Cell Phone Charging

Most people I know don't bother to unplug the A.C. end. They leave the cable plugged in so that they can just plug the other end into the phone.

And of course I have noticed over at the State Fair they have charging stations where people can charge their phones if they get low. That is just the phone end of the cable dangling out of the wall box. The cable is frequently very beat up.

I saw one man walk up, plug in his phone, stand there for a minute and unplug. I'm not sure how much of a charge he got.

Bill

In a parking lot, I came across a taxi driver with his hood open, a flat battery inside, him looking for a jump start.

He'd already attached cables to his car battery and was just casually holding both leads in one hand, with remaining charge ready to bite...

I made my excuses and left.

It has been a long time since I had or gave someone else a Jump that I had to try remembering the procedure.

Here is what came to My mind:

I bought one of the lithium emergency power jump starter battery. Those things amaze me. Got one off Tumu for about $ 25 and unhooked the battery on my Toyota 4 cylinder truck. It started the truck 3 times and I quit at that . It may have started it even more. For my truck and car I did buy a better one off Amazon for around $ 50 or maybe more. Have not had to use them yet. The better ones will not send out any power if the car battery voltage is below about 10 volts or you try to hook it up reversed. There is an over ride button that will send out power to a totally dead battery or probably evenif hoked in reverse. The cheap ones do not have this feature. They even have phone charging sockes.

Some interfaces are designed to be hot plugged and some aren't. USB is one of those that is. However, if your cell phone is currently(sic) charging at several amps as some of them do nowadays then it seems highly undesirable to unplug the charging lead because of the risk of arcing at the contacts as they are broken. When it has stopped charging it probably doesn't matter, as usb is designed for this.

Those features are nice, but why would a normal person buy it?

I made myself a pair of jump start cables from cables that were surplus from a telephone exchange. Very good cables, thick. That would be 1999. I carry them in my car, but I don't remember having ever used them. Maybe once?

A nice kit like you describe would probably have the battery die of old age in that time. For a garage or parking lot to have, yes, but a normal person?

I have jumper cables in my car also. That does not help if you are somewhere there are no others around to jump you off. I may neve use it,but like insurance it is conforting to know I have it if needed. Abou t 2 years ago I did not have one and the battery died in my car. Had to call my son to come and jump me off. Just good that he was not working that day. I think that I have only had to use them 3 times in about 60 years of driving.

Raise a person in the way that he should go, and when he is older, he will not depart from it.

Not so much lately, but I've done just that at least 30 times. People who see the cables know what I need. Someone will always stop and help. It takes under 5 minutes. Even with crummy cables one can wait until the dead batttery is charged a bit. That takes another 5 minutes or less.

One time a young pretty black girl stopped. Usually girls won't stop at all. I think she was the first, black or white**. Maybe they're afraid. But she wasn't. She behaved normally. In return for her kindness to me, I didn't attack her. That seems fair. I don't think she appreciated it because she never thought I was going to attack her in the first place.

Yes, when I had an old battery it went dead at a hamfest and a guy jumped me with one of those. Amazing. I don't get it. I've seen regular (cheap, not very thick) battery cables get so hot while giving a jump that the insulation melted, but the cables on these new things are much thinner yet. Yes, engines are smaller and starter motors use less current, but not that much less current, and these wires are even thinner.

In case no one else is around.

You're supposed to charge it every 6 months. I should do that soon.

Me too.

I don't think your son will come for me, even if he's not working.

In addition to the cables, I used to have Battery Buddy. When the voltage gets too low, it disconects the battery. Then you have to open the hood and press a big read button. The first one lasted about 10 years. Got used quite a few times. When it failed they weren't selling them except on ebay or something, came in a plain brown box. It only lasted a year or two. They must have been rejects t hat the company would not sell until it went bankrupt, someone bought it and sold everything whether it was good or not.

The only equivalent thing I could find was Priority Start, 3 or 4 times the price. But it works great, and I don't have to open my hoood or even get out of my seat. No need to get wet in the rain. Just press the brake pedal or something that uses more current than an LED, and it reconnects the battery. You can almost hear the motor turning that moves the contacts inside back to each other. Battery Buddy had a spring you had to move with the big red button.

I used it on the 2000 Solara and there was plenty room. On the 2005 solara I have to buy the physically smaller size for there to be room.

You do have to reset all the presets on the radio, and supposedly my car monitors performance and makes changes, and forgets everything when the battery is disconnected, but I've never noticed performance get worse or better.

Also

Something strange about the Toyota battery cable terminals, however. It's hard to get them tight enough.

I'd just call the automobile club.

...

I'd just phone the automobile club.