Battery Booster

I have this one. Used it a whole bunch of times on my bike and others.

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Shipped our bikes from South America to Europe, but due to multiple FUs, the shipping took over a month to get there and one of the batteries was DOA at the cargo dock in Croatia. Thankfully, had one of these and the bike started up no problem. The warehouse guys were all crowding around me watching me jump the bike with this tiny handheld device and they were all marveling at the technology like it was magic.

Even when not traveling, I still find it useful. Our school bikes are easy to bump start, but when the students bring their own bikes, sometimes the larger displacement bikes are harder to bump start, so this alleviates a lot of sweat and tears. Jumped an RC8 the other day no problem.

One caveat is to check every once in a while to make sure the thing is fully charged. They hold their charge for many, many months, but if you don't use it in over a year, it might be low or empty when you go to fish it out of your toolkit.

DAMHIK...

I usually top it up at the beginning of each riding season regardless of if I've used it or not.
 
-Maverick- said:
These things seem to have mixed reviews...it would be nice to have one, but it would be even nicer to have one that works. Your experiences with them?

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My dad bought a similar one. Charged it, seemed happy. Tried to use it just over a year later and it was facked. No starting, not charging. Boo.
 
I've got one of the bigger Noco ones that I've used to boost a diesel truck with no issues. I keep it in our trunk for emergencies and take it on the boat for longer trips. It's pretty foolproof, and can sense when it's connected to a low battery. It took ages to charge when I first got it as it's USB only, but it's only needed the occasional top up since. I wouldn't use this one on my bike for fear of oversupply of juice zapping a sensitive bit, but I'd definitely buy a smaller one for touring emergencies.
 
I should get something similar. Brand new battery and had to bump start the bike before my trip last weekend.

Something is pulling power for sure. Only things connected are the battery tender extension, and the CT USB I bought but nothing connected to it.
 
mimico_polak said:
I should get something similar. Brand new battery and had to bump start the bike before my trip last weekend.

Something is pulling power for sure. Only things connected are the battery tender extension, and the CT USB I bought but nothing connected to it.
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USB plug will pull constant power if it's not switched. It is constantly dropping 12v to 5v and looking for a cable (that part could be passive with no cable inserted).
 
mimico_polak said:
I should get something similar. Brand new battery and had to bump start the bike before my trip last weekend.

Something is pulling power for sure. Only things connected are the battery tender extension, and the CT USB I bought but nothing connected to it.
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Unless you have a switch on your USB port, there is still going to be a tiny parasitic draw to power the 12V->5V circuit. Even if there's nothing plugged in. Like a couple of mA.
 
Then there’s the answer. Thanks guys, always appreciate the help.

I’ll disconnect it as the damn thing can’t power poo. Just more frustrating than anything else.

I picked up a nice 10,000mah charge brick at CT and that kept the GPS and phone topped up well for a full day.
 
mimico_polak said:
Then there’s the answer. Thanks guys, always appreciate the help.

I’ll disconnect it as the damn thing can’t power poo. Just more frustrating than anything else.

I picked up a nice 10,000mah charge brick at CT and that kept the GPS and phone topped up well for a full day.
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Yeah, with the ever-increasing power demands of today's devices, USB chargers are quickly turning over higher and higher watts every iteration. A charger more than 3 years old won't power diddly squat these days. Very good chance CT is selling very old USB ports.

Back in the old days, all the chargers were 5W, now the baseline for a two-port charger is 30W. Just picked up a 5-port 100W charger, hopefully that'll last me a little while...

Now you gotta worry about whether your USB cable is rated high enough to deliver all that power.

*le sigh*
 
Had to use one yesterday. Rode to yard and got distracted with some issues when i got there and left my ingnition in on position, needless to say when i went to start bike it was dead. Hooked the booster up, waited 15 min and it started bike. Easy to use and compact to carry. I found it a good little safety for my idiocy.
 
I have one of the bigger unit with the air pump from CT in my car. Been driving around with it for like 2-3 years.
Finally got to use it last week...
A random lady approached me in a parking lot asking if I can boost her car. She was worried because she was parked with head in first.
3 min is all it took
I did a little happy dance afterwards.



