Minimax - What Is It?

Gee I found it for $9.99 on Ebay, quite a price difference....This might help start your car, if your car starts quickly, the battery is just a little low....It only has 20k mah, so not a lot of juice....

Better to use as an emergency phone charger....I have several of these similar chargers...But if you want a reliable jump starter I would go with one of these...for $150

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N4UQL6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

..."Main Function &Specification:

1.Starting a vehicle approximately 10-20 times After fully charged.

This jump starter can start Gasoline car below 3.0L, but NOT SUIT DIESEL CAR!

Start car at one time on cold & hot areas.( on -45°C~80°C areas.like Russia)

Mini Size:13.2x7.5x2.5 cm

2.High Quality LED Torch, can lighting about 40 hours.Have "SOS model"(3long3short can last 120hours),fit for outdoors Help.

"Fast flashing model" for self-defense when meet attack.?use it shot his eyes!)

3.short circuit, over-charge, and over-heat protection,very safe.

4.After fully charged one time, can keep about months.Normal use can keep 3-5 years.

5.USB output 2A port for fast charging.8pin/30pin/Micro USB/Mini USB for choose.

6.Starting current:200A;Peak current:400A

Ebay link...

Not bad for $10 or $30 total after shipping cost

I could rewrite it in proper English, but then I guess it would be worth $99.

"( on -45°C~80°C areas.like Russia)" Seriously?

Russia isn't completely backwards. They have ovens and the like. They even use refigerants.

If the car's in an oven, I'd think it probably needs more than a jump start.

Just based on the size of the conductors relative to the physical dimensions of the unit, and having seen the ad on TV, I cannot see how those conductors would be able to carry the required amperage and starting voltage for any extended period of time without breaking down. Just take a look at the size of the cables on any battery charger that will also jump start.

I've only used that one I have for jump starting once. As you say, the cable supplied is quite thin & got quite hot after a bit of cranking. If this particular vehicle hadn't started, I would have had to wait a while before trying again.

As you know, the length of the cable affects the size. These have a short cable and they just work. Two different cars, both 3.5L V6's. 4 times now. The first time straight out of the box, the others after recharging.

The length of cable affects the voltage drop, not the current-carrying capacity. A one-foot cable will burn out at the same current as a 10-foot cable of the same size.

O.K. BUT, these things work. Time? I have used mine ( not MiniMax brand ) 4 times on cars that have not needed much cranking. On each occasion the battery was very flat. I too was sceptical. I only bought one when the guy i buy my batteries from told me he used one to start a diesel Landcruiser. I was still sceptical until i had need to use it. As i science minded person you would have formed an hypothesis; i.e. The conductors are too small. Now you would ordinarily perform an experiment to confirm or deny what others have written then publish your results. I have published mine. Jim:-)

I wasn't doubting that the setup worked - I have no reason to. I was just commenting on your statement about lead length.

There is another aspect when considering the lead length - ignoring the heating. The longer the leads, the higher the resistance. With a long run of small CSA cables, it's quite possible that the resistance will reduce the current (= drop the voltage) to the point where the engine won't crank.

I've had similar problems with DC power cables to motor drives. Cables which on the face of it seemed ok in terms of current carrying capacity/heating were causing low voltage tripping at times of high current demand (i.e. high acceleration rates) because of the long run length.

If it sounds too good to be true...............................................................................it probably is.

You need some serious energy density to start a V-8 these days.

I have a couple of LiPo copter bateries that could run my house for a few seconds! They are 3s (~12v) 2500mAH with a 30C rating. The "C" rating is the discharge capacity to know what max discharge you can get out for a few seconds. 30C means the mAH * 30 is the amperage for 10sec burst (70Amps/10sec). A good LiPo can put a charge on a car battery pretty quickly.

The trouble with them is they are very picky about charging, storage and discharge. You can't charge them fully and stick them on the shelf and expect them to be serviceable when you need them. They like to be stored just above their lowest voltage. Not a good choice for an emergency battery.

LIon cells like 18650 are much better but don't have the "C" ratings like LiPo do. If an 18650 can deliver 2500mAH then that is the max and so it has a "C" rating of 1.

I have a similar device. I also have one of the large jump starters like the one in Solar Eagles post #2 which is better but not convenient to carry around. The mini jump starter lives in a pocket in the back of my car plugged in to the rear 12V socket so that it is always on charge when the engine is running. It works fine with phones, laptops etc. & I have used it to jump start a friends 2 litre Nissan X-Trail after he flattened the battery by leaving the lights on. It started the Nisan easily.

If it is being sold on "as seen on TV", buyer beware. 99% of the items sold are an outright scam. They make their money on the S&H charges that can be more than the item is worth. Even if you return the item, you have to pay for the shipping, so you will be out that also. Something that is advertised for $19.95, but wait; "we will double the order"; just pay separate handling can end up costing you more than $50. This is a very common scam. I don't understand why the federal trade comm or consumer fraud doesn't investigate it. It is probably legal, but very unscrupulous business practice.

Thank you & thank you Lyn for the chuckle.

I think the reason the federal trade commission doesn't look into this companies practices is because they made a donation to the Clinton foundation.

The issue with them is, they interface with your car's 12V system via the cigarette lighter socket (although now I guess they are called an Aux Power outlet). The contacts, terminals and wire for those outlets is extremely limited, about 10A max. So if your engine needs 60CCA (cold cranking amps), all you are going to do is pop that fuse at best. So what you must do is plug it in and let the aux battery trickle into your main battery, then after a while, unplug it and try cranking from the main battery.

Why they work most of the time now is because MOST vehicles built within the last 10 years or so have an automatic low voltage cutoff for the battery, so when you drain the battery so far, it cuts power to everything so that it doesn't drain completely. That means in order to re-start, it just needs to be boosted back up above that threshold. The people selling these little Li battery pack things know that and take advantage of it. But if your car doesn't have that feature, you may end up waiting hours for that little Li battery to recharge your main battery. Still, if totally stranded it's better than nothing.

I have one that I mainly use for the cell phones, but I have used it twice for restarting. Once on my 2013 Ford Flex (full size wagon) it started in a minute or so, it has that cutoff feature. But my wife has a 2001 Prius which, despite having the big power battery for the motor, uses the regular 12V battery for the starter. It's too old to have the cutoff feature so sure enough, it took 2 hours for the Li battery to charge her main battery to where it would restart the car.

PS: don't be fooled by the "specsmanship" marketing ploy. They will often show a big number for "surge amps" or CCA, but although it might be true, was done in a lab under ideal test conditions. They leave out the part where the real limit is in the circuitry you connect it to your car with. There is a reason why jumper cables are not made with 14ga wire!

The unit that I have does not start the car through the 12V system. It comes with a plug in lead with clips to attach to the battery terminals.

I own and have used one of this type. i had a dead flat battery that wouldn't light dash instruments. I connected one of these, straight out of the box, and started a 3.5L Mitsubishi. I was surprised. We also have TV ads for LiCo starters but for AU$300 plus P&H. Many Auto stores stock them for about AU$130. The TV ad makes a big deal about them being LiCo but as i understand it that is old tech. and not very safe. Without getting off my ass and going out to the car and getting the box out i will say that the one i bought isn't LiCo, could be wrong. Well worth having. Jim