7 Tips To Maintain A Long Jump Starter Life

1 Why To Invest In A Jump Starter?

Failure of car batteries is quite common, not only due to extreme weather but because of other reasons too. Imagine if it happened on a deserted road where nobody is available to help you. To avoid getting stuck in these kinds of situations you need a jump starter. Battery jump starters not only help you to jumpstart your vehicle but also can charge some essential gadgets during a situational emergency. Some of these also come up with a built-in air compressor and work lights. Jump Starter eliminates the need to look out for someone with a booster vehicle to jumpstart your weak battery. 30 minutes of jump staring can help extend your car battery life enough to get out of a pickle! Thus carrying a jump starter in your car is a wise and good practice. 

2 How To Find The Right Jump Starter For Your Car?

Choosing the right battery jump starter could be a tough job, especially with many products available in the market. There’s a huge conflict in picking the right brands, types, and sizes. But, worry not! Here are a few things that’ll help you pick the right one suitable for your vehicle. The first thing to consider here is the type of your car’s battery. As you could imagine, smaller vehicles’ engines require less starting power than a heavy-duty pickup truck.  

It is a well-known fact that vehicles near the poles or at low outside temperatures require more starting power than vehicles running at moderate temperatures. So, if you are somebody living in extremely cold surroundings, it is essential for you to look after the battery jump starter having relatively high amps of power.

3 What Are Some Good Practices That Will Help Maintain A Long Jump Starter Life?

Now that we know how crucial jump starters are for our vehicles, it is also essential for us to know about maintaining them properly. Like any other automobile essentials, jump starters also need to be maintained properly to get the best out of them. Following these tips will ensure the good operating condition of your jump starter battery pack. Here are seven things that’ll help you maintain a long jump starter life:

Always Keep Your Jump Starter Battery Charged

Prevention is always better than cure. Keeping your jump starter charged would always help you get out of a problematic situation. When in need, you can use the jump starter and charge the dead battery. Once charged, they can be used for extended periods. Hence, it is advisable to charge your battery pack after every single use. If you do not use the jump starter frequently, make sure to charge them back in at least three months for extended service life.

Pro Tip: Jump starter batteries have no memory issues, hence they do not possess any self-harm on frequent charges. Therefore, it is always advisable to charge them up early and often for long service life.

Understand The Duty Cycle That Your Jump Starter Could Offer

Every jump starter is subjected to a certain duty cycle during which the vehicle could be cranked for a short period, following which it requires a few moments to rest (to fetch specific details related to your jump starter browse through your owner’s manual). A duty cycle of 6 seconds is recommended for all the core automotive jump starters following which they need at least 3 mins of rest to avoid any sort of excessive heat that could probably build up within the jump starter batteries, reducing its battery life. 

Warning: Too much heat can damage your jump starter’s internal construction and reduce its useful life, causing a potential battery drain by hampering battery voltage.

Store Your Jump Starter In A Moderate Temperature

Exposure to extremely low temperatures could be harmful to your jump starter’s life in both the short and long term. Hence, store the jump starter at a moderate temperature, i.e., between 50 degrees F and 70 degrees F (10-20 degrees C) respectively. During cold weather, it is advisable to park the vehicle indoors, following which you should charge them once a month at least to maintain a decent long-term vehicle battery life. 

Disconnect Your Jump Starter Once You Are Done

Once you have completed a successful jump-start, you need to disconnect the jump starter from the currently used vehicle ASAP. However, remember to follow all safety procedures and go through your owner’s manual while doing so. Charging your car’s battery at a rate higher than the recommended charge rate could be harmful to its longevity. Many technicians often leave their jump starter connected after a successful start, assuming that it’s the fast and easy way to get the unit recharged, but this could be harmful and hence should be avoided.

Clean The Clamps Thoroughly

Another reason for poor jump starter life could be the corroded clamps. When a jump starter is in poor condition, it could be because of battery acid deposits on the posts of its negative and positive terminals. Hence, wiping down the clamps is essential to prevent them from corrosion. If the situation seems worse, replacing the old battery with a new one is better.

Pro Tip: A mixture of baking soda and distilled water matched with a wire brush could cleanse the clamps having a high deposit of acid on the posts.

Ensure Proper Safety Throughout

Following safety procedures ensures not only safety but also has a healthy impact on the jump starter’s life:

It is always better to review the cause for a no-start before beginning to jump-start the vehicle. Following this, if your car’s battery has a major problem, you could minimize the usage of the jump starter. You should also ensure that your jump starter is configured to the right voltage. Wrong configurations could be harmful to both your vehicle and the jump starter. It is always advisable to put your jump starter in a safe state in case your jump starter survives a reverse polarity. This can take a toll on both the jump starter and the battery’s state of health and reduce its overall lifespan. Hence, ensuring proper safety procedures throughout could increase the overall efficiency of your jump starter by optimizing the overall vehicle battery voltage.

Maintenance

No matter how much attention you put into all the other things, maintenance is the ultimate step for experiencing a long jump starter life. Checking on your jump starter condition every three months is crucial. Do not hesitate to replace your old battery with a new battery if faulty. During winter, it is advisable to check up on them at least once a month.  

Following these simple yet important steps could help you extend your jump starter life in the long run and help you get along when you end up in a situation of emergency.