Showing posts with label 6 volt car battery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 6 volt car battery. Show all posts

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Wagan EL9796 Easy Quick Jumper In-Car Jumpstarter

Wagan EL9796 Easy Quick Jumper In-Car JumpstarterThis device actually works very well but takes time. Our Dodge Stratus battery was completely dead due to interior lights being left on. There was no glow from any interior lights. It was completely out of current and had been for several days. The temperature was 15 degress, it was snowing out and the car was parked so there was no way to get close enough for a traditional jumpstart (would have needed at least 20' jumper cables).

I plugged one end of the Wagan device into the cigarette lighter of the "running" car and the other end into the dead car. The "red" light on the device went on as expected. I waited about 10 minutes in the comfort of the warm running car and the green light on the device went on signifying that the battery was charged. I tried to start the dead car (it was only 15 degrees and snowing)and it only cranked over once and quit. I plugged the Wagan in again and noticed that the green light on the device stayed on so I unplugged it from the cigarette lighter and plugged it in again. It then went red. After 10 minutes it again went green. I didn't try the dead car this time but rather unplgged the cord and plugged it back in again and waited 10 minutes for the green light to come back on. This time when I tried the dead car it sprang to life and ran fine. It took 30 minutes for the whole process but it did work!

This system has enough cord length for about 18 feet and will fit through a partially opened window so there is no need to open the hood or get at the front of the car. This system allows a person to jumpstart it from any angle so long as the the cigarette lighters of the 2 vehicles are within 18' of each other.

Remember You must turn the key of the dead vehicle to the "accessory" position for the cigarette lighter to be able to pass current through the cigarette lighter sockets.

The beauty of this system is that any car can be jumpstarted this way. Many of the new cars don't have accessible battery connections. You don't have to know how to jumpstart a car. You don't have to know how to even open the hood. It is safe (no battery explosions or getting corrosive chemicals of hands or clothes)and can be done by anyone, regardless of mechanical knowledge.

I was able to jumpstart a completely dead car in 15 degree temperatures, in a snow storm with getting dirty or cold in about 30 minutes. Doing a traditional jumpstart would have meant getting dirty, opening the hood and having snow blow into the open engine compartment. Getting the engine compartment wet with snow (or rain) can compound your problems!

Every car should have one of these devices for the occasions when jumpstarting using conventional cables is not possible, practical or available. The $18 price for this device makes owning one a no-brainer.

This works, but you you have to realize its limitations. It is limited primarily by the fact that it can only slowly move power into a working battery in another car that happens to have run-down its charge.

It will let you get enough charge into a well-working car battery in order to start a car.

It will NOT, however, let you move enough power from one car to another to start a car that currently has an old, broken or worn out "dead battery." For that you'll still need jumper cables, an AC starter, a jump box OR a new battery to get a car going that has a truly dead battery.

This product is a great, safe idea, and it'll let you get a car going when someone let the battery run down, BUT, it will not let you jumpstart a car when its battery has died due to age or malfunction of the battery itself.

Picture this as a straw moving a bit of power slowly into the discharged-but-working "dead" battery, while you really need a fire hose (jumper cables) to start a car that has a no-longer-working battery.

To summarize : Great when someone left their headlights on, worthless when someone's battery has given up the ghost for good.

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Never worked. Got hot, smoked, and did not charge the second vehicle. Good thing I taught my wife to use standard jumper cables. Great idea, just turned out to be junk.

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The Easy Quick Jumper is a cinch to use, but may not actually take less time than the tried and true conventional jumper cables. Ok, sure you don't have to open the hood, but it actually takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes to charge up the battery in the dead car enough to start the vehicle. If you're in a hurry and feel confident in knowing what you are doing, jumper cables are the way to go. However if you want something that's safe, easy and are willing to allow a few extra minutes, the Easy Quick Jumper is not a bad alternative and works extremely well.

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I bought this a number of months ago, just in case. Yesterday, I accidently left my blinkers on too long and my car just wouldn't start. So I pulled this great device out and hooked it to a fellow co-workers car(who also happens to be a woman) and it took about 5 minutes. It worked quickly and easily with no fuss, no guess work, no messy car stuff, no worrying about hurting yourself or blowing anything up. Yes, there are still women out there who don't know how to do this stuff by themselves. For me and I think many other women, this is a great way to not have to rely on someone else or get messy in the process.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

2.5-inch Full HD 1080p Dashboard Car Camera DVR Blackbox F900LH

2.5-inch Full HD 1080p Dashboard Car Camera DVR Blackbox F900LH
  • 2.5" TFT LCD Display
  • Records in Native 1920*1080 Progressive (1080P), Supports recording in 1920*1080@25fps, 1440@1080@30fps, 1280*720@30fps, 640*480@30fps
  • 180 Degree swivel lens, 130 Degree Field-of-View
  • Supports up to 32GB SD card (not included), HDMI Port, MiniUSB Port
  • Loop recording

The only thing this camera does; is produce good quality videos. The instruction manual was lost in translation and is more of a set-up guide then a owners manual.There was no detail instructions of the features on the settings. But with some hit and miss' you can figure it out.

Pros:

Takes good quality videos. It uses about 1.7 GB memory for a 10 minute loop.

Loop recording works; allowing you different loop time options and overwriting older videos when the card becomes full

The suction cup window mounts is very secure and allows for several adjustments; allowing you in conjunction with the monitor able to rotate 270 degrees, and the lens rotating 180 degrees; multiple options in mounting your camera to the windshield.

The camera does stops recording when you turn off the car; and turns on and starts recording when you start the car.

Cons:

The motion sensor does not work. One time it worked; another time it recorded one minute loops; and while going 60 MPH it would stop recording and the the camera would shut off.

Auto shut-off does not work. I have the auto shut-off set for five minutes; but every time when I shut off the car; the camera records for thirty seconds and then shuts off.

Tripod is useless.

Had trouble inserting the memory card. Had to use a pen to install and latch the card in place.

I tried updating my Garmin Nuvi with the USB cable that came with camera. The Garmin had a fit (threw the cable away).

The HDMI did not work. I use the cable that was supplied and my own. The Sony Bravia showed that is was hooked up to the camera but no video or audio played on the TV.

Has digital zoom instead of a optical zoom.

Has a one year warranty; but did not include any warranty information.

Can use as a PC camera; I don't think so. No matter what I did I could not get out of mass storage mode when the camera is connected to the computer with a USB cable.

I have included three driving situations in the video. First part is driving on a sunny day with some shadows. The next part is driving at night, driving into a small town. The third part is driving about thirty minutes before sunrise. This was recorded in 1080P onto a class 10 SDHC 32 GB card.

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The user manual doesn't make sense, written in poor english and with poorly drawn (and labeled) images. There is no indication of the amount of recording time (based on memory card size) or a complete list of options selectable from the menu items. The material is cheaply made.

The camera DOES however produce clear images (moving and still) and through testing I found the avi fies are limited to ten minutes each, when run overnight it will fill up the disk (memory module) and delete the older material in order to write new data (the main purpose) but that limited a 32gbyte module to two hours of actual avi files.

There is a socket to attach a tripod to (like normal cameras) but a strap holder prevents its use, two tripods that work for other cameras were unable to attach to the screw socket.

Battery life is extremely poor, after charging overnight it could not run more that 30 minutes on a full charge. An external power source will be required for anything over 20 minutes (car charger was supplied)

Read Best Reviews of 2.5-inch Full HD 1080p Dashboard Car Camera DVR Blackbox F900LH Here

Excellent little Camera. The Picture is really great! The motion detection also works great. The battery was a big surprise, it last really a long time for such a small battery. It last about 2 hours or more. You have to charge the battery three times,and completely exhaust it three times to get the full benefit. I can tell you this is a great

little camera. Well worth the money. THANK YOU AMAZON!!!!!!!

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Schumacher SE-1250 Manual Operation 10 and 30 Amp Charger with 50 Amp Emergency Engine Start

Schumacher SE-1250 Manual Operation 10 and 30 Amp Charger with 50 Amp Emergency Engine StartThis battery charges is simple and does the job. It will put out 30 amps or 10 amps of current. I did not try the 50 jump start option, but I don't see why that would not work.

I am using this to charge batteries attached to a solar system, so I did not need a smart charger. I can charge the batteries when they get low with this and let the solar charge controller do all the fancy smart charging.

The device seems to be well build.

Update. I lowered the rating to 3 stars as I discovered that the charger will only put out 30 amps for 8 minutes or so. The good news is that there is a thermal switch that will turn it off, so nothing gets hurt, but this is not a 30 amp charger. It is a 10 Amp that can put out burts of 30 amps and 50 amps for a limited time.

Work great for mulit proposes and I love it I use it for a battery charger and as a power source for a catilist machine.

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When I got this item in the mail and opened the package, it looked like it had been thrown down a flight of stairs. The case was warped, the face plate barely held on, and the bottom was so bowed out that the unit wouldn't sit flat on my shop counter. The box was in pristine condition. Somebody bought this item, demolished it, and sent it back in for a refund. Obviously nobody checked it when it came back in...2 seconds would have told them it was probably broken. And it was. I was using it for anodising, and it totally ruined the parts I was working on because it only put out 10 amps instead of 30 (on both settings), and stopped working completely after 40 minutes.

