Portable Battery Jump Starter

Black & Decker PS400JRB Electromate 400 Plus Jump-Starter with Built-In Radio Price

I was motivated to order this when we lost our power (aren’t we all) due to an ice storm.

My opinion is skewed positive as I got this for .99 delivered, hit a good sale with free (after annual fee of course) Prime delivery.

Positives:
– two 12-volt sockets, two 110-volt sockets
– can be recharged with car or plugged in to 110-volt
– has float charge, so can be left plugged in indefinitely
– weather radio which can be set to sound alarm with alert
– by far best jumper cables of three units I have personally used
– low profile with solid base and good handle
– good predicted battery life (meaning hours of use you get)
– four built in leds for emergency light
– bonus USB port to charge USB chargeable items (you need your own cable)  Read more...

Black & Decker VEC026BD Electromate 400 Jump-Starter with Built-In Air Compressor Price

Bought this unit to quickly set up and run an A/C powered camera and ethernet hub in the field for about 5hrs. Works great. The battery inside is an SEL CB17-12 if you care to Google for the specs (12v 17 amphrs). I tested my load on a car bat w/another inverter and it all drew ~250ma @12vcdc. On the Electromate I get 5hrs which is shorter than anticipated, for one thing it shuts down the inverter when the internal DC drops below 10.9v. Also, there inverter has a fan that is always on that draws ~250ma @12vdc. B&D tech support says I can use the jumper-cables to a car battery and continue to use the AC inverter to extend the time. They warn to not to run the inverter while charging it thru the 12vdc as it will burn up the charge circuit, just use the jumper-cables and turn the main power switch on – I’ll have to try that. Note that the advice elsewhere about keeping it charged and stored cool.. The spec sheet for the battery tells the story- expect a short life (1.5-3yrs?) if you keep it hot and dont keep it charged. Looks like a replacement bat is ~US.  Read more...