When traveling off-road it’s not a bad idea to have some backup means of starting your vehicle if it develops a weak battery. For this reason we’ve been searching for a high-capacity 12 volt jump starter, but also one that could double as a power pack to run our Joolca HOTTAP shower down by a stream, or to charge our phones and headlamps when we’re settled into the tent for the night. We finally purchased an Avapow 6000 after reading other positive reviews. Here’s what we think of it so far:
Features of The Avapow 6000 Jump Starter (2023 Upgrade Version – With Force Start Function
- 6000 amps peak current (for brief intervals)
- 2 USB charging ports (one 3 amp for faster charging)
- 12 volt outlet with cigarette lighter adapter (10 amp)
- Recharging via USB C cable from car or wall outlet (adapters not supplied)
- Intelligent jumper cable shut-off helps prevent accidents
- Built-in flashlight with high/low/SOS
- Carrying case and built-in handle
- Force start function
Is The Avapow 6000 Jump Starter As Powerful as It Claims?
Before we bought the charger/power-pack we read lots of online reviews. A common thread for these and many other imported jump starters seems to be overstated power output and therefore we were skeptical of our purchase.
One reason we got it, besides emergency starting, was to use as a lightweight, portable 12 volt power pack to run our camping shower’s pump. The Avapow 6000 claims to pack 32000 mAh, or 32 amp hours of battery capacity, which should be enough for a nine-hour shower – not that we plan on having one that long.
Real World Test – Running a 12 Volt Water Pump
We set up our Joolca HOTTAP’s 12 volt water pump at the kitchen sink, so it would recirculate water, using the Avapow 6000 as the power source. At 9:00 AM we turned it on, and by 11:00 the power level was down to 2 bars or 1/2 capacity. This was a bit more draw than expected, but it’s possible the shower pump draws a bit more than what the specs show.
Lithium batteries don’t like to be fully discharged, so we stopped our test at 2.5 hours, when only one bar was left on the meter.
Starting the Car – When using it on our Volvo, which sometimes has weak battery on cold mornings, it started the car three times on 3 separate mornings before it needed recharging. It’s important to note that the Avapow 6000 will not start a car with a totally dead battery.
Taking it Camping – When using the charger/battery pack on a week-long camping trip it had no problem powering the shower pump for about 10 minutes each day, along with charging two phones and headlamps each evening. After one week of camping and running shower pump and charging phones, it was down to one bar.
Powering a Dometic 12 Volt Fridge With the Avapow 6000?
Our next test of the Avapow 6000 jump starter/battery pack was to see how long it would power our Dometic CFX-28 fridge, which draws 0.75 Ah. If the specs are indeed accurate, it should run it for around 42 hours. On a day with the temperature in the 80s, we plugged our fridge into the Avapow 6000 and went back to check on it a half hour later.
We learned that the Avapow 6000’s 10 amp 12 volt output will not stay on if there is no current draw. So, when the fridge compressor shut off after reaching 32 degrees, so did the power pack. For use powering our Dometic fridge it was a no-go. This wasn’t a deal breaker though, since we normally power our fridge from a 100 amp hour deep cycle battery that’s fed by two 100 watt solar panels and kept in the back of the truck’s bed.
Update: We learned that if we use an EC5 adapter, which adapts the port used for jump starting to a cigarette lighter plug, the power supply will remain on. You can find the EC5 adapter on Amazon (affiliate link) for about $5. We tried this, but were disappointed with the results. The Avapow 6000 only kept our Dometic fridge running for about 10 hours – not enough to be practical as a power supply.
What We Liked About The Avapow 6000
We liked the fact that it weighs less than 3 pounds, has a nice rigid case and seems to do what it’s advertised to do. It seems well made – enough, with things like the 12 volt plug and battery clamps feeling snug and of good quality.
Would We Buy it Again?
The Avapow 6000 seems to work well as a portable, emergency jump starter and also as a 12 volt power pack we can charge our small electronics from while camping.
If you need a power pack to power things like a portable fridge, something like a Jackery or Goal Zero may be more suitable, but as a jump starter and large capacity charging bank, the Avapow 6000 is capable.
For charging our phones and other small electronics multiple times it works much better than a charging “brick” that we normally carry, and can charge multiple devices several times on a camping trip*
*We try not to use it so much as a battery bank when camped off the grid, in case we do need it to start our vehicle.
You can find the Avapow 6000 on Amazon at a 25% discount currently. (affiliate link)
Related Article: Review of The Joolca HOTTAP Camping Shower