One thing I will say about Amazon is that they did give me a full refund, which I appreciated...but there should have been someone checking the returns! How many other people are going to get sent this same charger? When does it stop being "NEW IN BOX"?

Read Best Reviews of Schumacher SE-1250 Manual Operation 10 and 30 Amp Charger with 50 Amp Emergency Engine Start Here

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Zune Car Charger

Zune Car Charger
  • Handy car charger for Microsoft Zune media player
  • Lets you charge and power Zune while you drive
  • Also works seamlessly with Zune FM transmitter
  • Plugs into any vehicle's 12-volt cigarette lighter
  • Coiled cable curls up for easy storage; 1-year warranty

There's really not much to review but I figured I would counter the other (misguided) review on this item. The charger works just as fine for powering the Zune while in the car. I pretty much leave my Zune in the car and this lets me do that without having to periodically bring it inside for charging. The part that goes into the cigarette lighter is rather large so take that into account if you have any kind of obstructions around your power socket. The only other thing I noticed that surprized me a little was that the Zune display stays on when connected to the charger and playing music. There's nothing really wrong with that but I was just expecting the screen to go dark like it does when it is not connected to power. Oh, I also like the coiled cord which makes things a bit tidier than having a lot of loose cable cluttering up the console area. I recommend this product.

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Had mine for 8 months. Little button on side of Zune connector either broke or fell off. This locks the connector into the unit until you use a pointed object to push in on the locking pin while pushing "button" on other side of connector. Trick is to not stab yourself when connector lets go.

Noise is probably dependent on vehicles electrical system. I get some low level noise in my '09 Toyota, but not in my Dodge.

I'm going to buy another, because it does work well.

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A little pricy for a charger and bulkier than I prefer but it does exactly what it is suppose to do with no problems and thats really all I ask for something liek this.

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Can't say much about this, other than it works great! Doesn't get hot and it charges my Zune very quickly. I use it for both of my devices; the Zune 30gb (brick) and my Zune HD. It's OEM so you know you're getting the legit and I've never had any issues since the day I got it.

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I use the car charger a lot and it works well. I didn't have any trouble. The product is good.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Husky Liners Custom Fit Front and Second Seat Floor Liner Set for Select Honda Accord Models (Tan)

Husky Liners Custom Fit Front and Second Seat Floor Liner Set for Select Honda Accord ModelsWell built, sturdy, and do the job sum up these floor mats. They help prevent a person from tracking mud, dirt, and other debris into their car's upholstery. The ridges designed into the mats make vacuuming out the mats as simple as can be.

I think these do a really good job keeping my carpet clean. I have to say that many people coming into my car have commented positively about the attractiveness of these mats. They were easy to put down and the lip catches all the dirt. My only negative would be the little marks it makes in the carpet with its' grippers. In addition I would like to just place them over my carpet mats without having to remove them.

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I ordered these based on a lot of online research. It only took a few days to receive the order and they fit perfectly in my 2009 Honda Accord sedan. I think it took all of four or five minutes to get the box open and the liners installed. They obviously cost more than the liners/mats that you get at a discount store but they're well worth it.

Read Best Reviews of Husky Liners Custom Fit Front and Second Seat Floor Liner Set for Select Honda Accord Models (Tan) Here

Does not fit exactly and is too rigid to allow seat to move forward and backward. I returned the product.

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Significantly cheaper than Weathertech liners and they seem to be comparable. I have never had Weathertech but these are nice.

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Friday, February 14, 2014

Schumacher SC-1200A SpeedCharge 12/8/2 Amp Charger/Maintainer/Starter/Tester

Schumacher SC-1200A SpeedCharge 12/8/2 Amp Charger/Maintainer/Starter/TesterForgetting to remove the negative connector before storing my vehicle for the winter; the internal sytems and alarm drained the battery, and of course it was sulfated. This unit worked like a charm. The battery was down to 8 volts/15%. The SC-1200a properly began to charge, then desulfate, and slowly was able to get the battery back to 98% before I removed it to start the car. This took approximately 17 hours (700 CCA Battery), which isn't bad for a dead/sulfated battery using a charger costing less than $50. The plus is you can use it to maintain your battery on a vehicle you do not drive much. Keeping your battery charged above 98% can greatly extend the life. How long it will the charger last running 24/7? ...I do not know yet. I have only had it maintaining the battery for 3 weeks, but still no problems. It does have a cooling fan which probably should be cleaned/vacuumed occaisionally; and I've never felt the unit being hot to touch. Not sure what problem the first reveiwer had, or if the unit he had was defective or dropped before he purchased it. For a $50 charger which maintains and also desulfates a battery, you cannot beat it.

Stay far, far, far, away from this charger. I walked away from tested, good, low charge battery being charged on the 8amp setting connected to a 750CCA regular car battery and when I came back a couple hours later it was boiling and still trying to charge! I checked the charge voltage and it was at 16 volts (measured with a Fluke meter)! Bad, very bad, charger and not automatic or smart at all.

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I was hoping to find the Schumacher model 7000A 2/20 Amp charger to review, but this 1200A is just a variation on the same thing. Looks identical too. After reading bad reviews of Schumacher and Vector it's clear these companies can't do anything right. Seems any product that has a microprocessor is programmed by the incompetent. Let me tell you about Schumacher speed chargers.

They won't charge batteries that don't already have a significant charge. If your battery drops below 10 to 11 volts, forget it. You'd have to have a manual battery charger as backup for when this won't charge, which eliminates the need for this thing in the first place. The explanation from the company is that the charger has to feed off the voltage in the battery, blah, blah. The purpose of a battery charger is to charge batteries, period. Then I was lied to by the tech and told if I hold down a certain combination of buttons when plugging the unit in, it would go into manual 2A mode (where the processor doesn't decide it won't charge your battery), but I sat there on the phone with him doing just as he said, and turns out no such feature exists. The manual doesn't mention anything like that either.

The charger is totally unpredictable. It almost always goes into desulfate mode. It has never completed a charge after coming out of desulfate mode, but ends in an error. Needs to be unplugged and plugged back in to start charging again to "completion". However completion doesn't seem to get the battery to 100% power, more like 80%, if that. Sometimes it won't charge at 20A and drops down to 2A. Don't know why. And according to the manual, desulfate mode can take up to 10 hours. So much for speed charge. Need to get into your car and go somewhere? Well you may need to wait until the next day.

It has a retain mode where the charger can sit there and monitor your battery and charge when needed. Figured I'd just leave the thing on my car almost permanently. But those who programmed the thing don't understand setting upper and lower thresholds. What it should do is charge up to the upper threshold, then when the battery drops below the lower, it charges to the upper again. I therefore expected it to turn on once a day or whatever. Instead it's turning on and off every several seconds, with the fan and relay clicking on and off. That's a good way to ware out the unit in no time.

It has a 70A engine start feature just incase you don't have enough juice to quite start your car, but if the battery is low enough where the charger won't charge it, the engine start feature won't work either.

My last car battery was probably only 1.5 years old before it wouldn't even take a charge. I'm beginning to suspect the damn charger might be responsible. When going into desulfate mode for instance, I see the voltage climb up to well over 16 volts. I don't know if that's good for the battery.

The simple act of charging a battery can be turned into a stressful nightmare with this crappy charger. Stay far away from Schumacher. It's clear they can't build a realiable charger, nor does it appear they've actually tried out their own products before dumping them onto the public.

Read Best Reviews of Schumacher SC-1200A SpeedCharge 12/8/2 Amp Charger/Maintainer/Starter/Tester Here

This is not what Amazon is thinks it is. They have confused the SC-12000A Schumacher Speedcharge Battery Charger, Model# SC-12000A

which is no longer available and substantially a more powerful unit.

This listing (this one above, SC-1200A) has the correct picture and model number, but the descriptive text in the title and details touts the specs of the the 12000, not the 1200.

I sent it back today once I saw that it was the less powerful charger. I missed the Gold Box this week because I saw this unit and thought it was the better unit. I went out today and bought locally as I can't wait for an alternate item to ship.

One of the earlier reviews (4-12-2007) alludes to this issue but it appears this was not Amazon's mistake. A model number with a single zero difference enables confusion all the way around.

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This thing is NOISY. I got it to charge and maintain a battery for a back-up sump pump, was going to have it in the equipment room in the basement, so didn't think noise would be an issue for me (saw other reviewers mention it). Even so, it's too loud. There's loud humming noise from the fans which are always on, and when charging a high-pitch tone joins the mix. It also draws 10 watts at idle when not even charging. Totally not suitable for this purpose.

Otherwise it seemed to charged my 75 AH maintenance-free sealed deep cycle battery no problem, and went into battery maintain mode as expected.

Update: purchased Schumacher SEM-1562A 1.5 Amp Speed Charge Maintainer and much happier now. This unit doesn't have a fan and consumes only 2 watts while maintaining, and no transformer noises. Maybe I was just trying to use wrong product for my purpose. But I did want to have the ability to charge the battery faster than over several days...

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Thursday, February 13, 2014

TYC 1-03267 Ford Econoline Van Replacement Starter

TYC 1-03267 Ford Econoline Van Replacement StarterI needed a new starter for my vehicle and I chose this one.

