Well, it's maintenance related, and I have a third gen, so I'll try putting this here: I was in the midst of fitting a new battery in my jump pack, a Jump-N-Carry 660. I had the cables and wires in place, and the securing bolts on loosely. I started a final snug-down of the connector bolts. My first mistake: guess I really should have completely installed the positive terminal, then moved to the negative. Anyway: I started tightening down the bolt on the positive side, with a ratchet with extension, and it came in contact with a ground wire running to the 12 volt outlet. BIG puff of smoke! That grounding wire basically toasted it's insulation, and partially fused some adjacent wire's insulation as well. I tried replacing that wire, but the next time I tried hooking up the negative terminal I got a bit of spark. Not totally abnormal I know. But at this point I'm pretty much spooked. I have a "Product for Life Service Coupon". Basically you mail in your pack, complete, with the coupon and $50 (US). They will refurb or replace it. I'd already checked with them, they said if I do this it'll for sure get a fresh battery. And I really need someone with more smarts than me to overhaul this thing (or replace with refurb), I've no confidence in it now. I've written out a note to go along with it, outlining what happened, came clean. They spell out pretty clearly, on the coupon, that the unit can be totally abused, they WILL bail you out the once. Guess I'll be slinking down to the post office Monday.
Looks like a nice jump pack for sure. At least you should get the equivalent of a new one. I don't blame you for being spooked, I would be too.
ummm if its been opened and you caused the damage they may not replace it for you.. you might be wasteing your shipping costs, Id email and check first. aren't jump boxes around 50 bucks new at wally mart now?
Thanks, but I think it'll work out. I have emailed already. You really just need to get all the pieces back to them, so they can go into other refurbs. On the coupon: "Use it...abuse it. Heck, run over it with a semi-truck. No problem, we'll take care of the unit. It doesn't even have to be assembled. Simply return your ...". They sell a replacement battery to the public, fwiw. I think I'm ok, it's a US company (Clore) that backs it's products. Even if they are assembled in China, lol. I'll post how it turns out.
I'm not going to mail the old one in now, with new one on the way. I'll maybe do a complete rewire on it, get heavyish gauge red and black wires, fresh crimp-on eyelets. Just frustrating, what you can do with a little carelessness.
Sorry about your problem but thanks for info on Jump-n-Carry. I went to Amazon and ordered one with free shipping too! The one that I have had for years will not hold a charge anymore. It was a cheap one without a replacement battery.
Here's what the innards looked like: The older ones (like mine) have a dumb charger. Now they have a rudimentary smart charger that can be left plugged indefinetly, and there's LED status lights during charging.
My new JNC660 arrived yesterday. What I really like is the built-in charger is now "smart", no guessing as to how long to charge, you can leave it hooked up overnight, it won't overcharge. On arrival, without even charging, I opened it up and check the battery at the terminals with my Solar BA5: CCA: 340, and green light (OK) By comparison, the comparable battery I purchased from SaskBattery: CCA: 186, and red light (FAIL) And the original, 8 year old battery that came with the old JNC: CCA: 190, and red light (FAIL) So even with 8 years and a lot of abuse/neglect, it's ahead of the SaskBattery.
Mine just arrived yesterday. Thanks for info above. I like the smart charger too and the fact that you can use a standard drop cord to charge. I was walking around the mill last week and spotted one of our Heavy Equipment Garage mechanics jump starting a Maintenance truck. The jump box was blue so I walked over and sure enough it was a JNC 660! I asked him about it and he said that it was the best one he had ever used by far!!
Yeah should have mentioned: my original JNC660 has built-in charger too, but no indicator lights for the charging status, the charger just goes full tilt I believe. Albeit only 0.5 amps. The Manual gives various charging times, really a poor system, and likely what lead to the demise of my first one. Well, that and time. Info on the charger brick in my old JNC:
