I have a dead battery in my '88 (alternator problems), so I decided to try out one of these jump-start units to see if they work. The highest one they had at the store was 450 amps. Doesn't seem to be enough as I just get solenoid clicking when I try to use it.

Does anyone make a unit that has enough CCA for the truck?

 

I have one with300 amps and it starts my truck. (351) I would check your cables. You may have to disconnect the dead battery to start it. One time I had two good batteries and a running truck jumping another vehical and couldnt start it until I took the dead battery off line.

 

I bought a charger from Sears last weekend and it charges the battery.

If you jump a completely dead battery, the alternator won't charge it up properly. It needs to be put on a charger.

 

ok, so it turns out i had a very dead battery. i bought a new one and put it in. it seems that i need to check my charging system as i had <12 volts on the dash meter while driving around with this new battery and after i turned the truck off and on again the new battery was drained also such that the engine would not turn over. the jump-starter unit didnt work again, had to jump from another vehicle. i tried disconnecting the dead battery and running off of just the jump-starter but that didnt help. maybe i got a bum unit? not a big deal it was mostly a curiosity thing. time to check out the charging system..

thanks for the input.

 

Check all your battery cables. The stock ones are known to "grow" corrosion from the inside out. They may look clean on the outside, but but the inner core may be completly destroyed. This was the case on mine and many others on here. I replaced every last inch of the battery cables, whick took a couple of hours, but is pretty easy. Most of the time required is running the wires in a way that they are protected from moving parts and putting some type of protective sleeve over them. I also went a little over board, since the cables and connectors aren't very expensive I decidded to create a little redundancy in the system. I have dual optimia redtops, and a 200 amp soliniod between them. When the ignition is off, the batteries are completly isolated from each other, so if something drains the first one, I always have a fully charged back up. I also Used multiple battery cables instead of just one to each location. Each battery has three connections to ground. One to the engine, and one to each frame rail. There is also a 0 guage connection connecting the two batteries ground post directly to each other. This is way more than nessessary, but it insures that I always get a good ground if if a cable or cables were to get completly ripped off while oofroading or something. The biggest cost to do something like this is time.

 

I'm going to run out this weekend to get some cables, I also have a fuse link that goes to the voltage regulator that is corroded around the wires so I'm going to replace that too and then go through testing the alternator as well. I like the sound of your dual battery setup, did you have to build something yourself to get three wires coming from the ground posts?

 

No, I just picked up some of those fancy audio battery terminals that have multiple in/outs and have the voltage read outs on them. I have the positive and negative ones on both batteries. I also used the side post connections on both batteries so that I would be able to hook up more accessories t the top connections later.

 

I went ahead and replaced the battery cables and alternator. I took the alt into the store for testing and it turns out it had some really shot bearings. The charging system seems to be OK now. It stays between 12 and 13 volts (according to the dash gauge) while driving with the lights on. It goes up and down about half a volt with the engine RPM, is that any cause for concern?

 

No, not really the stock gauges are stupid like that.