Works great and like it. Thank you

Bought this to get my F150 back on the road. It's a good aftermarket starter and bolts up with no problems. Seems to have a lot more cranking power than my old one, although to be fair, that one was going out. Saved about 100 bucks compared to the parts store in town, so give it a go.

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product was a great price and works great. saved me lots of money and got my truck back on the road

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This is easily the best starter I've ever had.

I knew that it was great because the price was less than it cost to ship it.

I'm still trying to figure out what I'll do with it since I don't own a vehicle.

When I do, maybe I'll know what to do with the alternator.

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Saturday, December 28, 2013

Blueant S4 Bluetooth Stereo Speaker

Blueant S4 Bluetooth Stereo SpeakerThe S4 has a lot of good qualities. Excellent battery life, solid microphone and speaker, and it responds well to commands...if it responds at all.

My wife has the exact kind of voice for which voice recognition systems (Google voice search on her phone, or the S4 in this case) are NOT designed. She can't get it to respond to her voice to start up the process. Once it asks her to "say a command," then she can say "phone commands" and make a call. But she can't get it to activate while it's just listening, passively. Meanwhile, I'm in the passenger seat and can get it to work while speaking softly. In terms of voice recognition systems, my voice is perfect for them. So...it works great for me, not so much for her.

The microphone and speaker are great. The included micro USB cable is ridiculously short, but I guess they're thinking you would use the cigarette lighter adapter and not want too long of a cord in your car while charging. I just charge it at home overnight, and it lasts for days and days, even if left on by mistake for much of that time.

One thing to note you tell it to use "phone commands" and then it activates the phone's command system. It is merely a speaker and microphone for that system despite the whole "import contacts" it is not doing recognition itself. The phone is. So if you have a bad (or badly designed) voice dialing system on your phone, it'll be just as bad with the S4. I have an HTC Incredible and that's great. My wife has a Droid X and its need for one more level of confirmation slows her down. My rooted EVO 4G, for work, is somewhere in between. But that's the phone, not the S4.

The Blueant S4 missed the mark. The have used other devices and decided to upgrade. I bought the S4 and I am so disappointed. The quality is lacking, the commands are silly and hard to use and I have to speak the commands several times to get the S4 to select the right one. 2 out of 3 times it selects the wrong person from my address book and that SILLY trigger "BlueAnt speak to me" is driving me crazy. Not worth the money.

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I am surprised by some of the negative reviews. I have had this device for a couple of years now and I use it every day and love it. No one ever complains that they can not hear me and I can always hear others clearly. I keep it mounted in my car and always easily have hands free talking without having to clip anything to my ear. I wold highly recommend the device. Becasue I have two phones connectted at all times (work and personal), I use the activation of the voice dialing from my phones not the Blueant device so I can be sure which phone is being selected to call from. That seems to work best with two phones connected.

Read Best Reviews of Blueant S4 Bluetooth Stereo Speaker Here

Works well. The first one died a few weeks into use. Blue Ant was outstanding and fast replacement. A very good speaker!

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I've had this product for over a year now. The "true" handsfree worked great for the first 9 months. Then I began experiencing problems whereby the Blueant device's handfree feature could not hear me. I continued to use it for a few more months but would have to push the multifunction button so that I could speak to it. Close to 12 months after purchase, the listening mechanism stopped functioning altogether. I couldn't dial out unless I dialed through my Blackberry. I got an RMA and obtained a replacement. The replacement was brand new in a box...I was very surprised. Everything began working again. Now, another 6 months into it and the handfree feature is starting to breakdown again. I have to use the multifunction button to dial out.

I have other Blueant devices and they work great. It think there might be a reliability issue with the S4.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

GTMax Mini-USB 2000mah LED Car Vehicle Charger for GPS Garmin nuvi 1390T,1390LMT, nuvi 1370T, nuvi

GTMax Mini-USB 2000mah LED Car Vehicle Charger for GPS Garmin nuvi 1390T,1390LMT, nuvi 1370T, nuvi 1350T, nuvi 1350, nuvi 1300, nuvi 1260T, nuvi 1250, nuvi 1200, nuvi 885T, nuvi 880,My son gave me his old GPS unit with a burned out charger, so naturally I wanted to spend as little as possible on a replacement. A Garmin OEM replacement was over $21, so that was out of the question as I wasn't even sure his unit worked. Many of the imported knockoffs listed had poor ratings. People complained that the units didn't work correctly and were stuck in computer programming mode. I've always had good luck the GTMax brand of knock-off products so I put my faith in it and ordered it, apparently the first person do so as there were no reviews and it was dirt cheap at $1.99 plus $2.98 for shipping. But I figured, for under $5 total, I could throw it away if it didn't work. The product arrived quickly and I was again impressed with the quality construction of this GTMax product. I was even more more impressed when the big blue indicator light on the end that lit up when I plugged it in to the car charger and the perfect length coiled cord that stayed out of my way. The Nuvi 1200 unit imediately lit up and loaded and I was off on my first trip with no problems. I would highly recommend this well-priced, well-made product for those needing a replacement charger for their Garmin Nuvi 1200. Since they list many more models that take the same charger, you can probably assume it will also work well with all the models listed, It certainly did with mine.

