Car Jump Starter reviews

Schumacher XP2260 1200 Peak Power Source


This is arguably the best type of car jump starters that we have. It has ON and OFF switches that activate the jump starting mode. Battery status LED indicates when the battery is fully charged or when it needs to be charged.

This will enable you always to have a fully charged jump starter every time you drive. It lasts longer as compared to the others that are less reliable. The product retails at affordable prices in our stores.

Suaoki T10 Portable Car Jump Starter


This jump starter has a high capacity of 12000mAh with a peak current of 499A that gives enough power to jump start your car up to 15 times. Two USB ports allow it to be used to charge other electrical appliances like smartphones and tablets.

Other outstanding features that make this product unique is the presence of an intense LED light that is adjustable in three modes. The jump starter is portable and durable, and it can easily fit into your bag that contains all your vehicle accessories.

VR Cameras

You don't see the world around you in a rectangle or a square, so why should limit yourself to that view in photos and videos? The first wave of 360-degree cameras has arrived, and they let you record everything going on around you at once. If you have a VR headset, such as the OCULUS RIFT DK2 or Google Cardboard, you can enjoy that trip to the Grand Canyon, family birthday party or rockin' concert in virtual reality and really feel as if you were there. Or you can just watch 360 clips on your phone or laptop after uploading them to YouTube or Facebook.

After testing several 360 cameras and evaluating them on video quality, field of view, water resistance, ease of use and other factors, our top pick is the 360fly 4K ($499). Although it doesn't take a full 360-degree image in every direction, its image quality was among the best, it was easy to use, and its app was the most full-featured. Our favorite budget model is the Samsung Gear 360 (2017), which costs $179 and takes great pictures for its size. However, it only works with Samsung smartphones and some iPhone models. Another low-priced option is the LG 360cam ($135), which doesn't take as good a picture, but is even smaller, and works with many more phones.


How We Test 360-Degree Cameras

You get a lot of weird stares and comments when you test 360 cameras. By now, people are used to seeing action cams like the GoPro, but both the shape and way you mount 360 cameras immediately draws attention.

As they need to capture a full 360 degrees of action, most 360 cams are designed with more than one bulbous lens. And, if you don't want half of the image to be the side of your head, you have to mount the camera pretty far from your body.

You'll also want a selfie stick. With few exceptions, the shape of most of these cameras made them hard to securely hold in my hand.

I attached a long selfie stick to the front of my mountain bike, and, after connecting various cameras to it, went for a number of rides along the George Washington Bridge, and other locations in northern New Jersey. Along the way, I was stopped many times by people wanting to know just what I was doing. A few cognoscenti who recognized what I was doing would exclaim, "Cool! Is that a 360 camera?"

All of the cameras work with a smartphone in a similar manner; when you turn these cameras on, they all create a Wi-Fi hotspot, which you then connect to with your phone. From there, you open the companion 360-degree camera app, and use your phone's display as a viewfinder. For the most part, connecting the cameras to my iPhone 6s (or Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge) was an easy process, and the video feed from the cameras was relatively smooth and stutter-free.

Not all the apps made it easy to share videos, though. Some, such as Kodak's and LG's, required me to download my videos to a computer and convert them there into a format that could be interpreted by YouTube and Facebook as a 360-degree video or photo.

What to Look For When Buying a 360-Degree Camera

360 cameras tend to fall into two camps: small, pocketable stick-style devices, and larger squarish (or circular) cameras. The former, such as the Samsung Gear 360, tend to be less expensive, and are designed for more casual and impromptu shooting. In the second category are cameras such as the Garmin Virb360 and Kodak Orbit360 4K, which are larger and more expensive, but tend to produce higher-quality video.

Be sure to think about how you plan to use a 360 camera before you purchase it; if you want to get some fun selfies with friends, then the stick-style cameras will fit your needs well. If you want to capture hair-raising exploits when you go skydiving or skiing, then a larger camera may be the better option.

Power bank 7000mah

Most power banks need you to connect up a cable, but if you’re new phone comes with support for wireless charging, chances are you’ll be keen to leave behind the hassle of plugging it in.

In addition to the usual ports, this power bank (like GOAL ZERO YETI 400 SOLAR GENERATOR KIT ) from VicTsing has a pad on top which lets you charge any device that is compatible with Qi charging. Qi has quickly become the widely supported standard for wireless charging and has been adopted by quite a few of the latest Android phones and even smartwatches such as the Moto

360 or Apple Watch.

