I just bought myself a portable battery jump starter. It says to store it at room temperature. Well, it doesn’t do me any good if I store it in my house. I kinda need it in my Jeep. This means that it will frequently be exposed to anything from -10 (sometimes lower) to 100 (not often higher).
So, what do I do? My Jeep is old and beat up and has no insulation to speak of. If it’s -10 outside, it’s -10 inside until I turn the heat on.
My dad has been keeping his in his car which is parked outside and he was able to use it today. It was in the teens (F) all last week.
Can you keep it wrapped in a blanket?
I can do that. I have a nice thick blanket in there in case my heat stops working.
keep it in the house, except when you are in the jeep, when it is cold outside.
periodically test its voltage and trickle charge it.
trickle charge?
Yes, that is a low, long charge that is usually done overnight. It fully charges the battery instead of giving it an immediate boost. If you want to extend the life of your battery it is good to give it a trickle charge every 6 or 12 months. For most people it is too big of a hassle. A decent battery charger will have a “trickle” setting.
A blanket won’t help all that much, honestly. It’ll even out the temperature swings, so if it’s 10°F overnight and 25°F during the day, the charger might stay between 15°F and 20°F instead. But it definitely won’t stay at room temperature.
The handful of times I’ve had to jump a car, it’s been parked somewhere for a long time (i.e. several hours) beforehand. It seems like the best option would be to leave it in your house unless you’re going on a longer trip, in which case you can keep it in your Jeep.
Well, the problem is that my Jeep doesn’t tell me that I’ve left my lights on and it doesn’t turn them off for me. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t let the car brainwash me into leaving the lights on but it did. Now I forget all the damn time (as in, I forgot when I ran into the bank after getting the damn thing jumped yesterday). I’m gonna tape a sign to my side window that says, “turn the headlights off, jackass” so I’ll see it when I leave the Jeep.
But, until I get retrained into turning them off, I’ve gotta have the jumper thingie.
The battery jump starter has its own battery in it, and that battery can freeze. Lead acid batteries have an electrolyte that is a mixture of sulfuric acid and water. The ratio of acid to water changes as the battery discharges (the sulfuric acid and the lead plates turn into lead sulfate and water, which reverses when you charge the battery). The more water in the battery, the higher temperature at which it will freeze. If the battery is fully charged, it won’t freeze even at -10. However, if the battery is even half discharged (it will self-discharge as it sits) then it will freeze at temperatures above 0, well within the range you are exposing it to. You are at a risk of freezing your jump starter if it is charged anywhere lower than probably about 3/4ths of a full charge.
Either keep the jump starter inside at night or keep it close to fully charged (or both). I’d recommend trickle charging it (as already mentioned) every weekend.
Sounds good to me! It’s already fully charged and I have no problem bringing it in at night and trickle charging it.
Thanks everyone!