Nautilus Portable Battery

[almac]

so i was in CT and saw this:

note the $99 price tag. note the original price was $169.

i am looking into alternate ideas for a camper battery to run small things like LED lighting, a radio, and maybe a laptop. also wondering if i could run a 12v heated blanket off this...

my thought was that if i went with a portable, i could avoid the costly hassles of a built in fused house battery system. with a portable, i can just plug it into the cig lighter outlet to charge it when im driving...

thoughts?

[madmazda]

I have this exact one it's great you can plug into the cig outlet to charge also a home one.... it has decent lights and I like the fact that the jumper leads are removable and there is a safety switch to torn the power onto the leads as well.... HOWEVER the pump cant pump long without over heating but just let it cool then turn it on and voila it goes again..... works great for cold winter starts etc....

[almac]

I have this exact one it's great you can plug into the cig outlet to charge also a home one.... it has decent lights and I like the fact that the jumper leads are removable and there is a safety switch to torn the power onto the leads as well.... HOWEVER the pump cant pump long without over heating but just let it cool then turn it on and voila it goes again..... works great for cold winter starts etc....

so, it actually has the required CCA to start a deli then?

[jessef]

so, it actually has the required CCA to start a deli then?

eeehhhhhh....... depends on how cold it is and how good your normal starting battery is.

Deep cycle batteries are not meant for heavy cranking like the Delica diesel's demand.

For $99 bucks it's a neat little unit. I would pass on using the pump though. Most small, cheap electric pumps fail quickly.

[DelicaFreaka]

Just bite the bullet and get one of these. Make sure not to misplace it in the bush as it will vanish (lol).........................Kirk out.

http://www.honda.ca/HPower/Models/Model ... =EU2000iCM

[delicat]

I've had the same for a while (it's now sitting in my garage) and tried starting a dead Deli last winter and it didn't work. But it works decent as an interior battery and I managed to pump quite a lot of air before it needed a break. At that price (got mine 1/2 price) it's hard to go wrong but don't expect it to meet it's claim (800 cranking amps)... that one is BS

[KevinToyne]

I got the other crappy tire portable battery similiar to Nautilus (can't remember what it was called....the orange and black thing) and believe it or not i've jumpstarted my Deli with it a couple of times now ( seems I might have some sort of leakage from some old wiring or something I'll have to suss out sooner rather than later) but back to the point.
If you try and jump start with these portable batteries right off the bat it gets real disappointing in a hurry but if you just hook the portbatt up to you deli batt and let it charge your delibatt up for a half an hour before trying to start it you should be right as rain. ( My battery has drained down to a pretty damn low lvl and i've been ready for despair but the portabatt does the trick with patience.)
On another side note: I've also found you can jumpstart with a honda civic using the same method. let the civic charge your battery for 20 minutes before trying to crank and you should be able to jump it as well no problem.

[dpd]

Similar story here, I have jump started my deli with a lil toyota echo, but only after running it into the battery for several minutes before trying to turn it over.

[fexlboi]

I got the other crappy tire portable battery similiar to Nautilus (can't remember what it was called....the orange and black thing) and believe it or not i've jumpstarted my Deli with it a couple of times now ( seems I might have some sort of leakage from some old wiring or something I'll have to suss out sooner rather than later) but back to the point.
If you try and jump start with these portable batteries right off the bat it gets real disappointing in a hurry but if you just hook the portbatt up to you deli batt and let it charge your delibatt up for a half an hour before trying to start it you should be right as rain. ( My battery has drained down to a pretty damn low lvl and i've been ready for despair but the portabatt does the trick with patience.)
On another side note: I've also found you can jumpstart with a honda civic using the same method. let the civic charge your battery for 20 minutes before trying to crank and you should be able to jump it as well no problem.

That said it just works if your main battery has some left over juice in it. This Crappy Tire portable batteries won't start a Delica with a complete dead battery.

[psilosin]

I have that exact Nautilus battey and its worked pretty well for the 3-4 years or so I have owned it. I have a bad habit of leaving lights on so I have used it to jump my Surfs many times. The pump works fine to blow up a tire, one of mine had a leaky valve stem so I had to use it at least once each day for a couple weeks to pump the tire up from pancake flat...takes a while to blow up a 31" but it never quit midway. In the summer I use it a lot to power an electric outboard fishing motor.

