Every modern car since the beginning has been sold with a battery that provides power to an electrical starter to start the engine. Moreover, it provides additional power to the air conditioner, radio, lights, and any other electrical component.
As with any battery, they lose power when in use and need to be recharged. On a car, an alternator is used to create an electrical current that is then sent back to the battery. Unfortunately, batteries do suffer the fate of losing their ability to hold power and will one day die, making your car unable to start, leaving you stranded.
A typical way of getting going again is to find a kind, willing person who will assist in jump starting your car. Jumper cables are used to connect a secondary battery to power your car and allowing you to start the vehicle. Although, what if nobody is around? What if you’re afraid of asking for assistance? To make a two person job a self-served action, RAVPower has a new option for those who wish to take matters into their own hands.
Welcome to my review of the RAVPower portable car jump starter. Throughout this review I will discuss the unboxing, design, functionality, and my final thoughts of the product. I would like to thank RAVPower for providing this product.
The Unboxing and Design
As it mentions in its name, RAVPower’s RP-PB27B-02 charger is a portable car starter and therefore, needs to be easily accessible and work every single time.
To assist with travelling, RAVPower includes a portable plastic case that contains all of the bare essentials for your portable car starter. Closed by two strong plastic clips, inside the traveling container is the car starter itself, two chargers, a short flat USB cable, documentation, and the jump starter leads.
Since the car starter uses its own internal 12,000 mAh battery to jump start your car, sooner or later a recharge will be required. To best suit everyone, RAVPower provides two different methods of charging the unit. Option one is to use a wall outlet DC adapter, the other option is to charge your unit via a car cigarette lighter.
When it comes to the design of the car starter, RAVPower wrapped the outside with a rubber coating that is resistant to drops and scratches, but does happen to pick up a lot of dirt and dust. On the top of the unit is your power button to wake the unit and show the current battery power status. Furthermore, a press and hold turns on the front facing flash light.
In typical RAVPower fashion, the flash light is incredibly bright and acts more as a flood light rather than a directional one. Continuing to click the power button makes the flash light flash fast, slow, and then off, something that can come in handy if you’re stuck on the side of the road at night.
Along one of the sides of the starter is the battery status indicator, two RAVPower iSmart USB chargers (One 1A, the other 2A) for connecting phones and tablets, power input, and the car jumper leads connection port. On the other side and rear of the unit is just product information.
Functionality
The first thing I immediately noticed, was that the RAVPower carrying case is large and it can be difficult to find a hiding spot for it within your car. In most cars, expect to just have it lying in the trunk as it’s too large for the glove box and won’t fit inside any cubby-holes.
Fortunately for me, my car battery is in a working state and is charged fully by a brand new alternator. Therefore, for testing purposes, I used the jump starter to bring life to my old, dying battery, lawnmower. Thanks to the underpowered lawnmower alternator, I had more than enough opportunities to use the RAVPower jump starter.
On a fully dead battery, it’s as easy as connecting the Red and Black power leads, connecting the one-way directional connector into the RP-PB27B and attempting to start the engine. Like magic, the engine fired right up. Not once, not twice, but every single time I used the unit. After about seven or so start-ups, the RP-PB27B is still reporting 92% or higher battery status.
Cars on the other hand use a significantly larger battery then most other appliances and if you have a German car, as I do, you may find that if a jump start is needed, the internal battery of the RP-PB27B will discharge much quicker.
When the day comes to recharge the beast, at a battery capacity of 12,000 mAh, expect to wait multiple hours for it to be fully charged from a dead state.
My Final Thoughts
With this RAVPower charger happily resting in my car’s trunk, never did I have to worry about a dead battery or having to ask a stranger for a jump start. Its tough rubberized building material allows it to withstand the abuse it might experience during usage and the optional USB ports allow for your phone to stay powered in desperate need as well. While its size is cumbersome, it’s well worth the $74.99 safeguard of having to never be stranded again.
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Some images copyright RAVPower.
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