At least once or twice a year the battery on Jeanne’s Kia or the battery on our lawn tractor dies. Using jumper cables with another vehicle like my MINI Cooper to jump start the dead battery always makes me nervous. First I have to Google the cable connection sequence and then actually do it. The last time I had to do this, I must have done something wrong because the plastic around the jumper cable grips started smoking and melted. Needless to say, it freaked me out and has made me worry about the next time I might have to jump start a battery. That’s one reason why portable jump starters have been on my radar lately.
The new Jump Starter 44 from Weego has several features that make it desirable for anyone who is shopping for an easy to use jump start device. First of all, it provides enough power to start gas engines up to 6.4 liters and diesel engines up to 3.2 liters. It can also be used to charge mobile devices including phones, tablets, and other USB devices.
The Weego 44’s cables have Smarty Clamps with jaws that open much wider than traditional jumper cable clamps making them easier to connect any battery terminals. And best of all, it guides you through the jump start connection process with light and sound.
Lights and sounds built into the Smarty Clamps™ make it easy for the user to instantly know that a successful engine start is possible. Weego 44 incorporates new Connection Detection technology that displays a green light to indicate the cables are properly connected and ready for a jump start. A red light lets the user know the unit is improperly connected or not connected to a 12-volt system. Flashing lights and a buzz noise alerts the user to a Reverse Polarity issue (crossed cables) on the battery terminals. Weego 44 also has Over-heat Protection which prevents any damage of Weego during cranking; after a cool down period, it resets itself for another jump. Power Surge Protection shuts Weego 44 down automatically if the engine requires more power than Weego is rated to deliver and Anti-Spark Protection ensures the unit will not spark if the clamps touch each other or other metal objects.
The Weego 44 has additional features like a built-in 500-lumen flashlight with two LED lenses that will stay illuminated for up to 14 hours on a single charge and a lanyard and hook that can be used to hang it from your vehicle’s hood latch if there isn’t a flat area to place it.
The Weego Jump Starter 44 has an MSRP of $149.99. It will be available in August from weego.com and other online retailers like Amazon.
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These are great ideas and certainly easier than a standard jumper cable setup. My big questions is how long do they hold a charge? Nobody plans for a dead battery, so I could see this sitting in the car for months before first use. If you go to use these only to find out the battery is dead and you are nowhere near someplace to charge it, you’re hosed. Regular jumper cables can sit in the car indefinitely. All you need is another car as a source which is easy to find even if you have to ask a stranger.
I just checked the Weego website and they say that their other jump start models (they don’t have anything listed on the 44 yet) lose 5% of the battery charge per month.
I wonder if that’s 5% of the total or 5% of how much they currently have. (I actually guess the latter, which is better. But it still means about 50% of the charge per year.)
I keep seeing posts for these and similar units but none of the posters have ever tried it. Have you? If not, could you?
I’ve been offered several jump start devices like this one to review, but I keep declining the offer because to review it, I’d need to let one of our vehicle batteries to go dead. It’s not good on the battery to let that happen – especially not on purpose.
You might be able to get a local car repair shop to lend you a dead battery for testing purposes. (At least, it would be worth a try.)
That’s a good idea. I could call and ask the next time I’m offered one to review. But I guess the battery would have to be put into a vehicle to test it – right?
Yep. My thought is that with a known-bad battery that you don’t care about, you could use this to start the car. Since the battery is bad, you probably wouldn’t be able to charge the car battery – but the car should be able to run without it. (And you only need to be able to start the car to test this – then you can switch back to your good car battery for normal use.)
I don’t have this one, I have a Scorpion I got off Amazon last year after I left an interior light on in my Outback for a day or so. My neighbor gave me a jump and I then decided I needed something like this. I’ve used it twice, once on my Outback when I did about the same bonehead thing again a few months later and another time that caused jaws to drop.
It started my Outback with no problem. The second time was when I had painters working in the house. At the end of the day the last two guys were leaving in a typical large white panel van. I thought they were gone then noticed them still in the driveway. When they arrived in the early morning they had left the lights on in the van and the battery was dead. They asked me if I had jumper cables (which I did) but I said that I didn’t need them. I got the Scorpion out of the Outback and took it over to their van and hooked it up. The big guy said to the other in Spanish that I seemed to be completely full to overflowing with fecal matter. The little guy tried to shut him up because he knew that I spoke some Spanish. I told them to wait a couple minutes and let the battery actually charge a bit. Then I told the big guy to try it. Vroom. Started first try.
I put an entry into my calendar for every six months to put the Scorpion on charge, and it only takes a few minutes to show that it’s fully charged. I expect this one is about the same. It also can charge cell phones, my tablet, and — amazingly — my ThinkPad laptop.
Thanks for sharing your experience with this type of gadget! Putting a reminder in your calendar to recharge the battery every six months is a great idea.
I’ve used one of the original versions of this device for almost 2 years now. Mine recommends topping off the charge every 3 months but, I’ve gone 6 months and longer without seeing much of a degradation (on the one I have (PowerAll) the state you can get 20 jumps from a full charge).
I’ve used it many times, on my car and friends, with multiple jumps in a row. I even used it on a diesel ambulance once (I’m a volunteer). The things are actually pretty amazing.
Definitely worth the inconvenience of recharging vs looking/begging for a car to jump from.
Julie, Since this is strictly for jump starting the car, and not charging the battery, you don’t have to let your battery die to test these (and prove to naysayers); All you have to do is disconnect the battery cables from you vehicle, and connect the jumpbox cables to them directly. Basically, eliminate the battery from the circuit altogether.
The car will start and run with the battery power from the jump starter device? For how long? I’m still personally want to goof around under the hood of my car, but maybe someone else on my team might like to review one sometime.
Yes, the car will start strictly from the device. Once the car is running, most of the power comes from the alternator so, it will continue to run until you run out of fuel (unless you have multiple accessories on (A/C, headlights, defroster, etc)).
Since I have one of the very first of these devices, mine warns to disconnect it from the battery within 10 seconds once the car is running (it wasn’t designed to take the excess charge from the alternator) but, I believe all the newer ones have some sort of protection circuit built into the cables now.
The only thing to be careful of, is that the battery cables don’t touch any other metal when the car is running because the (+) is feeding current from the alternator (meant to charge the battery).
Good info to know. Thanks Brian!
I can also confirm that they work well. My wife drives a Chrysler Town & Country with every conceivable power option; power doors, liftgate, windows, entertainment system, etc. The problem is that her daily drive is not very far and she tends to run a deficit where the car uses more power than is replaced by the alternator. Every few months the car won’t start from a dead battery, and I have to rescue her.
I got one of these battery packs last year, and we’ve used it twice from the same charge. I can attest, that it starts the car right up. The second time was the best, because I would have needed a 30 foot long jumper cable to reach the battery.