Does someone know/use this product?

[ilovemyvan]

<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">Hello everyone. </span><br><address><span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">I've been giving a lot of thoughts to our electric set-up. We'll be using very little off it.&nbsp;All we'll&nbsp;need is to charge the batteries for the computer and phone. We'll also run a 3 amps small computer fan,&nbsp;occasionally&nbsp;2 on warmer nights. (I made them the other day,&nbsp;they work. I was so excited. It's no big deal&nbsp;to most of&nbsp;you but&nbsp;it was quite an accomplishment for me). &nbsp;I'm not sure yet what we'll do for the lights. I saw a solar spot light at Lowes that looks like it could do the trick, or maybe a lamp using rechargeable batteries. The van came with a 150 watts inverter that was for games. I don't think it will&nbsp;be of much&nbsp;help to&nbsp;us, seems way to small&nbsp;to charge batteries...right?</span></address><br><span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">We will be doing&nbsp;a fair amount of driving rather than staying at the same location for&nbsp;days at&nbsp;a time, so I'm hoping that we can generate enough power to take care of our needs without a house battery.</span><br><br><span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">This Energizer All-in-one Jump Start, air compressor and inverter might be just what we need <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Energizer-840...rt-Compressor/dp/B0030B2N10/ref=pd_sbs_auto_3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">ht<span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">tp://www.amazon.com/Energizer-84020-All-In-One-Jump-Start-Compressor/dp/B0030B2N10/ref=pd_sbs_auto_3</span></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">&nbsp;</span> It apparently has a DC to DC charger as well as AC. It has a breaker to protect against too much power being sent&nbsp;to what's plugged in. It also has a trigger/sensor, I forgot what it's called, that stop the charging process&nbsp;once&nbsp;it's&nbsp;fully charged so&nbsp;it won't burn/destroy the unit.&nbsp;The reviews on Amazon are mixed so this is why I'm asking if you've heard of it or used it. Do you think it&nbsp;would&nbsp;be any good&nbsp;for us?</span><br><br><span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">For some reasons it's not easy for me to grasps volts, watts and amps. I've read on it and I'm getting a bit better but I still have a long way to go before I feel comfortable on the subject. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, please remember that I don't talk 'electric' fluently... English either come to think of it <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></span><br><br><span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">Thank you in advance,</span><br><br><span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">Blue skies.</span><br><br>Nicole

 

[Zil]

Cheap China Junk. It try to do too many functions, and fails at all.<br><br>

 

[Willy]

&nbsp;One problem with trying to cram a lot of functionality into ONE item is that, if it bites the biscuit, you're up the creek w/o a paddle. ..Willy.

 

[Noah]

I have to agree with the above comments.&nbsp; I tried a similar product when I was starting out thinking it was the greatest thing since buttered toast, but threw it in the garbage after 2 weeks because by that time it was just dead weight barley capable of charging a cell phone.&nbsp; <br><br>I think you'll appreciate a house battery and get much more use out of it.

 

[ilovemyvan]

Thanks guys, <br><br>I appreciate your comments, they make&nbsp;so much&nbsp;sense. Here's my dilemma with house battery. For the next couple of years we only will be travelling and needing the battery for a couple of months total. Am I &nbsp;mistaken to think that if&nbsp;a battery is not in use it dies. I don't want to change the battery every time we leave. The van is use as a second vehicle at the moment. It is driven a couple of hours a week max. Would it be enough to keep the house battery from dying?

 

[Zil]

If your needs are limited can you use rechargeable or standard "flashlight" batteries? Also I belive you can find laptop battery chargers that work off your vehical battery while driving. Harbor Freight and others sell inexpencive charge maintainers that you should use on your vehicle battery as well as a house battery while stored for extended periods.<br><br>That said, LiFePo batteries are suitable for long term storage if left at partial charge.

 

[CrossCountryGal]

I have a generator for my primary source of electricity. &nbsp;That said, I have this&nbsp;http://www.sears.com/diehard-platinum-portable-power-1150-with-jumpstarter-air/p-02871988000P and have used it more times than I thought I would. &nbsp;I've jump started my bus battery a couple of times, used the compressor to air up a low tire on my other vehicle, charged my laptop and iphone, and the light has come in handy too! &nbsp;All in all, a good tool to have on hand IMHO.