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Instapark SS1203 3Amp Solar Power Charge Controller, 45 Watt at 12V

Instapark SS1203 3Amp Solar Power Charge Controller, 45 Watt at 12V
  • Provides voltage status
  • Prevents battery over-charging
  • Prevents Battery from over-discharge
  • Maximum 10 amp under load, compatible with Instapark™ solar panels and many other manufacturers'
  • CE & RoHS Certified with a standard 2-year manufacturer's warranty.

I Bought Instapark® 10W High-Efficiency Mono-Crystalline Solar Panel solar panel as well as UPG D5779 UB1280-F2 Universal Lead Acid Battery 8Ah in addition to Cobra CPI 480 400-Watt 12-Volt DC to 120-Volt AC Power Inverter with 5-Volt USB Output

I put together this setup for 108 dollars with free shipping.

The solar charge controller I was worried might be cheap, as soon as I got it (which took a while, everything else arrived Monday and this arrived thursday) I noticed the size was much smaller then how big I thought it would be, it fits inside your palm. I opened it to see what kind of circuitry is inside of it and I have definately seen cheaper made components so decided to give a go and tested the mA before and after the controller, it did seem to cut into the amount of power produced by the solar panel by at least 50 mA if not more, but the peace of mind that this controller gives is DEFINATELY worth the 12 bucks I spent.

Alligator clips are excellent

Would buy it again if I was building a setup like this again.

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works great, awesome for entry level tinkering with solar panels...i have it hooked to 4 8.5 amp hour batterys with a 6 watt panel

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I wired the into a solar panel to keep mt truck battery charged, it works perfectly! No more dead battery and no overcharge.

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if you like to build a solar charging system for light or rainwater collect system for pump. this is one of the product you need to get. In addtional, it is very small and save you a lot space to get a huge panel box to install.

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Purchase this about a month ago and it seems to be working just fine. You can't beat the price and I would not have a problem buying another one, in fact I did.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Optima 8020-164-FFP RedTop Group 35 Starting Battery

Optima 8020-164-FFP RedTop Group 35 Starting BatteryI purchased this battery in March of 2008 and the battery is now dead as of January 2009. I contacted Optima to attempt to arrange a warranty exchange, and they passed the buck by directing me to contact Amazon, to which I was told that they would not honor a warranty exchange, or refund on account of the shipping restriction they have on this item. I am now stuck with a $150 paperweight on my workbench, and have since replaced my battery with an OEM style replacement battery from my local auto store that will actually honor my warranty should I need to use it.

Optima batteries are excellent products that nary have any problems, but I will *NEVER* purchase another Optima product based on the lack of customer support that I received.

This product shipped from Amazon with no padding at all. It was cracked in several places, and some pieces of the plastic casing had broken off completely. It was no longer a sealed battery and was certainly not usable. I can't imagine this battery, which weighs nearly 40 lbs, ever surviving a trip through the mail without padding.

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I refused to accept delivery of this item. It was shipped with absolutely no protection. No padding, no box, nothing but a wrap of plastic to hold the spacer in place. The shipping labels were stuck directly to the bare battery. One entire lower corner was destroyed, broken plastic all the way into the actual cell. Since this is a gel cell type battery, no liquid leaked out, but I certainly was not going to accept a battery with a hole in the actual cell. These may be wonderful batteries, but shipping totally unprotected is idiocy.

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This is a great battery, however the people at Amazon were giving me much trouble for something that was their own fault. Either way, the battery is with me, although it arrived in a broken box!

Also, This battery DOES fit the Subaru WRX, this is the correct battery (8020-164), although all the other information on this page is incorrect (which I found out after talking with Optima themself)

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Battery died after 20 months. After calling Amazon I discovered that Amazon does not honor any warranty on this battery. Optima doesn't either! Local shops don't either! I had to replace the battery locally, but next time I'll at least have a warranty. DON'T BUY THIS BATTERY ON-LINE!!!!!

Monday, October 21, 2013

Forney 54727 Battery Tune Up Clip, 50-Amp

Forney 54727 Battery Tune Up Clip, 50-AmpI purchased these to attach to the cables on an inverter for my truck. They are ok and did the job, but could probably use a little improvement. It has a very soft clamping mount to put your wire into and you're supposed to clamp down on the wire with the copper crimp, however the size of the crimp was pretty small and it's very soft so I felt it necessary to break out the soldering iron and make it a bit more industrial. Also, the clamp teeth are sort of cockeyed, but in reality it's more of an aesthetics issue and I don't think it would affect it's operation. The spring seems sturdy enough and I expect it will hold up for quite some time.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

APPLE IPHONE 3G / iPhone 3Gs 16GB / 32GB, iPod Nano 4th Gen, iPod Touch 2nd Gen usb cable + car cha

APPLE IPHONE 3G / iPhone 3Gs 16GB / 32GB, iPod Nano 4th Gen, iPod Touch 2nd Gen usb cable + car charger + travel charger
  • Llight weight and handy for travel or using at work, IC chip inside recognizes a fully charged battery and automatically switches to a saver mode
  • Compact design and retractable coil cord are made for easy storage
  • Type: generic/aftermarket. Black high-impact plastic. LED power indicator. Fits into any 12V accessory outlet or car lighter jack
  • New generic USB Hotsync + Charging [2-IN-1] Cable Update your iPod at high speed with the latest music and data
  • Compatible With Apple: iPhone 3G / iPhone 3Gs, iPod Nano 4th Gen, iPod Touch 2nd Gen, iPod Nano 5th Gen

I bought this mainly for the car charger. I was worried about a generic charger working with the new iPhone 3GS, as it seems a lot of these aftermarket car chargers that are designed for older models aren't compatible due to the Firewire/USB pin issue, but for the price I couldn't pass up giving it a try. I received my chargers this morning what was received was a bit different than pictured (plugs a little different in appearance) but all three seem to charge the phone just fine. I haven't used the car charger long enough to tell if the charge rate can keep up with the heavy battery usage of the GPS-dependent apps, but I'll be sure to update this review if I find that it doesn't.

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I cannot believe Frys and Best Buy charge so much for iphone chargers. Here's a complete set so you can leave one plugged to the wall, one in your car and one plugged to the computer without having to move around the usb cable -all three for under 7 dollars! And they're black so they match the iphone. Plus the end which you stick on the iphone is easier to grasp than one that came with the phone.

My delivery from Eforcity arrived within a week of placing my order in great condition.

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Received this rather quickly. Nice price for what you get. The car charger did not work with the iPhone 3GS. The power indicator lit up, but would not not charge the phone.

Everything else works great. The usb cable is a retractable type, which is nice because there isn't a long wire laying around on the desk getting in the way.

I would recommend this if you are looking for a wall charger and usb charger to sync with. Maybe the car charger I received was just defective, as other reviewers haven't had a problem with theirs.

These chargers DO work with the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4S running iOS 5

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All three components work well with my iPhone 3gs, and I highly recommend this package as a spare set. For under $10 with shipping, this is a great deal!

Didn't last long, broke quickly. The plastic body was cheap around the attachment. I would not buy one of these again.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Cobra CPI-150 Micro Port 150 Watt Power Inverter (Black)

Cobra CPI-150 Micro Port 150 Watt Power InverterThis is a great product. It is perfect in (almost) every way. Smallest 150 watt inverter around. Very quiet. Works both in the car and on a plane. Has both a 3-prong AC and USB powerpoints. It shines particularly well verses the 'big-black' inverters for traveling for 3 reasons. 1) Again, it is so quiet that more often than not you can't even hear it; 2) when you re-start the ignition on your car it properly resets itself and keeps providing power (unlike the 'big-black' units which are universally dumb and unpower themselves); 3) if your car's battery voltage drops (because it is cold...older battery...or you are not running the engine) this unit tends to keep working whereas most others sense the voltage drop and quit working. The only minor quirk with it is that the silver-tipped spring that you insert into the lighter socket is overly sprung and in some cars you need to occasionally re-push it into the lighter. An annoyance but not a deal breaker. Overall I cannot recommend this enough. The only other unit that comes close is the Xantrex 175 watt unit (#813-0291). It has all of the above qualities except that the airline portion of the adapter would not seperate correctly from the cigarette portion of its cord. This resulted in the unit's tip being slightly loose at the plastic seem of the cigarette portion of the adapter.

Get this adapter for your laptop! I tried two other adapters and they failed to support the load on my Sony Vaio Z series laptop adapter. Plus it comes with a nice little case and has the airline adapter. There are two fuses one in the tip and one in the adapter to help keep things safe. Highly Recommended!

