How many Cold Cranking Amps for a jump starter?

Those are basically just batteries, so add another battery with an isolator, or better yet isolate two batteries as starter batteries and don't waste your money on something that is highly unlikely to start a truck. If I leave a light on and try to jump start my truck with my Dodge Ram, I generally need to let the Ram's alternator charge up the batteries some.

 

now starters with planetary reduction are available for 8 class trucks (for example Mitsubisi starters on Actros). It is better sulution really

 

Ya very doubtful one of those little portable power packs would start a big diesel. It takes 4 big batteries on a cold day, so unless that thing weighs 200 pounds doubt its up to the job.

 

Several years ago (still in a company truck) I was here at the house and the truck wouldn't start. Company policy is that if you're parked at the house and need a service call, it's on you...so I was bound & determined to get that thing fired up. I had my pickup sitting there idled up with jumper cables for over an hour trying to charge the batteries. I added a 1500 amp marine battery with another set of cables, but still no luck. I drove up the road to a scrap yard and borrowed 3 huge industrial batteries, brought them home and hooked them up with the pickup and the marine battery. FINALLY there was enough extra juice to get the truck fired up.

When I got it to the yard, they checked each battery...only 1 was dead.

If the truck's batteries aren't strong enough to fire it up, I highly doubt one of those jump packs will do anything to help. Not only that, but you'll have to remember to keep the jump pack charged up so that it is ready to go if/when you need it. You'd be better off just carrying a good quality set of jumper cables & trying to find another truck to give you a jump if you need it.

 

I've jump started trucks with low batteries with a pickup, too....every time it was below 20 degrees, that freightshaker the company had me in would need some "help" in the morning...usually hook the cables up to the pickup and within 5-10 minutes it would fire up. That day, though, one of the batteries was completely dead and wouldn't take a charge, and that was enough to cause a ton of problems. Had I known which battery was bad, I probably could have disconnected that one and it would have been easier to start...but I don't have any way to check the batteries here at the house to know it was only 1 bad battery causing the truck to not start.

Either way, though, a jump pack probably won't do a lick of good.

 

With my old batteries if I ran them too low and truck wouldn't turn over all I had to do was fire up the gas gen and turn on my old Craftsman 10/2/50 charger on the high setting and it didn't take long until there was enough to turn it over.