After getting my Econoline/club wagon fixed and running good again, I had been working on it for a few weeks now to make it a camper/fishing van I decided to go fishing as the weather has started to cool down.
I was deciding whether to purchase this cool mini jump starter to keep in the van:
FRYS.com*|*Link Depot

Or a portable propane heater for camping and fishing:

Portable Buddy Heater

Well I opted for the heater.
I get home from shopping and doing some errands and later in the day I go to move the van and it wong start it turns over, but no start. I notice the batt/charge needle on the gauge is not where it normally is so I pull the battery, slap it on the charger for about 3 hours, installed it and it starts right up. I imagine if I would have purchased the jump starter I would have had it charging as soon as I got it home and could have used it.
I think the issue was while I was doing all the work I kept leaving the back and side doors open all day and theres like 5 or 6 dome lights that stay on and I had not started or drove it in over a week.
The thought had crossed my mind at the time that maybe that might happen but they are just little dome lights... LOL.

 

Kinda funny how things happen sometimes.

 

that power pack is pretty small, i can't see it working on much more than a 4 cylinder gas engine.
we use a 850 amp unit to start the diesel pickups, and even that will not fire up a truck with dead batteries. they have to have something in them to assist the jump box.
this is the one we use:

 

I also carry a jumper pack virtually everywhere I go. I've use the little ones and they're impressive for their size, but mine (from Costco) also has a built-in compressor for airing up tires, a 12V power port and USB port not to mention a built it light. A friend has one with all that, plus a small 110v inverter and even a blower for pumping up air mattresses. I have power pack envy going on over that one...!

I used mine just last night. I was borrowing a friend's F150 to tow a small box trailer to San Fransisco and when I got ready to head home after dark I discovered that he has a broken wire somewhere in his trailer wiring for the taillights. Brake and turn worked just fine, but no taillights unless I wiggled the connector around, but they wouldn't stay on. I took out my jumper pack and put it inside the trailer and simply connected it to one of the wires for the clearance lights and grounded it to a screw for the trailer body and had taillights powered by the jumper pack, got me all the way home on the two hour drive and still had plenty of battery left.

 

Battery technology has come a long way Theres several youtube vids showing this particular pack starting a crown vic and vans and this is just one brand, seems to be the most popular.

 

If you camp out in the van it's not a bad idea to have a battery disconnect switch so you don't get stranded.

 

Yea, thats a good idea.

 

Those power packs are a real life saver. I do a lot of road trips and it's nice being able to plug in my laptop or a radio and not have to worry about the vehicle battery. I keep my charger in the back seat of my truck for charging my cordless drills and phone gadgets. I've had other power packs and find this one has lasted the longest because it's being used and recharged on a regular basis.

For record mine is rated 1000 A and I was able to boost my sister's 5.7 Hemi pickup which she had left parked in a field all year and had absolutely nothing left on the battery. But typically you're only using it to boost a vehicle with a partially functioning battery so you can probably manage with a smaller unit.

 

You might consider swapping to LED's.
They are going to draw 1/3 the wattage for the same (or more) lumens, and will likely never burn out.

That's an advantage all the time.

 

Yes, I was just looking into them. I took out all the overhead bulbs except the rear, the rear have a switch.
I have also puchased one of those switches that have a negative battery clamp built into it, errr vice versa, LOL.

This is A better brand than the other one I posted and its made in the USA.

http://themicrostart.com/products/micro-starts/

Thanks.

 

Please delete