SternWake
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Setting up a viable dual battery system is not for everyone. Especially Newbs dabbling in the wheeled dwelling lifestyle
The fear of not being able to start the engine from a dead battery is a true concern.
One can carry jumper cables and hope for a kind, non murderous stranger to help them jump start their car.
One can also hope this kind, non murderous stranger, or themselves, also know how to hook red to red and black to ground, and not blow up the donor or recipient vehicle's electronic's by reversing the polarity. I know I am not the only one here who has seen or heard of jump starting gone wrong stories.
The easier solution, is having a fully charged healthy jumper pack so one can pop their hood, apply two clamps from jumper pack to overdepleted engine starting battery, start the engine, disconnect jumper pack and drive away.
No stranger required, no donor vehicle, and no jumper cables required, just a adequately charged healthy enough jumper pack. One can also help others without risking their own vehicle's electrics.
Such as this:
https://www.amazon.com/Booster-ES5000-1500-Peak-Starter/dp/B000JFHNQA
But the guts of that ~120$ jumper battery pack, is just a 32$ 18 AH Chinese AGM battery, such as this:
https://www.amazon.com/ExpertPower-...e=UTF8&qid=1483150380&sr=1-1&keywords=ub12180
Is Money tight? Hook your jumper cables to this 32$ battery and off you go.
Space at a premium? cut the jumper cables to about 20 inches long, attach cut ends to battery and off you go.
No way to recharge the battery? One could put a male ciggy plug cord ( center conductor is (+)/ red) into their vehicle when driving, and recharge slowly. One could also leave the clamps attached to vehicle battery and drive for faster recharging to 80%.
In Baja back before I had solar, A friend of mine would bungee cord his gringo donated jumper pack to any vehicle when he would get a ride into town. Hitchhiking with his jumper pack and bungee cords and whomever stopped was then required to pop their hood so he could hook his jumper pack up and find a way to attach it to their bumper. It was amusing to watch the process.
I also hooked him up with some longer lengths of 10AWG if the bungee on bumper strategy was not amenable to driver, or bumper non existent or at risk of falling off.
Anyway, one can easily have a self jump starting method on hand, and spend much less money than a new jumper pack costs. It can be taken to extremes with high quality battery and thick jumper cable parrot clamps.
One can usually find jumper packs with worn out batteries at garage sales or thrift stores, and either replace the battery for a fraction of the price of new, or just scavenge it for parts, like the cable clamps. the convenience of a carrying handle cannot be understated.
Back when I was new to van dwelling, all I carried was a jumper pack, and all it had was this 12AH battery:
https://www.amazon.com/D5775-Sealed...=UTF8&qid=1483151675&sr=1-12&keywords=ub12120
I likely jumped myself less than 10 times, and jumped other vehicles 3 dozen times, over several years before the battery was worn out.
Now My contempt for the Ciggy plug receptacles and cords is well known, but they are ubiquitous, and most people will have a cord from a failed device laying around.
One can cut the cord end, and make a 'suicide' cord with two male ends for recharging the jumper battery when driving. It will take a long time to charge to 80% and much much longer to charge fully, but it is better than leaving the battery overdischarged until one gets a chance to plug in.
So with a battery and jumper cables, one can self jump.
With a ciggy plug cord and this Kit, one can make their own charging cord for recharging their jumper battery slowly:
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Sys...rd_wg=WH0OQ&psc=1&refRID=T8XM2KKJJP7Q599SF9VM
Wire up the 12v receptacle to the jumper battery terminals, and one has a nice cheap easy to use jump starter they can recharge while driving.
Technically, the 12v receptacle should be fused.
If the jumper battery is really depleted, it might blow the vehicle's power port fuse when plugged in, or perhaps the fuses withing the ciggy plugs themselves.
If one gets the chance to plug in to the grid, the chargers that come with the jumper packs are just single voltage wall warts, like this but even more generic:
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tend...qid=1483152700&sr=1-1&keywords=battery+tender
http://www.harborfreight.com/automatic-battery-float-charger-42292.html
If one already has a regular battery charger, these can also be used, but these chinese AGM batteries have limitations on charging amperages. Usually 1/3 the capacity rating of the battery, like an 18AH AGM battery should receive no more than 6 amps when depleted.