 

[caseyc]

I also have the Sears&nbsp;DieHard Platinum Portable Power 1150 with JumpStarter &amp; Air Inflator, which I've had for several years.&nbsp;&nbsp;This battery has more outlets&nbsp;than the Energizer 84020&nbsp;battery.&nbsp;&nbsp;I have used this Sears 1150 battery a number of times for jumping a dead battery.&nbsp; It's also excellent for powering small devices such as a cellphone, USB fan, tablet, small TV, etc.&nbsp; <br><br>However, if you have a full-size laptop computer, the Sears 1150&nbsp;battery will charge the laptop, but will cause a noticeable drain.&nbsp; That's why it's better to use a tablet if you're able to (versus a laptop)&nbsp;because a tablet is usually more energy efficient, especially if it's&nbsp;USB powered.&nbsp; Only major downside is that when the Sears 1150 battery is&nbsp;low, you need to carry this 22 pound&nbsp;unit to&nbsp;an AC charger to juice up again which will take at least a few hours or longer to get back to full power.<br><br>The other option is to use a small 12 volt inverter that you can buy anywhere (eg: Best Buy, etc), to power your laptop, etc.&nbsp; But you need to make sure you don't exceed the capacity of your vehicle's 12 volt adapter outlet, otherwise you will burn out the fuse, which is a small hassle to replace.&nbsp; I've already burned out my 12 volt fuses a few times in the past, haha!&nbsp; You might also want to keep your engine running idle for awhile&nbsp;if you're going to use a portable 12 volt inverter for charging/powering a laptop.<br>Here are some ideas for 150 watt portable inverts:<br><a href="http://car-inverter-review.toptenreviews.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://car-inverter-review.toptenreviews.com/</a><br><br>As others have also mentioned, an auxillary battery&nbsp;is the best option if you're able to swing it.&nbsp; I recently installed a large Group 27 AGM battery with a 2000 watt inverter for plenty of power when needed.&nbsp; However, I still like the security of&nbsp;also having portable/rechargeable battery chargers whenever the need arises.

 

[ilovemyvan]

Thanks to all of your ideas and suggestions we finally decided to go for a house battery. After all I never heard of anyone complaining because they had too much electricity. We will look into charger maintainer as well as the LifePo battery. We will also borrow WRSIXEIGHT idea and keep it under the floor with a trap to access it. Man that feels good to finally have a plan of action. Yea!!!&nbsp; We will carry a jump starter air inflater&nbsp;regardless but not&nbsp;the type that&nbsp;tries to do too much. &nbsp;<br><br>Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!<br><br>

 

[Zil]

I have the craftsman also and find it useful but not long lived.

 

[highdesertranger]

how do they get 350 cranking amps out of a 18 amp hour battery?&nbsp; something fishy about that.&nbsp; highdesertranger

 

[Zil]

18 per hour, 36 per 30 minutes, ect.<br><br><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica; font-size: small;">"The most common battery rating is the AMP-HOUR RATING. This is a unit of measurement for battery capacity, obtained by multiplying a current flow in amperes by the time in hours of discharge. (Example: A battery which delivers 5 amperes for 20 hours delivers 5 amperes times 20 hours, or 100 ampere-hours.)"</span></span><br><br>"Cranking amps are the numbers of amperes a lead-acid battery at 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) can deliver for 30 seconds and maintain at least 1.2 volts per cell (7.2 volts for a 12 volt battery)." <br><br>Nothing fishy, just a different scale of measurement.

 

[MK7]

It's not that valid anymore to complain about "cheap China junk" as just about everything's made in China now. Maybe 10 years ago this was a valid complaint. Sony, Honda, Samsung, whatever....most of their products are made in China now. Even Sears is being sued for claiming Craftsman being USA when lots of it is Chinese.<br><br>There is however, various levels of quality control of Chinese products. The bigger name brands with shops in China, have better QC. But if you buy a fake knockoff for real cheap, then you could be screwed....sometimes not if you're lucky. &nbsp; <br><br>That said, these all in one Jump Start batteries are not meant to run electronics often as a power source, just in a pinch only (ie. most people don't need to inflate their flat tires often). Their main purpose is to jump start cars with dead batteries by giving out a lot of amps all at once, then they need to be recharged right away (which is what your car alternator does for your car battery immediately). They are not deep cycle batteries meant for running appliances &amp; gadgets and can sit at 50% or less until you get to an outlet to recharge. They will drain fast if used as such, and will lessen their ability to hold a charge. And the more you drain it before recharging or sit waiting before recharge, the worse they get. They usually don't like to get under 50% charge, but under 70% is not good neither.<br><br>I've had this cheap $40 (on sale) Harbor Freight unit for 5-7 years:&nbsp; http://www.harborfreight.com/12-volt-jump-start-and-power-supply-38391.html<br><br>Probably uses the exact same SLA batteries as fancier units. Mine finally wouldn't hold a charge and I just bought the exact one as replacement last year. I did use it to power stuff (like the OP is looking to do) and not just jump starting. Used to always use it for my electric jack to raise my 4000 lb cars, inflate tires, etc. But I would always recharge it right after use.&nbsp; This was the key to their lifespan. This would be tough to do if van dwelling. Even when not used, they need to be plugged in once every month or so. <br><br>

 

[ilovemyvan]

When a device's label say 3 amps, for a computer fan for example, does it mean 3 amps per hour? There is a lot of talk about&nbsp;ah when it comes to battery and I want to make sure I calculate properly.<br><br>I'm learning a lot about electricity these days,&nbsp; thanks to all of you<br><br>Nicole

 

[wagoneer]

IMHO These gadgets are just that, Like a telephoto lens like a multitool some better than others. Handy but do not REALLY get to the point.