Featured NOCO battery booster- is it time to come in for a charge?

Also, If you're in the Northern Hemisphere this is the time of year you need to charge your 12v batteries in your hybrid cars. They tend to to not get enough charge this time of year and your 12 volt will have a longer lifespan if you do this every winter.

 

I set one of the custom maintenance reminders in the MFD to remind me about the jump pack. My jump pack docs suggested every couple months.

 

I don't think you have that option in a Prius C - I know it didn't exists in my 2012 Prius C.

FWIW, you may want to look at the minimum temperature that unit will function at, since you have a cold snap moving in.

 

thanks! i will try to remember to take a look at mine.

 

How do you discharge your battery booster, to 'exercise' it?
I don't really have any high load usb-c loads.
I think I had it hooked up to my MacBook and/or iPhone.
Doesn't work on a HomePod mini.
Maybe I'll try today.
The Bluettis I've got supposedly benefit by periodically discharging to 0 (not really zero-built in safety) and then recharging to max, to recalibrate. But those I can attach to an electric area heater.

 

Maybe just a requirement for the Bluettis. They seem to report 100% even though not really, and then you don't get the full charge out of them, mostly when you really need it, lol. They're LiFePO4's, so it could be that.

I just brought in my battery jumper. It's been in the car for a couple months now, maybe, and still says 100%. For what that's worth.

 

I just thought of it: The thing has a built in light. I'll try turning that on.
edit: And I plugged in my phone, but it's already at 80%.
edit2: Phone doesn't seem to be taking charge; % doesn't change. Light has it down to 97%. If nothing else, it will show how long the light would last, say, in a power outage.
edit3: Forgot I had max charge set to 80% on phone. Duh.

 

I don't try very hard to fully discharge mine, though I usually do charge a phone with it or something, then recharge from there.

 

Lithium battery jump starter I have now is holding charge quite well. At least according to the charge level indicator on the unit. The last time I checked, it had been siting in the car for almost 3 years untouched but still showed 100% charge. But I had one that discharged while stored in the car and I could not use it when I needed it. For that reason, I now carry another jump starter in my car. Autowit Supercap2 Jump Starter. It does not need charging. It is a battery-less jump stater. I used it several times now, and it works great. It takes a bit longer to get ready using almost dead 12v battery, but worked fine within a few minutes.

 

I like that a lot.
My experience with batteries and generators is that they never work when you need 'em.