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Video: Shell Portable Lithium Jump Starter takes risk out of jumper cables and cold, dead batteries

526 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness

It’s a bad feeling to go out to your vehicle on a cold, dark night to find the battery is dead. Now what? Who or what will help you jump start the battery and get the vehicle going?

This what the Shell Portable Lithium Jump Starter is designed to do. You might need to take a look at one. 

by Leon Pantenburg

Disclaimer: Shell supplied the product reviewed in this post. There is no sponsorship relationship between Shell and Survival Common Sense. Nobody had any input in the contents. All I ever promise in any review is a fair shake.

Growing up on an Iowa farm, it seemed like everybody knew how to use jumper cables to jump-start a cold, dead car battery on a cold, blustery winter day. Most people carried a set of jumper cables in their vehicles, and it was common courtesy to help strangers jump start their cars.

A car battery will fail at the worst possible time, according to Murphy’s law.

But I got less helpful as vehicles got more computerized and complicated. Today, jumping another car with your own could cause damage to both vehicles’ electrical systems. And what happens if you’re all alone and stranded somewhere with no other vehicle in sight? What happens when you’re deep in the national forest, it’s getting dark, and the nearest help is at several miles away?

I’d been looking at portable jump start systems for a while, and jumped  (dad joke) at the chance to try out this Shell Portable Lithium Jump Starter.

Here are the specs on the unit, according to the Shell website.

Brand Shell
Battery Cell Composition Lithium Ion
Voltage 12 Volts
Item Dimensions LxWxH 9.17 x 3.46 x 1.42 inches
Vehicle Service Type All of the above

 

  • SAFE, MULTI-LEVEL PROTECTION: This 12V auto battery booster has 10 built-in safety features including spark, reverse polarity, high-temperature, over-current, and over-voltage protection.
  • HIGH-CAPACITY MOBILE CHARGER: With 16,000mAh capacity, 10W wireless charger and 3 USB output ports (2 * USB 5V 2.4A and 1 * Type C PD 18W 5V 3A/9V 2A/12V 1.5A), Shell’s jump starter can quick-charge your tablets, mobile phones, and other devices.

    The Shell unit is compact and fits under the hood easily.

  • POWERFUL AND PORTABLE: A powerful car starter that is capable of jump-starting dead batteries on most vehicles (for gasoline engines up to 7 liters and diesel engines up to 3 liters.); it works with cars, trucks, motorbikes, ATVs, lawnmowers and boats.
  • MULTI-FUNCTION DEVICE: Use Shell’s jump starter as a portable mobile device charger, LED flashlight, and lighting signal for emergencies; it’s a handy gadget you should have in your car.
  • WHAT YOU GET: Jump starter, smart and safe jumper cable, Type C cable, USB A cable, 2.4A car charger and storage case; Shell’s battery jump starter comes with a limited 2-year warranty.

How it plays out:

A car that sits outside for a couple days in deep snow and cold might need a jump start.

Safety: The correct way to jump start a vehicle is to hook the cables to both red (positive) posts on the batteries. The black (ground) should be hooked to the negative post of the good battery, and to the metal frame of the vehicle with the dead battery. This prevents a spark from being created that could ignite any fumes from the battery or engine.  The Shell Jump Starter prevents any potential explosions because there is no connection to another vehicle. The other safety features built into the system assures nothing will blow up you’re while trying to start your rig.

Charge other things: The jump starter can charge a variety of electronic devices. In effect, it is an insurance policy that your phone, lap top and other devices will never run out of electricity. This works really well.

Maneuverability: What happens if your car dies in a parking spot that is inaccessible to another vehicle? Or you’re stuck in a traffic jam, there is gridlock, and your car dies? It could be that nobody’s jumper cables are long enough to get a connection.  There might be no way to maneuver a vehicle to connect to the dead battery.  In these cases, the jump starter could prove to be invaluable – all you have to do is take it to the stalled vehicle and attach the clamps to the battery posts.

Compact: The battery booster is small and easily packed. That means it will be easy to pack, and subsequently, the unit will be taken along. It also means it could be carried into the backcountry to jump a dead battery on an ATV.

Flashlight and signaling: There is no such thing as too many flashlights or signaling devices then there is a crash or traffic accident. Even if you don’t need the jump start capacity, this battery booster will be really handy. The flashlight should last a long time with the lithium 12 volt battery in the unit.

 

Do you need a Shell Jump Starter?

Testing emergency gear when there is no emergency can be difficult. But based on a lifetime of starting cold, dead car batteries I see this unit as being extremely valuable in your vehicle survival kit, and your preparedness gear in general. All of the dead battery horror stories in this post I’ve seen, or they have happened to me.

The Shell Jump Starter retails for $129.99. Compare that price to that of a service call or a tow truck. The booster could pay for itself the first time you use it.

I’m keeping my Shell Jump Starter with my preparedness gear and it already has a permanent place in my pickup. I’ll update this when I use the jump starter. Now it’s in my vehicle, I’ve gone back to helping strangers jump-start their vehicles.

Update: My sister-in-law called me from the gas station – her car wouldn’t start, and it seemed like the battery was dead. I took the Battery Booster over and it worked like a charm. The car started within a minute of everything being hooked up. Now, my sister-in-law wants one in case she has to jump start her jet ski. A lady watching us start the car asked for info on where to get a Battery Booster.

Order your Shell Battery Booster here.

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