[madmazda]

I have this exact one it's great you can plug into the cig outlet to charge also a home one.... it has decent lights and I like the fact that the jumper leads are removable and there is a safety switch to torn the power onto the leads as well.... HOWEVER the pump cant pump long without over heating but just let it cool then turn it on and voila it goes again..... works great for cold winter starts etc....

so, it actually has the required CCA to start a deli then?

Well I tried mine out in minus 35 a month or so back as my timer on my block heater had gone past it's time and my l400 sat for a bunch of hours I tried starting the deli up using the in car battery it slowly chugged until the battery had no more power. So I grabbed my crappy tire one and pluged it in and with a couple cycles on the glow plugs and tons of horrible noise the ole' girl started up.... However I will remind you get someone to hold it while you try as with all the wriggling of the motor it will fall off and break the leads that you tighten on the battery itself as mine did. But since I happen to be a plumber with a torch some flux and non lead solder i repaired it no problem so that the end won't pull off. I've used is within the last few weeks to start other motorists who left their lights on and once again no problem...

[JMK]

When considering all the alternatives, I was looking at buying an extra spiral cell battery and a real good set of booster cables as better value for my money. The spiral cells are also leak proof so no danger of spillage, but you have more CCA. In the end I did something similar anyway:

I carry 2 Honda EU1000i generators that I connect in parrallel for running 1500 Watts of electric heat. I built an external tank dual fuel feed system to feed fuel to the generators so they don't run out of gas in the middle of the night like they normally do. I also have a third deep cycle marine spiral cell that is isolated with a Perko Switch from my main 2 spiral cells (it exists primarily to power the 1750 watt inverter). That makes for a good backup if for some reason the main batteries get depleted from leaving something on, as long as the third was isolated I just throw the Perko switch to 'All', and it's the same as hooking up a booster. If all three are dead then I use the generator(s). For convenience I ran a charging line with a 12V plug out to the front of the Delica, and installed a mating plug on the generator side so I can charge the batteries from the generator without lifting the engine cowling. I also installed one of the 120V electronic smart chargers from Princess Auto permanently connected to the battery terminals in the engine compartment, again running the cord out to the bush bar so I can plug it in easily. As the Deli is not my daily driver, I use this for maintaining the battery while the Deli is parked for a long time between ski trips to the Icefields. If I come back from a multi day ski trip and the Deli is sitting at the trailhead at -20, I plug in the 700W circulating block heater and the charger to the generators and have a cup of tea before attempting to fire the Deli up.

[TardisDeli]

Hi JMK, your setup sounds very sturdy. Where do you have the 3 batteries mounted (2 in parallel I assume are in the battery box, 24 size batteries ?). Love Perko switches on our boats, so strong, is yours on the engine wall? Where is your 3rd battery, I have my "accessories" Deep Cycle marine 27 battery marine inside wedged between the captains chairs while I figure out a better place (ie convert to side exhaust then undermount battery aft right). We are marine pleasure craft "check people" so know what the regulations are, just hard to fit all into the delica. Your 1750 inverter beats my 1000, but I just use my microwave with the engine running. Good idea on your fuel tank for generator. Just curious about yr setup, feel free to PM with photos. Or stay at the TardisDeli Motel next time you're in town. Cheers, Christine.

[JMK]

Grabbed some quick pics:

Also like you, battery here for now until our welder at work can fabricate something underneath, no more room in engine compartment, also note that '0' guage cable is not cheap, therefore you want the shortest run possible:


The inverter is connected to the 3 way switch (ersatz 'Perko'). glued to the top is a power bar for external mains or generator power source. You can just see the bottom of the 1500W heater from Costco.


Power cord setup. On the left the blue cord is for the block heater. Beside it you can barely see another plug, that's for 120V charger. The yellow cord is presently pugged into the 120V power bar. Just below the yellow cord at 5 O'Clock on the license plate backing plate you can see a little round connector, that is DC connection to plug generator to 12V Delica system for charging.


Generators: stored on roof rack. On left you can see home made parrallel cord to connect the 2 generators to double the output. On right generator you can see DC charging connector sticking out from ounder the handle. On left you can just see required MOD to tank cap for fuel line, ditto on right tank cap. Beside generators is outboard fuel tank to feed them.


Fuel line made from parts I scrounged around home and at work, that's why it's a bit of a mongrel set-up.

[madmazda]

I like your avalanche transceiver....I have the same one...lol..... since I live in Calgary I'd love to see your set up in person.... where in the rockies are you located??? That is an awesome idea...