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<center>*Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.*</center>

<center>**- Lucius Annaeus Seneca -**</center>
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I've had it within my power to write this post for some time, and have been meaning to, however just never seemed to get around to it. Yesterday I read a post in my community, ***<a href="https://peakd.com/c/hive-139358/created">The Pew: Guns & more </a>*** by @andrastia about her time as a ***<a href="https://peakd.com/hive-139358/@andrastia/from-my-firefighting-days">park ranger</a>*** and a life hack about keeping disposable batteries charged. It prompted me to stop being lazy and get this post written. 

As a man who likes to be prepared I value equipment that helps me do so; I'm a shooter, hunter and love camping and off-roading in remote places so self-sufficiency is important too. I keep my skills sharp and my equipment up to date, relevant and in good working order, but things go wrong sometimes and so I have to be prepared for when that happens.

#### Jump starter power bank

This is my jump starter, a portable battery that can be used as auxiliary power if a vehicle's cranking battery has discharged; it also doubles as a power bank from which phones, laptops and other electrical appliances can be charged and as an emergency torch. As you can see above, it's compact which means it easily stores in my vehicle which is where mine lives at all times. 

It'll not start my vehicle if the battery is dead flat, however should it be depleted and is insufficient to crank the engine this pack can augment the reduced power level with its own and I'm on my way again, easy as that. 

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<center><sub>*The jump starter comes in its own carry case and includes a handy array of cables meaning it's ready to go to work for any application. I've had to add a USB to USB-C cable for my current phone but other than that it's good to go. Above you can see the torch in operation also - It's not super good, but remember, this equipment is for emergency use, not every day use so the torch doesn't have to be awesome, it just has to work.*</sub></center>

#### What's included

Below is the contents of the carry case. You'll see the battery pack itself and the battery clamps that connect to it to the vehicle's battery. There's even a series of lights on the battery clamps that indicate if they have been clamped to the battery incorrectly. Clearly, they need to go negative-negative and positive-positive. 

You'll also see an array of connection cables and jacks which allows the battery pack to be applied to a wide range of appliances for charging purposes plus the 240V charging adaptor to charge the unit from mains power.

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The unit has a peak current of 600A and a dedicated port for vehicle-starting and various other output ports to suit various applications: USB 1A, USB 2A, 12V 10A, 19V 3.5A and finally a 14V 1A input. I don't use them all, this is an emergency vehicle-starting device only for me, but they're there if I need and all of the cables and jacks also. It's pretty nifty.

Below is an image showing how its applied in vehicle starting. It's all pretty simple: Plug in cable to unit, the clamps +/+ and -/- to the vehicle battery, check the indicator light is green on the cables then start the vehicle. 

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I've had to use this unit a couple times although never on my own vehicle. It's worked perfectly each time.

My vehicle has a big V8 engine so requires a battery capable of 780 CCA (cold cranking amps) to turn it over so trying to start it with this unit from flat won't work. Most vehicle batteries are rated to between 300 and 500 CCA so this jump starter has been suitable for them. It's really quite impressive. 

I bought this unit when I had my last truck which it would have started easily from flat but am happy not to replace it with a larger unit as I have a second battery mounted in the engine bay of my LandCruiser so could jump off that if I needed to. This portable unit is a back-up or to apply additional power to the auxiliary battery in extreme situations. 

I know that being prepared, *a prepper,* isn't something that most people like to do or think about. I guess because people assume there'll always be someone around to help. It's not always the case though so I put effort into being prepared. It leaves me feeling confident. I'm sometimes the person others come to for help due the lack of their own preparation but that's ok; I don't mind, even if my mind boggles at some people's ignorance and lack of self-reliance. 
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This community, ***<a href="https://peakd.com/c/hive-139358/created">The Pew : Guns & more </a>*** is not just about firearms so take a look at the list of suggested topics including camping and equipment, survival, prepping, hiking and outdoor activities like off-roading and more. Feel free to aske me directly if your topic may be suitable.

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Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - *Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind*

<sub><sub>Any images in this post are my own</sub></sub>