Possible to rebuild 12V jumpstarter/power supply?

I have a very heavy-duty Prestone Jump It 12VDC car jumpstart/power supply unit, it was made in 1998. The internal battery is just about dead, it can only hold a charge for a day or two. I have no opened up the unit.

Does anyone know if it is possible, or how difficult or safe it would be, to put a new battery inside this unit? This isn't one of those modern ones with a tiny little battery inside, this is a large unit, weighing about 20lbs., and appears to have a battery that's almost as large as a smaller car battery inside.

Take a few photos man.

Some of the wizkids on here might be able to come up with some intel.

I would, in fact I probably should have asked this eons ago in a different part of the forum here, but...

How can I anonymously share photos? As in, I like to keep myself very low-profile on ATS, and I wouldn't want to put the photos on any photo sharing site or anywhere that can be connected to me or any of my email addresses.

Thanks for looking!!!

Crack it open and find the battery part number. It's most likely an off-the-shelf sealed lead-acid. Should be easy to find.

reply to post by therainmaker


This is a little known fact.Lead acid batteries do not wear out.They build up corrosion on the plates.You can revitalize old batteries.Step one discharge the battery completely and recharge it with the posts reversed
(neg to pos-pos to neg) Step two drain the battery completely again and recharge the battery normally.(pos to pos neg to neg) Alternate steps one and two, three or four times this will allow the corrosion to flake off the battery plates.This will allow the battery to hold a full charge.This method can be done many times.Eventually the battery must be washed out to get rid of excess corrosion settled in the bottom of the battery.Then you will have to add new acid and water.
This method works best with a low amperage charger and it does take a few days to accomplish but well worth the effort.Batteries aren't cheap!

Originally posted by therainmaker
I would, in fact I probably should have asked this eons ago in a different part of the forum here, but...

How can I anonymously share photos? As in, I like to keep myself very low-profile on ATS, and I wouldn't want to put the photos on any photo sharing site or anywhere that can be connected to me or any of my email addresses.

Thanks for looking!!!

Just use photobucket. I use it all the time for photo sharing on the forum. You can lock the files so only you can see the ones that aren't for sharing etc etc

Seems to me this might be a device that will probably be more expensive to repair than to just get buy a new one.

Try Batteries Plus or some battery recycling place.
You may also want to check places like eBay.
You may find an slightly different model that might have the exact part you're looking for.

[edit on 2-6-2008 by Alxandro]

Thanks folks!

I did just open it up carefully, there's just a typical 12V, 20A battery inside, reminds me of what's used as a backup battery on a commercial alarm system.

So...does anyone know where I can get a good deal on one of these batteries? The one I have here is actually corroded and even cracked; I do not think it would be wise to keep it.

Any electronics supply store should stock them or something that will work. Local would be best so you can recycle the battery and recover the core cost, but if no options are available to you just google the part number that should be printed on the housing. Be prepared to pay shipping.

That's not good if it's corroded and cracked. Is acid seeping from the crack? Check the connections inside the charger for damage.