DieHard Portable Power 1150 Jump-Starter/AC-DC Power Source
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DieHard Portable Power 1150 Jump-Starter/AC-DC Power Source Reviews


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3.41 of 5 view all 80 reviews
Rating Summary | 64% of reviewers recommend (50 out of 80)

“Don't Buy It”

I AM
a car owner, relying on public transport, fixing cars, car enthusiast
Cons
Does Not Jump Start
 

DieHard Portable Power 1150 Jump-Starter/AC-DC Power Source — 

Historically, I love Sears Craftsman and Diehard products, but this particular jump starter does not work. The problem started at the store. There were only two boxes and both looked open. When I brought it home, it was more clear that the box I picked had minor dings and scratches but it was sold at full price. I would have thought it should have been discounted for being used. This alone wasn't enough to disappoint me.

The problem started the next day. I charged the battery overnight and used it the following day. I have a 12.1V car battery with a charge 9.6V or 80%. When I tried jumping my car, both clamps started to melt and one caught on fire. I was able to blow out the flame before my car was toast. Needless to say, it did not start my car. After I got things settled, I had the nerve to try it again and it still did not start my car. I quickly returned it as shown in the attached image.

Last edited on Nov 17, 2009

DieHard Portable Power 1150 Jump-Starter/AC-DC Power Source

is not recommended by aok2me
Posted on Nov 17, 2009
Comments about aok2me’s Review

Displaying all 7 comments

aok2me wrote on Dec 2, 2009 at 12:23AM

 
In response to JW3711's comment from Dec 1, 2009 at 2:38PM:

I forgot to mention that the towing company jumped my original battery with a portable jump starter. That was my inspiration for buying this charger. The difference was that the professional jump starter worked on the same battery. After my battery got jumped, I check the voltage while I was driving to Autozone and it was charging and maintaining the charge at 13.8V with the lights and heated seat on. My car has a live in-dash diagnostics to do this test.

The difference between this result and the results from my new battery is that the new battery jumps back to 13.8V quicker during the drive. I don't know if this necessarily means my old battery is dead. It just got jumped and was not fully charged, so I was not able to do an apples-to-apples comparison with the new battery. I wanted to do an apples-to-apples comparison, but the Die Hard charger was not able to start my old battery after doing the Autozone load test. The guy at Autozone jumped back and forth saying the battery was good and bad because it was too hard to tell. It would have also been nice to have my old battery as a backup, but since I couldn't jump it, I returned it to get my core charge back. The original battery was 880CCA/1010Ahm/Group 95R and only 4.88 yrs old. I then assumed that it was close to dead because I had electrical symptoms days before. It would have been nice to have a more conclusive answer.

aok2me wrote on Dec 1, 2009 at 10:21PM

 
In response to JW3711's comment from Dec 1, 2009 at 2:38PM:

I had the battery jumped by a towing business and I drove it to Autozone to load test it. The result was inconclusive. It recharged as it should, but I bought a new battery just in case. Nonetheless, after the load test, it was drained and I drove home with my recently purchased battery. That's when I bought the Die Hard charger to try to jump my old battery again. It didn't work.

JW3711 wrote on Dec 1, 2009 at 2:38PM

 

Also, to properly check a battery you must check it with a battery load tester that will test amperage, and it should be fully charged to test, voltage does not tell you a whole lot because it doesn't do the "work". That is why they sell your battery by the amperage rating for your specific application.

JW3711 wrote on Dec 1, 2009 at 2:31PM

 

The battery was internally shorted. If it only had 9.6v as tested with a multimeter, the battery had a damaged "cell" inside and will cause the effect you describe. Be happy the battery did not blow up. Each cell in a 12 volt battery is approx. 2 volt each and the are 6 cells. (6 volt has 3 cells). Very common for batteres to fail that way after a few years.

ExTech wrote on Nov 23, 2009 at 6:42PM

 
In response to aok2me's comment from Nov 22, 2009 at 2:38PM:

Learn something new everyday. I didn't know that. That is a pretty good safety feature! Thanks for informing me!!!!

aok2me wrote on Nov 22, 2009 at 2:38PM

 
In response to ExTech's comment from Nov 22, 2009 at 9:14AM:

That's what I would have thought, but you really can't hook it up backwards because it makes a warning audible when this happens.

ExTech wrote on Nov 22, 2009 at 9:14AM

 

It sounds to me as if you hooked it up to your battery backwards!!!!! I own this exact model. Purchased it for my boat for emergency purposes. I have used it several times on my neighbors car it it worked great!!!

 "Disappointing"
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