The shell of this compact battery is made from a nice black soft-touch plastic, and has a green raised rubberised plus symbol on top that helps you position your phone correctly for optimal wireless charging and prevents it from sliding around.

The power button and ports are all situated along one end. Pressing the button powers up the output ports and charging pad (indicated by a small red LED) but you can hold it down again to switch the pad off and save battery. Battery capacity is indicated by 4 bright white LEDs on the side with the rightmost LED flashing during input and output. The ports will also automatically power down if nothing draws power for over 90 seconds.

The 7000mAh capacity should be more than enough to fully charge any smartphone twice from empty and will even charge or give a significant boost to most tablets. Although Qualcomm Quick Charge isn’t supported, it’s two 2A USB output ports do give a pretty fast charge. These ports also have intelligent protection technology included that automatically detect the correct output to safely charge each device “full throttle” while preventing overloading gadgets that can’t handle the full 2A.

Wireless charging starts as soon as you leave your phone on the pad. Charging will be a bit slower compared to a wired connection as a lower 1A charge is applied. This is due to the inefficiency of wireless charging and not a limitation of this power bank. Thick or metal cases can also reduce this efficiency further.

This battery also takes a fast 2A input from a suitable USB charger via its micro USB port and included cable. This is really handy as it means it only takes about 5 to 6 hours to fully recharge.

Overall this is a well made and highly portable power bank which has the flexibility to charge lots of devices quickly. Currently at just under £18 you can get similarly priced external batteries with larger capacities, but this one works really well and is a great option if you’re looking for something with built-in wireless charging.

BATTERY CHARGING

The circuitry to recharge the batteries in a portable product is an important part of any power supply design. The complexity (and cost) of the charging system is primarily dependent on the type of battery and the recharge time. This chapter will present charging methods, end-of-charge-detection techniques, and charger circuits for use with Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel Metal-Hydride (Ni-MH), and Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) batteries. Because the Ni-Cd and Ni-MH cells are similar in their charging characteristics, they will be presented in a combined format, and the Li-Ion information will follow. Renogy 30A PWM Charge Controller features well-known, powerful PWM charging ability. It also improves the battery life, meaning that the battery can actually endure longer.

NI-CD/NI-MH CHARGING INFORMATION 

In the realm of battery charging, charging methods are usually separated into two general categories: Fast charge is typically a system that can recharge a battery in about one or two hours, while slow charge usually refers to an overnight recharge (or longer). Slow Charge Slow charge is usually defined as a charging current that can be applied to the battery indefinitely without damaging the cell (this method is sometimes referred to as a trickle charging). The maximum rate of trickle charging which is safe for a given cell type is dependent on both the battery chemistry and cell construction. When the cell is fully charged, continued charging causes gas to form within the cell. All of the gas formed must be able to recombine internally, or pressure will build up within the cell eventually leading to gas release through opening of the internal vent (which reduces the life of the cell). This means that the maximum safe trickle charge rate is dependent on battery chemistry, but also on the construction of the internal electrodes. This has been improved in newer cells, allowing higher rates of trickle charging. The big advantage of slow charging is that (by definition) it is the charge rate that requires no end-of-charge detection circuitry, since it can not damage the battery regardless of how long it is used. This means the charger is simple (and very cheap). The big disadvantage of slow charge is that it takes a long time to recharge the battery, which is a negative marketing feature for a consumer product. 

