Like your brake fluid and intertubes, the battery in your motorbike is a kind of stuff you don’t take into consideration till it’s too late. Contemplating much less and fewer of us are blessed with a kick starter lately, a battery that’s previous its prime, or leaving an ignition on for just a few hours can actually put you in a good spot. We lately had the chance to check out Antigravity Batteries new Micro-Begin XP-20-HD soar pack, and since we’re popping out of a protracted winter within the midwest, there was no scarcity of lifeless batteries round.
To get some fast specs on paper, the XP-20-HD is Antigravity’s strongest lithium soar pack so far, providing 930 beginning Amps and 4,650 peak Amps. It’s compact at 9.5” by 4,” and features a entire host of handy options like a 240-Lumen LED flashlight, USB-A and USB-C output, lifeless battery bypass, and so on.
The XP-20 feels rather well constructed and has a pleasant show, and it’s actually easy to make use of with simply two buttons and full directions on the again. It’s actually a reasonably compact and helpful system for charging electronics and jump-starting automobiles, however that’s all info you will discover on the net, let’s get out in the true world and apply some voltage.
Whereas I used to be tempted to hook this factor as much as my diesel pickup immediately, that is Bike EXIF, so I did my due diligence analyzing the XP-20-HD for two-wheeled functions first. So let’s speak logistics. Once more, this factor is fairly compact, and shops away properly with all its equipment within the included carry case. You wouldn’t have an issue stashing it in a saddle bag or backpack, and the flexibility to cost your electronics might make it worthwhile to take action—even when you don’t want the jumpers. In my expertise, it charged up shortly and didn’t lose a complete lot of battery life sitting round, even after I left it in my 40-degree storage over the weekend.
It’s price stating that the XP-20 and XP-20-HD include beefier jump-start clamps, which aren’t as handy within the tight quarters your motorbike battery resides in. For this, the smaller clamps of the XP-10 could be a greater match, however that being stated, I didn’t encounter a battery the place I couldn’t make the XP-20 work. And I definitely tried.
For the primary spherical of testing, I hooked the soar pack as much as an older TW 200 and XT 250, each with drained, however nonetheless serviceable batteries. Whereas these previous Yamahas are notoriously arduous beginning within the spring, the XP-20 supplied loads of juice for prolonged cranking to fireplace them up. Subsequent was a Polaris Sportsman four-wheeler, which required hitting the ‘bypass’ button, permitting the unit to ship juice to a very lifeless battery. Once more, the engine fired up simply. A number of different bikes yielded the identical outcomes with out diminishing battery life, most importantly a 40-year-old Harley Shovelhead with a battery that had examined 0.9 Volts.
So clearly, you can do that form of factor again and again, even with no full cost, as a lot of the bikes I examined it on didn’t lower the battery life by a single %. It’s the identical story charging your electronics as effectively, and topping my telephone off from 70% battery solely dropped the pack’s battery by 2%. However to essentially see what the XP-20 HD might do, I had greater than my justifiable share of weak automotive batteries at my disposal.
The XP-20 HD has greater than sufficient juice to begin vehicles and vehicles with serviceable batteries, and it gained’t lose greater than 5 to 10% of its battery life with prolonged cranking. You must do not forget that it’s a soar starter, not a battery charger although. The directions let to disconnect the soar pack inside 30 seconds of beginning the battery, and in case your battery is stone-dead, this may not be lengthy sufficient to maintain it working. The interior temperature sensor can be in place for security, and when you attempt to soar a lifeless battery multiple or two occasions inside 10 minutes, it might stop you from leaping once more till it cools. I suppose that’s higher than an exploded soar pack, although—ask me how I do know.
This was my expertise with an older Audi and Toyota 4Runner that had been sitting all winter. The Audi’s battery wasn’t fully lifeless, and the soar pack boosted it to life simply, however the 4Runner was a bit too far gone. A fast trickle cost introduced that battery again from the grave, and the Micro-Begin gave it sufficient juice to crank usually. And that actually speaks to what a unit like that is designed for. It’s there to present you a lift in a gradual cranking state of affairs, to not substitute the automobile’s battery altogether.
I do need to award factors for the built-in reverse polarity safety, which saved me from reverse zapping the 4Runner whereas at nighttime. The built-in flashlight helped stop that mistake going ahead, and I’ve to say, that’s an extremely helpful characteristic while you’re repeatedly leaping batteries at nighttime. Which all the time appears to be the case in my expertise.
Bringing this factor to a conclusion, I used to be more than happy with the Micro-Begin, and it’s positively develop into a regular merchandise in my street journey instrument package. The XP-20-HD package sells for $249.99, full with all of the jumper cables, charging cords, and so on. And when you assume that’s too costly, take into consideration the final time you had been caught in the course of nowhere after darkish with a lifeless battery. Guess it feels like low cost insurance coverage now!
