Getting a jump on car charging

What can you do on a road trip if Your car battery is dead? Maybe you don’t have a cellphone handy to call your membership roadside assistance program (such as AAA), or the wait is too long, and you can’t flag down another motorist to get you going with his or your jumper cables? Relief could be as close at hand as the PowerAll Portable Powerbank and Jump Starter, a diminutive 6.5-inch by 2.9-inch by 1.2-inch-thick device with a 12,000mAh lithium ion battery that cranks out the 200 to 400 amps needed to jump start a car. The PowerAll comes with its own jump start cables as well as a USB adaptor cable, AC and DC (car lighter) chargers, and a variety of adaptor plugs, from mini- and micro USB plugs to manufacturer-specific plugs. (You also get a built-in LED flashlight. You get clear instructions for safe and effective use, from being sure to connect the black clamp to your car battery’s negative terminal and the red clamp to the positive terminal, to the importance or quickly disconnecting the cables once the car starts, or if the car doesn’t start on the first try and has to be jumped again. The manufacturer says the PowerAll can handle 20 jump starts on one full charge and 500 charge cycles, but I’d keep it fully charged between drives just for good measure. The PowerAll can handle most cars, but don’t count on it to power up a big truck.

PowerAll PBJS12000R Portable Powerbank and Car Jump Starter is $119.95; deluxe model (with upgraded jumper cables and carrying case) is $139.95 at www.thepowerall.com.

This story was originally published February 8, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Getting a jump on car charging."