External battery starter assist

[Piwoslaw]

For those who go alternator-less:
What about having a second starter battery in your garage, which you connect parallel to the car's battery whenever you park at home. The initial start up of the engine would halve the current need and halve the power drain on the car's battery, leaving a bit more for your trip. Both may also slightly reduce wear/aging of the battery, increasing its useable life.

[Gasoline Fumes]

I wouldn't bother unless my battery was barely able to make the trip. And then I'd probably just upgrade the onboard battery. Which is exactly what I did with my old Honda Civic. I had two oversized batteries in it and never had any issues, even driving around all day.

[redpoint5]

0.25 watt hours on a 600 watt hour battery isn't much to be concerned over.

[M_a_t_t]

You could also push start it.

[freebeard]

Big mainspring on the pulley end. Automatic rewind, with a handcrank assist.

[teoman]

While in the garage, you could also crank the car with the charger still attached.

[Ecky]

Throw some capacitors in parallel with the battery to carry around with you, perhaps?

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Throw some capacitors in parallel with the battery to carry around with you, perhaps?

One of the reasons for this idea is to reduce weight.

But as @redpoint5 calculated, the savings are not much.
Not worth actually doing, but just a thought experiment.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

One of the reasons for this idea is to reduce weight.

That's what's keeping me from putting the oversized batteries from my Civic into my Insight. They're so heavy!

[freebeard]

In flight of the Phoenix they used shotgun shells.