As for the bike. I have 10ft cables with SAE plug on both ends. This is so I can just tether to another bikes SAE connector in case either one of us needs a boost. Also have aligator clips with SAE connector in case it needs to be boosted from a regular battery. All so I don't need to unscrew the seat to get to the battery.
 
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I also have one of the "larger" (still pretty small) ones for the car(s), Noco one I bought at CT. It has come in handy many times both for myself and mostly for others. Not sure how long I have had it but I am sure it is at least four or five years, likely more. Every once in a while I just make sure to charge it up, but it holds a charge for a very long time.

The only times I have had to break out the booster cables or old school charger is if the battery in the car was completely screwed or if the battery was completely dead (interior lights left on for a month type of thing....).
 
The big booster/air pump I have from CT has stopped pumping air. It runs, but there's no pressure. I might try to get two separate smaller items.
 
Baggsy said:
The big booster/air pump I have from CT has stopped pumping air. It runs, but there's no pressure. I might try to get two separate smaller items.
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I have the largest motomaster I believe eliminator jumper box with a bunch of outlets on it as well as a smaller jumper box with a pump built into it. I bought a Stanley unit mostly because my previous employer had a site with thousands of employees and at the front security, they have the same Stanley branded jumper box with air pump for employees to pump up a low tire or jump their car. It gets used a lot, by a lot of different people, and it's held up. Even the little swivel light. I leave it in my car's trunk now. It's come in handy for when I've unknowingly picked up a nail or screw, get back to my car, not at home, and noticed the tire low. I haven't had to use it as a jumper pack yet but my car has a six plus year old battery at this point. I like the security of having the jumper in the car just in case, particularly as temperatures drops. Especially since I park in a garage overnight so it's likely the coldest start of my day is leaving work.
 
Baggsy said:
The big booster/air pump I have from CT has stopped pumping air. It runs, but there's no pressure. I might try to get two separate smaller items.
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No pressure at all? The crank often breaks in those. You could probably buy another cheap air pump and swap the guts. Personally, for portable pumps, I prefer the slightly larger one that is normally on sale for ~$50. It pumps air many times faster than the bottom of the line $20 pumps.
 
GreyGhost said:
No pressure at all? The crank often breaks in those. You could probably buy another cheap air pump and swap the guts. Personally, for portable pumps, I prefer the slightly larger one that is normally on sale for ~$50. It pumps air many times faster than the bottom of the line $20 pumps.
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In my case the large nylon gear developed a stress crack. The smaller drive gear wouldn't jump the gap.
 
Lightcycle said:
I have this one. Used it a whole bunch of times on my bike and others.

micro-start-products.jpg



Shipped our bikes from South America to Europe, but due to multiple FUs, the shipping took over a month to get there and one of the batteries was DOA at the cargo dock in Croatia. Thankfully, had one of these and the bike started up no problem. The warehouse guys were all crowding around me watching me jump the bike with this tiny handheld device and they were all marveling at the technology like it was magic.

Even when not traveling, I still find it useful. Our school bikes are easy to bump start, but when the students bring their own bikes, sometimes the larger displacement bikes are harder to bump start, so this alleviates a lot of sweat and tears. Jumped an RC8 the other day no problem.

One caveat is to check every once in a while to make sure the thing is fully charged. They hold their charge for many, many months, but if you don't use it in over a year, it might be low or empty when you go to fish it out of your toolkit.

DAMHIK...

I usually top it up at the beginning of each riding season regardless of if I've used it or not.
Click to expand...
Impressive unit....especially for the size. Think I'll go with this one. CT reviews are all over the place for every single unit they sell.

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I carry one in my bike everywhere..
It has rescued me from what would have been very crappy (and costly) situations several times now.

As for longevity, the small ones use lithium batteries...same as an EV. Ideally, you want to store then at 80% state of charge maximum for longevity. Unless you plan on needing multiple starts, 80% on one of these is way more than enough...and it'll ensure they last a long time. It's being charged to 100% and then left that way for long periods that tend to kill these things - the packs often swell and fritz out.
Mine has been charged to 3 out of 4 bars (so I figure around 75%) and is about 5 years old now. Still works great - used it just this past summer at our hotel parking lot when we were down at the dragon.

I never charge it past 3/4 however - never need to...I'm not starting a diesel truck or anything anymore - a bike is small peanuts for these things.
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