Over the course of the year, I like to save my pennies and buy myself an early Christmas present when we arrive south. Back in Canada, we don’t have access to many of the items listed on Amazon.com, so usually, we hit an RV Park for a spell in early December and put in our orders.
This year I decided to treat myself to a new battery booster box. My 8-year-old lead-acid-based battery booster was getting a little long in the tooth and had lost a good portion of its capacity. I had bought it back in our campervan days as an extra 12 volt supply and to jumpstart its six-cylinder engine.
However, the old booster box doesn’t have the balls to turn over our big diesel truck engine so the top priority was a one that could. Battery box technology has evolved and now many use Lithium-Ion battery technology reducing the weight to power ratio dramatically. After some research, I settled on the NOCO GB150.
Note: I have no affiliation with the battery booster manufacturer NOCO. I purchased this product at full price. – Ray
Will it Jump Start My 7.3L Diesel Engine?
After excitedly unboxing my new toy and giving it a full charge the first test on the agenda: to see if it could boost our diesel truck motor. I thought about running its batteries flat by leaving the lights on but the batteries are only a few months old. I didn’t want to risk shortening their life.
Therefore, I decided to unhook them completely. The ultimate test for the new booster box. It would have to do the job on its own with no aid from even a weak battery. Also, the engine and glow plugs were cold after sitting overnight.
Well? It did it! As you’ll see in a video below the engine cranked over no problem and quickly started, powered by the little NOCO battery booster. I was impressed.
Other Tasks for My NOCO GB150 Booster Box
Starting our engine is a top priority for the NOCO box, especially since we often stray into the boonies when camping or exploring. But, I find a portable source of 12-volt power convenient in several other ways around the RV.
- Powering my portable Slime 12-volt air compressor to inflate my truck, trailer, and bike tires plus the pin box airbag
- Powering an old 12-volt RV water pump I used to add water from jugs to top up the main tank when dry camping
- Charging our phones, cameras, tablets, etc. when away from any other power source
- Remote power for my Garmin dash cam to capture close-up shots of wildlife
- Emergency backup for the trailer batteries
- Helping out fellow travelers stranded with a dead battery
- Powerful flashlight and emergency strobe
NOCO GB150 Battery Booster Videos
NOCO GB150 Review Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Starts our 7.3L Diesel Truck
- NOCO is an old established American company
- Small size and weight
- Powerful LED flashlight
- Large 4 GA battery leads with quality clamps
- IP65 Water Resistance in case it’s raining
- Anti-spark and reverse hookup protection
- Built-in DC digital voltage readout
- Smartly constructed 12-volt power sockets and lead
- 8 amp hours of DC power
- Up to 80 jump starts on a single charge
- Lithium battery rated for over 1000 charge cycles
- Keeps its charge even when not being used for long periods
Cons:
- Marketing hype: output figure of 4000A printed on the front of the unit
- Price $299 is out of range for many RVers
- Poor owner’s manual. Too small of print, lacking in specs and internal parts list
- Poor cold weather performance reviews on YouTube
Conclusion
So far I’m happy with the NOCO GB150 battery booster. I’ve put it through all the use cases I imagined for it, and the GB150 was up to the test. I even took the thing apart and had a peek inside. I’m sure after I’ve had it for a while I’ll come up with more and more uses. I’m already envisioning it powering a remote wildlife camera setup.
Time will tell how the lithium battery stands up, but I’m expecting to get many, many years of life out of it. Being lithium, once fully charged it would be ready to go when needed in an emergency. My old lead-acid-based battery booster lost charge when sitting around too long. That isn’t the case with lithium batteries.
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