Which compact lithium jump starter battery works with our cars ? not as simple as it

There are lots of little lithium battery jump-starters on the market. Energizer makes some, and there are many others. Some weighing under a pound claim they can jump start a 4 liter car many times. As a plus, they can also power your laptop and phone and have an LED emergency light. Sounds great, but for one thing. The cables are typically very short. And when our batteries are dead, before we can even get to our batteries, or to the jump starting connections in the engine bay, we first need to connect a starter battery to two points that are not very close together. (A positive terminal in the fuse box in the driver’s footwell, and a negative terminal near the driver’s door lock. (This is true for post-facelift 996s (3.6 liter cars). I’m assuming it is also true for post-facelift 986s.) Anyone know of any little lithium jump starters with long enough cables to bridge the gap? Thanks!

I do not have an answer to your question. However, here's my 2 cents: a "healthy" battery negates the need for a jump starter. But if/when I do get stranded somewhere, I call AAA (I also keep cables in my car in case a donor car passes by or is nearby)

Keep thinking about getting a kit like that, but always get distracted. What I can add, however, is that when I've had to use the emergency terminal to pop the trunk I just use the door hinge right there. Definitely not the best circuit since it's through paint, but you don't need much to pop the trunk. I do that off a running car though so I have no idea if a jumper pack would be able to overcome the resistance/insulation of the paint.

I actually used one to start my car last week. My 8 year-old battery finally died. I've owned a PowerAll Delux for about a year and have used it a few times. Although I primarily purchased it as a spare battery for my boat. http://thepowerall.com/index.php?rou...&product_id=93 It worked to start my car though by connecting to the battery terminals. Leads are long enough to reach the battery posts, and it had enough power for a few starts. I didn't try using the (correct) jump starting terminals in the engine bay though.

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The reason why a lot of us carry these small jump starters is connecting up modern vehicles to another car is very dangerous for the electronics. The nice thing about most of these jump start packs is they have an on / off switch. You can connect everything up, then power on the battery. This greatly reduces the chance for a short or a spark that can damage something. I will only connect my vehicle to another car in an absolute emergency (which means I forgot my jump start pack). These things are so small and inexpensive, no excise not to have one.

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Unfortunately, no, it doesn't. My battery is relatively new, it works as well as it did when new, and even when new, sometimes the car needed to be jump started. The car struggles to survive a week without being driven without the battery going dead, and no one can figure out why. And having searched and also posted while unsuccessfully seeking a solution, I know that while mysteriously high power consumption such as mine is unusual, it is also not unique. A trickle charger would obviously help, and I have one, but no place to connect it. Even if I had a place to connect it where I park at home, I would still be foolish not to have a jump starter.

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Agreed! Could you perhaps recommend one or more which actually work with our cars? As mentioned, the problem is that the short cables that typically come with these jump starters are fine for connecting to the terminals of a car battery. But based on my (unfortunately extensive) experience, if you need to jump start your car, you probably won't be able to get to your battery without first connecting your jump starter to something else - the positive lead in the fuse box and the negative lead by the door lock. And they aren't so close together I looked at a lot of jump starters advertised on Amazon, and they all have what appear to be short cables. Some maybe a bit longer than others, but none so long that I'd expect them to work. Thanks for any help identifying something that works!

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Um, I don't know. Normally our cars only drain 10-20mA when parked and armed. Any prior threads of your battery drain issue?

I have and use one of these. To the best of my understanding the short cables are the only way to deal with the high current draw in a small guage wire. The fuse box jumper requires very low amperage. Although Ive not done it, I dont see why you couldn't make up a little jumper wire with aligator clips, in maybe 10 gauge, to reach the terminal in the fuse box and open the trunk cover. Do not try to use these to start the car. Remove the extension jumper and use as designed.

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The thought did cross my mind. But that leaves an exposed metal connection that could easily come into contact with the wrong part of the car or me. Maybe there isn't a lot of current passing through. Maybe the safety features on the jump starter would stop it from frying me, setting the seat on fire, or otherwise messing up the car when both a positive and negative line touch the door frame. Even so, I'd rather just have longer cables. I'm sure you're right that longer cables means thicker wire. OK by me. Surely someone makes something that works, no???

Don't think you will find one with longer cables, as this would limit the ability to actually jump start a car, burning off the wires under heavier loads. If you are concerned with shorting, just make an insulated jumper, using heat shrink.

you should just be able to buy an extra croc clip type cable to connect jump starter to door ground to open the door - not much current involved in that - so pretty much any cable should work - just don;t try and use it to jump the main battery!