Slow Charge Rates 

NI-CD: most Ni-Cd cells will easily tolerate a sustained charging current of c/10 (1/10 of the cell's A-hr rating) indefinitely with no damage to the cell. At this rate, a typical recharge time would be about 12 hours. Chester Simpson N National Semiconductor Some high-rate Ni-Cd cells (which are optimized for very fast charging) can tolerate continuous trickle charge currents as high as c/3. Applying c/3 would allow fully charging the battery in about 4 hours. The ability to easily charge a Ni-Cd battery in less than 6 hours without any end-ofcharge detection method is the primary reason they dominate cheap consumer products (such as toys, flashlights, soldering irons). A trickle charge circuit can be made using a cheap wall cube as the DC source, and a single power resistor to limit the current. NI-MH: Ni-MH cells are not as tolerant of sustained charging: the maximum safe trickle charge rate will be specified by the manufacturer, and will probably be somewhere between c/40 and c/10. If continuous charging is to be used with Ni-MH (without end-of-charge termination), care must be taken not to exceed the maximum specified trickle charge rate. Fast Charge Fast charge for Ni-Cd and Ni-MH is usually defined as a 1 hour recharge time, which corresponds to a charge rate of about 1.2c. The vast majority of applications where Ni-Cd and Ni-MH are used do not exceed this rate of charge. It is important to note that fast charging can only be done safely if the cell temperature is within 10-40°C, and 25°C is typically considered optimal for charging. Fast charging at lower temperatures (10-20°C) must be done very carefully, as the pressure within a cold cell will rise more quickly during charging, which can cause the cell to release gas through the cell's internal pressure vent (which shortens the life of the battery). The chemical reactions occurring within the Ni-Cd and Ni-MH battery during charge are quite different: The Ni-Cd charge reaction is endothermic (meaning it makes the cell get cooler), while the Ni-MH charge reaction is exothermic (it makes the cell heat up). The importance of this difference is that it is possible to safely force very high rates of charging current into a Ni-Cd cell, as long as it is not overcharged. The factor which limits the maximum safe charging current for Ni-Cd is the internal impedance of the cell, as this causes power to be dissipated by P = I2R. The internal impedance is usually quite low for Ni-Cd, hence high charge rates are possible. There are some high-rate Ni-Cd cells which are optimized for very fast charging, and can tolerate charge rates of up to 5c (allowing a fast-charge time of about 15 minutes). The products that presently use these ultra-fast charge schemes are cordless tools, where a 1 hour recharge time is too long to be practical. The exothermic nature of the Ni-MH charge reaction limits the maximum charging current that can safely be used, as the cell temperature rise must be limited. At present, there are no makers of Ni-MH batteries that recommend charging rates faster than 1.2c (and the chances of that changing are not very good).

4 Common Small Business Problems and Solutions

The world of business is constantly on the verge of change. This is something that anyone who is involved in a business at some level knows within their heart. To build a business which will stand the test of time, you need to know what the common challenges facing businesses are, as well as having a keen idea of how you might go about fixing those issues. In this article, we aim to help in that endeavour. We will look at some of the major, most common problems that arise in businesses of all kids today, and discuss how you might go about fixing them in an easy and fast manner. Let’s take a look.

Wrong Employees

Sometimes, it becomes clear that you have not hired the best employee for the job. In a manner of speaking, this is just something that has to happen. Hiring employees is very often one of those things which rely heavily on trial and error. If you never hire an inappropriate member of staff, you can never really figure out exactly what it is that you are looking for. So you might decide that this is not a problem at all, but a stepping stone towards hiring better and better people. Letting someone go is always tough, however, and it is recommended to allow someone the opportunity to prove themselves first, so that you can replace them with less of a shock if they should fail.

How Can Data Mining Help Small Businesses Gain Competitive Advantage

Seeing how the customer is always right, a business that already knows what their client is thinking will leave both parties feeling happy and satisfied. A great modern day tool that lends itself to understanding the customer better is called data mining. Data mining has been around for a while, and its use has brought great outcomes to customers and business owners alike. Today’s data collection is affordable and reliable, and it’s something that could be done internally as well as with help of professional external companies, and the information gained can be successfully used and combined with the company’s knowledge management system solutions.

Thanks to technology, the world keeps evolving faster than ever before. Not only are these advancements improving individual day-to-day lives, but are also providing businesses and companies with tools which, in this particular case, improve their understanding of the consumers trends (needs and wants), as well as of the things they’d like to see in the future. Thanks to the introduction of data mining, the gathered information gives business owners a positive review of what is – according to the consumers – going well, and what should be changed.

Is Your Business Prepared for DDoS Attack?

Distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) used to be something only talked about in cybersecurity and hacker circles, but in the past few months DDoS has found its way into the popular lexicon following high-profile attacks last year. After all, it’s hard to ignore DDoS when you can’t access your Spotify playlist or Twitter feed.

For a little background, DDoS attacks take advantage of malware-infected computers (often corrupted through spam emails, clickbait and phony web downloads) and recruit these devices as part of a botnet. This network of ‘slave’ or ‘zombie’ devices obey the command of a remote hacker to flood a website or service with fraudulent traffic requests until the service crashes.

Attacks of this kind are a favorite of cybercriminals and hacktivists because they do not require infiltration into a company’s network. Instead they are launched externally and are extremely visible to anyone visiting the site (making it perfect for cyber protests).

What’s surprising is that according to a recent survey, nearly one-fifth of companies have no DDoS protection whatsoever; and almost 40 percent are unclear on how to protect themselves from DDoS attacks!