough to charge it is very inconvenient, so a separate power supply could be very handy, if they indeed work. Has anyone had experience with one of these units? Link to comment
Guest Kakugo Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 Following a tip from a forum member I bought an Antigravity Micro-Start . Works well to jump start cars, but cannot say how well it works as a power source, given I recharge my gadgets on the road through the RT power outlet (I have a nice USB charger) or in the hotel in the evening. Link to comment
dirtrider Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 Morning MontanaBud I can't speak to the exact unit you have linked to but for the most part those small power packs do work. In fact a lot of of dealers are now using them to jump-start dead bikes in their parking/storage lots. In the group that I camp with 4 riders carry a similar small lithium power pack & I have seen them work on a partially dead BMW R bike & K bike. Personally, I'm still old school & carry motorcycle jumper cables. Link to comment
szurszewski Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 I have the XP-3 model linked above by Kakugo. "Unfortunately" I haven't encountered a dead battery - cage or bike - to jump it from, but I have used it to charge my iPad (full size, Air model) just to see if it would work; it did charge it, but slowly and not full. If I recall, it got it from 2% up to about 86%. I'm not sure how long it took as I left it over night. It did also provide enough power to keep the ipad from discharging while using it, but but not enough to see much added charge. I did NOT get the one with the port to charge laptops because I have Mac laptops that aren't compatible with the stated output. I love that the thing doesn't cost appreciably more than the full-size jump packs, but will literally fit in my pocket. If I was going to buy now, I'd probably get the newer slightly bigger one - the one I have is so small, even on a moto trip (I generally keep it in my car), I don't think a bit more size/weight would be noticeable, and more power is always better, right? Edit: You will of course, need to recharge one of these things as well, and they charge at a similar rate, or maybe slower, I'd bet, than your netbook. So, at most I'd think you'd get one recharge from the battery pack. As above, if you need more than that, you probably are much better served by installing a 12v source on the bike to charge the netbook. Link to comment
waynerd Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 I first heard about these units from my daughter's boyfriend who is an auto body painter. He was telling me that he bought THIS UNIT, as a bunch of his coworkers had them in their toolboxes for jump-starting some of the project vehicles. I was skeptical, but he says this thing has performed as advertised. I can't necessarily report about the effectiveness in charging other electrical devices. Link to comment
szurszewski Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 I first heard about these units from my daughter's boyfriend who is an auto body painter. He was telling me that he bought THIS UNIT, as a bunch of his coworkers had them in their toolboxes for jump-starting some of the project vehicles. I was skeptical, but he says this thing has performed as advertised. I can't necessarily report about the effectiveness in charging other electrical devices. Looking at the pictures and reading the specs, that appears to be an unlabeled/branded version of the MicroStart XP-3. That does NOT have the port for charging laptops (that has three ports - one for power in, one USB port for tablets, phones, etc., and one for the jumper cables - the units that will charge a laptop have an additional port for the laptop connection). If it were me, I'd go with the labeled version mainly because on Amazon it's actually cheaper than the one in your link (I recently saw it listed for something like $85). Link to comment
eddd Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 ...Personally, I'm still old school & carry motorcycle jumper cables. Old school is fine until there is no one there to give you a jump, and getting access to two motorcycle batteries doubles the pain-in-the-butt factor. Besides, the motorcycle jumper cables won't be of much use when this damsel in distress needs a jump. johnlt had a post on one of the battery packs a while back, and the number of jumps on different vehicles in the video was remarkable. Link to comment
tallman Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 She is not in distress. Appears to me those are Daisy Dukes... Link to comment
eddd Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 She is not in distress. Appears to me those are Daisy Dukes... I think she's all tuckered out from pushing the car trying to get it started so she had to sit down to catch her breath. Link to comment
elkroeger Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 She does appear to be in need of a jump though. I can tell by the way I'm looking at her. Link to comment
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