Question: What kind of jump starter should I get?

“I want to get a jump starter for my car, but I’m not sure what kind to get. There are a lot of different options out there, and it’s kind of hard to figure out where to even start. Is there anything in specific that I should be looking out for?”

Answer:

The two main types of jump starters out there are jump boxes and plug-in units. Jump boxes are essentially just sealed, maintenance free batteries that have jumper cables attached to them, and plug-in units are basically battery chargers that are capable of delivering the huge burst of amperage that your starter motor pulls when it’s turning the engine over.

If you only ever need to jump start your car at home, then a combo charger/jump starter unit is a good choice. Otherwise, you’ll want to look at jump boxes. Of course, that’s only a very small part of the big picture.

Plug-in Jump Starters and Chargers

Most trickle chargers provide between 2 and 10 amps, and a lot of them have multiple settings. This is due to the fact that it’s typically better for battery life to provide some (or all) of the charge at slower rate via a lower amperage, but it isn’t always convenient to wait around for a 2 amp trickle charger to do its job. In that same vein, some battery chargers have a “start” setting that delivers a much higher amperage. Depending on how dead the battery is, you may even be able to turn the charger on, select the “start” setting, and immediately crank the engine.

The main benefit of buying a plug-in jump starter/battery charger is the charging part of the equation.

Although the instant-start you get from the “start” setting of some chargers or a jump box is convenient, it isn’t that great for your charging system. Since modern alternators aren’t designed to charge completely dead batteries, forcing one to do so can shorten its effective lifespan. If you have a charger on hand, and you can wait a while for it to do its job, then you may save yourself a costly alternator repair bill somewhere down the line.

Of course, the main drawback of plug-in units is pretty self-evident: they have to be plugged in. Although some plug-in starter/charger units are actually pretty small and portable, they just don’t work if you can’t find somewhere to plug them in.