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jump starting 24 volt equipment

steve15

Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2015
Messages
7
Location
up north canada

Queenslander

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
1,228
Location
Australia
That's a bugger,should be a simple project .......drive an alternator with a Honda motor..... what went wrong?
 

chriskarnaze

Active Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Messages
31
Location
San Diego, CA
Does anybody know of a commerical (make/model) 24 volt jumper box that is ac powered and could jump 2 12 volt 1000 CCA batteries on a dozer, assumming the batteries are dead.
 

chriskarnaze

Active Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Messages
31
Location
San Diego, CA
What am I missing. My dozer has 2 oversized batteries that weight a lot. The jump-n-carry looks like it weights about 20 lbs. If it had an ac cord, I could be convinced, but I don't see one in the description. Maybe if it is kept fully charged, it could crank my dozer for 15 seconds? But if it is cold, the dozer may take longer than that to start.
 

Jonas302

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2015
Messages
1,197
Location
mn
Your not missing anything a jump box wont work worth a darn on that dozer I used them daily in for years in the tow truck they dont last very long the batterys get weak Handy if your using it a lot and can afford to replace as needed but even then if it was cold you would need a couple to get a dead battery off and running on big trucks that were froze they were not of much use

If your looking for a ac powered jump you need a boost charger they will take a little time to charge you can use one 24v one or 2 12 volt ones or one 12v and switch batterys after they charge

Personally I find keeping good batterys to be well worth it Followed by a long set of very heavy jumper cables and the knowledge to use them
 

Tugger2

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Messages
1,366
Location
British Columbia
Nothing better than good batteries,except good cables going to the starter.My truckcrane has double runs of 4/0 from the batteries to the starter,it 2 8D batteries running the 12 v starter. Just touch the button and the 6-71 lights up.
 

skyking1

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2020
Messages
7,465
Location
washington
I've always done the "charge 1 battery with jump vehicle alternator" followed by "charge other battery" and then hit if after I give a bit of charging. I have had battery carts to use, last one was the derrick outfit at the yard. I think it was a 4 battery cart :)
 

Randy88

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,149
Location
iowa
I believe my jump stater unit is a made by goodall, will do both 12 and 24 volt, engine driven, pretty simple concept and really handy to have on the service truck. The issue with using small batteries to crank anything 24 volt just enough to get them started is frying the starter solenoid and then having to take the starter off and get fixed or replaced completely, low voltage kills more 24 volt starters than anything and as of yet in this thread I've never seen that mentioned so I though I would.

As for frying electrical components via jump starting with excess voltage, things must have been hooked up wrong, a lot alternators when charging correctly for 24 volts will put out up 28-29 volts on the machine itself, especially if the batteries are very low or nearly dead. I'm not sure even computerized machines know if the alternator within the machine itself is charging the batteries or if your using a jump starter unit or even a welder to do the jumping with as long as you hook things up correctly. Done it thousands of times with many computerized machines and never yet taken a computer out or fried anything. But I have destroyed many starters over the years with low voltage and trying to crank it and get a machine going, maybe not on the spot, but over time trying to crank it when it barely rolls over..................will eventually get the starter. So after many thousands spent on starters related to low voltage, I did invest in a used jump starter unit, I think it paid for itself the first month from saved downtime alone.

We have also swapped batteries on most machines, to top thread semi batteries, that way, no matter where we are at, or what machine we have, we can if need be, switch batteries out on a dead machine with even those off the service truck or spares we keep on the service truck, then figure out which battery is bad, [usually a dead cell in one battery] and charge the other good battery and put it back in the machine along with a new good battery or a new battery, whichever we have on hand in the field. This whole concept of every machine having their own specific battery size and dimension and needing that specific battery was enough to put me over the edge with so much wasted time.
 

Tugger2

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Messages
1,366
Location
British Columbia
Speaking of jump starting with welders , any opinions on that? My 75ton Lima is 24 v we just put a new double fan heater in it not thinking of the draw on the system after a few starts and stops throughout the day next day dead batteries in the middle of the shift twice . I jumped with the welder,400 amp lincoln diesel with manual throttle/idle. I turn all settings as low as they go and leave it running at idle. Hooked to 24 v it takes 5 mins to bring the batteries back up.
 

kshansen

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
11,129
Location
Central New York, USA
Occupation
Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
All this talk of jumpstarting and such reminded me of what we had at the shop. Not sure if it was accurate but it was always referred to as "The Airplane Starter". This was basically a huge battery charger, think of a 3 foot cube on wheels that on anything other than a flat smooth surface took two men and a boy to move more than few feet. It plugged in to a 440 outlet and as I recall put out 32 volts. Hook that up to a dead 24 volt machine in freezing temps and it would crank over like the middle of the summer after a short lunch break!

I have a feeling it would not be good to connect it to any of these computer controlled machines as I bet it probably did not put out pure DC voltage. It also had at least 200 feet of cord on the input side which might have been one of the reasons if you touched the handle while power was on you would feel a little tingling! Not 100% sure but think it ran off 3 phase and only had a three conductor cord. A few years before I retired company had MSHA inspectors who said it was not to be used unless we converted to 4 conductor grounded cable and that included rewiring all the outlets it was used on, so it got put back in the corner of shop with a "DO NOT USE" tag on it!
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
I have a jump starter I bought from Napa and it works wonders. I have been using these things for years and I've never found anything better. I've jumped multiple big machines in a day with no problems using them. I had one go bad some years ago when the 12/24 switch shorted through. Another employee was using it when it blew up. I took the pieces back to Napa and showed them why it blew and they gave me a new one. No problems at all ever since. I bought four of them for the various branches at the Cat dealer and they did away with those leased jumper monstrosities. We tossed the big battery cart with the two 8D batteries. I use this box all the time on appraisal work for machines that couldn't be caressed by charging one battery at a time off the pickup.
 

lantraxco

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
7,704
Location
Elsewhen
Yeah, used to use the old man's Lincoln 400 amp stick welder to start machines, lowest range all the way down, hook up the cables and turn the crank until the headlight/work lights got nice and bright. Wait five minutes and roll her over.. shop lights might dim a bit now and then, but if there was anything left of the starter motor, they'd turn. NOT recommended with anything having transistorized components, this was back before even electronic ignition was a thing.
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,260
Location
Canada
The problem with using a stick welder is the initial voltage spike (open circuit volts) could be over 90 volts and you don't know what the voltage is when hooked directly for jump starting. It's similar to gouging where it's been suggested the voltage could be 35-40 volts.
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
We never connected the leads unless the key was already in the start position. As soon as the leads touched the battery terminals, the starter was spinning or sparks were flying. Never had a failure that could be attributed to jumping that way. That was on old machines though.
Scarcella had a fleet of 631 and 641B machines in a big storage yard southeast of Mosses Lake. They wanted to trade some of the relics and I had to go look at them. The people there weren't real happy when I told them I had to see them running and be able to move all the functions. They started every one of them with their welding truck. It was a smokey valley by the time I left there.
 

chriskarnaze

Active Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Messages
31
Location
San Diego, CA
Napa has the Jump-N-Carry JNC1224, which looks like a much bigger version of the Jump-N-Carry that was listed earlier. Amazon has it for around $350 which is $100+ less than Napa. It weighs 40 lbs. I'm guessing this is the one JohnC has (or something comparable).
 
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