We have a Norco genus 400 amp (you can get bigger ones up to 1000A) starter pack that lives under the driver�s seat. The cables + clamps have a 22 inch spread, more than enough to access any battery posts and also the post in the fuse panel. The chrome loop you mentioned in the rear of the door jam (the door latch locks on to it) is an excellent ground, but not the only one available. Half way between the two heavily painted door hinges, is the door brake bolted to the front of the door jam. This is not painted (looks like black zinc plated) and is an excellent electrical conductor and is close enough to the +post in the fuse box.. We checked all these contingencies when we got the jump pack. We loaned it out to friends and it jump started their huge SUV instantly. I like the idea that I could take it camping and it would run anything with a USB port forever, and it has a flashlight if I have to go out of the tent at night and pee in the woods.

Thanks for the helpful tip! Sounds like this could be the best solution for me. I had a look at the hinge area though and didn't see anything I recognized as a place to connect a jumper cable to. That being said, I forgot that the thing to look for was a door brake. But I can't remember anything that fits that description anyway. Perhaps, if your car is a 996.1, it's a bit different in this area? Anyway, I'll have a look again soon, and if I'm still confused about this, post pictures.

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Closest thing to a prior thread is my post in Targa996's thread which you extensively contributed to: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...ery-drain.html Just as Targa996 finally found that his alternator was warm, somewhere on my to-do list is seeing if it, or anything else I can reach, stays warm a few days after driving the car. If that fails, next step is to buy an infra red thermometer and go warm spot hunting again. Solving that would of course be even better than finding a good jump starter. But I'm not optimistic, and I'm also not willing to put as much time into it as Targa 996.

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Oh no wonder I don't recall any recent threads with unresolved large parasitic drain. That thread was solved and closed. Let us know when you get back at it again. Large persistent drain should be relatively easy to trace.

So I did some measuring: Cables that span 115 cm (45") can safely reach the standard positive and negative connection points. Still not sure of the alternate connection point in the front, but if I guessed right, a 35 cm / 14" span is fine.

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Is it door brake perhaps the black thing that looks kind of like a hinge in the middle of the picture?

Yes, RS10, that is as good of a ground as the chrome door latch striker. Keep in mind when hook up the jumper battery the alarm will sound. Turn it off by turning the key in the door from unlock to lock.

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That's great info. I have the NOCO Genius 1000A and it's started my 6.0L GMC truck with no problem on a couple of occasions. I'll remember the door brake trick if I need to start the P-Car.

Great question from OP. I have a Weego that I put in the frunk whenever I do a roadtrip, but I've never actually used it to start either car. I have a big-azz portable jumper - I don't recall the brand, but it is what the flatbed guy used to get the C2 going when the battery crapped out a few years ago. I got the Weego simply because the big one is freaking huge relative to our cars' storage areas. I have used it to crank over a Harley, but now I need to find a non-starting car or SUV to see how it goes.

Would it not work to connect the portable battery cables to regular old jumper cables that are in turn connected to the "proper" engine bay connectors? Do the jumper cables add too much resistance to be effective?

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You could do that if you wanted or needed to. Quality jumper cables have thicker, heavier wire proportional to the length, so they would not add any appreciable extra resistance. Because these little jumper batteries are so small and light, they sit on top or right next to the car battery for the jump. As such they only need short, thin, lightweight flexible cables that fold up in the tiny bag/case with the battery kit.

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It undoubtedly would work. But it's hardly ideal, for two reasons. First, you have to carry big heavy jumper cables around. Second, when you then hook up the positive and negative terminals in the car, you've now got two wires stretching from the jump starter, and somewhere along each wire there is now a big, uninsulated bare metal section (where the jump starter's cables clip to the standard jumper cables). What does it touch? Where do you position this part of the cables? On the car seat? On the carpet? On an oil stain on the garage floor? Of course, if the cables were short enough, this section and the jump starter would be suspended in the air. Right in front of you. Possibly right at the wrong level ...

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This probably varies from car to car. My owners manual says push the button on the key. The little paper hidden in the fuse box says turn the key. Or vice versa. I'm guessing each is right for some cars. Can't remember which is right for mine. Though I remember it took a LONG time to figure out that what the owner's manual said was wrong ... . (To be fair to Porsche, the original owners manual may also have been correct. I have a replacement from a different model year.)

Typically, either one of those actions will do the job. Key in the door is the more reliable one though if the electrical system is temporarily scrambled by the battery problem.