The fear of not being able to start the engine from a dead battery is a true concern.
One can carry jumper cables and hope for a kind, non murderous stranger to help them jump start their car.
One can also hope this kind, non murderous stranger, or themselves, also know how to hook red to red and black to ground, and not blow up the donor or recipient vehicle's electronic's by reversing the polarity. I know I am not the only one here who has seen or heard of jump starting gone wrong stories.
The easier solution, is having a fully charged healthy jumper pack so one can pop their hood, apply two clamps from jumper pack to overdepleted engine starting battery, start the engine, disconnect jumper pack and drive away.
No stranger required, no donor vehicle, and no jumper cables required, just a adequately charged healthy enough jumper pack. One can also help others without risking their own vehicle's electrics.
Such as this:
https://www.amazon.com/Booster-ES5000-1500-Peak-Starter/dp/B000JFHNQA
But the guts of that ~120$ jumper battery pack, is just a 32$ 18 AH Chinese AGM battery, such as this:
https://www.amazon.com/ExpertPower-...e=UTF8&qid=1483150380&sr=1-1&keywords=ub12180
Is Money tight? Hook your jumper cables to this 32$ battery and off you go.
Space at a premium? cut the jumper cables to about 20 inches long, attach cut ends to battery and off you go.
No way to recharge the battery? One could put a male ciggy plug cord ( center conductor is (+)/ red) into their vehicle when driving, and recharge slowly. One could also leave the clamps attached to vehicle battery and drive for faster recharging to 80%.
In Baja back before I had solar, A friend of mine would bungee cord his gringo donated jumper pack to any vehicle when he would get a ride into town. Hitchhiking with his jumper pack and bungee cords and whomever stopped was then required to pop their hood so he could hook his jumper pack up and find a way to attach it to their bumper. It was amusing to watch the process.
I also hooked him up with some longer lengths of 10AWG if the bungee on bumper strategy was not amenable to driver, or bumper non existent or at risk of falling off.
Anyway, one can easily have a self jump starting method on hand, and spend much less money than a new jumper pack costs. It can be taken to extremes with high quality battery and thick jumper cable parrot clamps.
One can usually find jumper packs with worn out batteries at garage sales or thrift stores, and either replace the battery for a fraction of the price of new, or just scavenge it for parts, like the cable clamps. the convenience of a carrying handle cannot be understated.
Back when I was new to van dwelling, all I carried was a jumper pack, and all it had was this 12AH battery:
https://www.amazon.com/D5775-Sealed...=UTF8&qid=1483151675&sr=1-12&keywords=ub12120
I likely jumped myself less than 10 times, and jumped other vehicles 3 dozen times, over several years before the battery was worn out.
Now My contempt for the Ciggy plug receptacles and cords is well known, but they are ubiquitous, and most people will have a cord from a failed device laying around.
One can cut the cord end, and make a 'suicide' cord with two male ends for recharging the jumper battery when driving. It will take a long time to charge to 80% and much much longer to charge fully, but it is better than leaving the battery overdischarged until one gets a chance to plug in.
So with a battery and jumper cables, one can self jump.
With a ciggy plug cord and this Kit, one can make their own charging cord for recharging their jumper battery slowly:
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Sys...rd_wg=WH0OQ&psc=1&refRID=T8XM2KKJJP7Q599SF9VM
Wire up the 12v receptacle to the jumper battery terminals, and one has a nice cheap easy to use jump starter they can recharge while driving.
Technically, the 12v receptacle should be fused.
If the jumper battery is really depleted, it might blow the vehicle's power port fuse when plugged in, or perhaps the fuses withing the ciggy plugs themselves.
If one gets the chance to plug in to the grid, the chargers that come with the jumper packs are just single voltage wall warts, like this but even more generic:
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tend...qid=1483152700&sr=1-1&keywords=battery+tender
http://www.harborfreight.com/automatic-battery-float-charger-42292.html
If one already has a regular battery charger, these can also be used, but these chinese AGM batteries have limitations on charging amperages. Usually 1/3 the capacity rating of the battery, like an 18AH AGM battery should receive no more than 6 amps when depleted.