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I spent an absurd amount of time comparing the different inverters on Amazon and finally decided on this one. I'm glad I did, and I am a very persnickety designer. Unlike some of the other ones I was looking at, this one has a clean, slim design. Most inverters must be triple or quadruple the size and weight, if not more! This one is light and tiny, about half the size of a small paperback book, if even that. The plastic it is made out of is the high quality impact resistant stuff, not the fragile junk I was half expecting. The cord is detachable and is just right to keep the inverter out of the way of things like your shifter, but not too long that it's messy. The product comes with this nice little case for the inverter and cord which is pretty handy, perfect for storing it in the glove box. I just got it but have tested it out and it was charging my laptop. I recommend going with this one, you will be happy.

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The product is great overall. Incredibly small for inverters (will be perfect for flying with my laptop), the power is not underrated, and the pouch it comes in is very handy.

The only downside is that it is noisy. I've heard noisier inverters, but this thing is far from silent. I can hear the cooling fan distinctly over my car's engine and road nice (and I have a pretty loud car).

Overall still happy with the product. I needed an inexpensive, compact power inverter that can be used in a car and on a plane.

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I read a lot of these reviews and couldn't find definitive answers. So I bought the Cobra, and now I have some very specific notes I hope will help you judge whether this unit will work for you.

I used the Cobra CPI-150 in an American Airlines 737 plane.

The DC plug was the standard "car lighter" size, and the Cobra comes with an adapter so you can plug into that. If your plane has that miniport DC power, the Cobra will fit that too. (I didn't find its ability to fit in either port detailed in the product description, but it's a really nice bonus.)

When we were stationary and then taxiing on the runway, it charged my iPhone 4s via the USB port no problem, no interruption. I mention this because some folks had complained they didn't have power on the ground but did so once the plane was in mid flight.)

Then I plugged in an Apple MagSafe 85 watt power adapter with a 3 prong extension to charge up a 2007 17" MacBook Pro. It charged fine for a quick minute, then the Cobra began to reset, light turning from red to green over and over, first sending power to the computer, then nothing, then sending power, then nothing. I thought the problem was that the plane was still taxiing and under-powering the Cobra.

However, mid-flight, I was having the same resetting issues with the Cobra and the 85w Apple power adapter.

I borrowed a 60 watt Apple MagSafe power adapter, and that seemed to solve all the problems. In fact, I'm typing this review on my 17" MacBook Pro that is charging steadily with the Cobra and the 60 watt MagSafe adapter.

So, in conclusion, though the Cobra is labeled 150 watts, it doesn't even sustain 85 watts for longer than a few seconds. Booooo! Shame on you, Cobra. But 60 watts? Sure, no problem. And charging an iPhone via USB, heck yes, it can do that.

Happy, fully-charged journeys to you...

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Friday, June 21, 2013

Schumacher IP-1800I Instant Power 950 Peak Amps Jump Starter with 18Ah Internal Battery

Schumacher IP-1800I Instant Power 950 Peak Amps Jump Starter with 18Ah Internal BatteryThis Schumacher is great to have along in my outdoor excusions that take me into very remote areas. Feel so much more secure with all that extra jump starting power. I drive an X-Terra into the north Maine Woods area every winter; not a whole lot of human interaction

there so if feels good to have extra cranking power available. This model actually held up to several cold weather jumps on 4-wheel drives with juice left over to

power my computer, boom box, and utility light. Most folks probably would get buy with less cranking Amps but I feel so much more secure with extra juice.

Amazon had the best price that I have come across.

Travel in the cold, remote, dark, solo? The Schulmacher

makes it a bit more assuring. -Bootleg

I primitive camp at rendezvous and this unit keeps my cell phone chatged, my kindle fire charged and powers my laptop... Doesn't sound very primitive does it. lol

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I bought this not to jump cars for the building inverter I use it the power of 30 inch monitor for almost 2 hours at a place where there was no electricity.

nice unit.

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The options available on this model are great, the problem is that the batteries are faulty. I should have headed the warnings others gave in reviews but I figured I'd give it a shot. The problem is the internal battery would not take a charge, not even once. When it arrived I followed the directions and left it on the charger over 72 hours, after all that there was no charge at all so I put it back on for 4 days, after that the orange charge status light came on for about 5 seconds then it went red again. Log story short I tried charging a few more times and nothing worked, amazon will not take that as a return item but after talking to customer service they refunded me the entire amount, now I have to deal with disposing of this thing. I did end up buying a similar product made by Duracell, works perfectly.

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I haven't tried to jump start my v8 engine yet, but the 110 outlets operate most household appliances. Very user friendly. If it fails to jump start my car I will add more at that time.

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