Where are you storing jumper cables?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

The only time I’ve ever use mine is to help out other motorists in need. I carry pretty beefy cables as I don’t like to have my engine running when I jump someone. That abrupt load can fry things.
 
The cubby for jack has the first aid kit in my LX (2013) from the factory so not much space left.

The rear hatch has one of the spaces free so I use that to hold the wheel lock key, the hitch harness 7-to-4 adapter, the hitch pin, the extensible ratchet from HFT, and 22mm deep thin wall socket. The one in the factory kit is a joke and a pain in the butt to use in the middle of the road or in the wild.
ratchet
socket

For the rest of the stuff I use one of these organizers that when fully extended fits behind the 3rd row seat when seats are down (e.g. not retracted to the side and the backrests up). It has 3 sections so you can configure it as 1, 2, or 3 sections long. It has Velcro held dividers that you can customize the compartment. I use it as a 1 for summer, and as a 2 or 3 for winter.
organizer

In the organizer I have:
Noco GB50 in its case - case is extra purchase and it's different than GB40 case
Microfiber towels - Costco are great, big enough, many, and cheap
Glass cleaner spray can - ammonia based
MeGuiars Quick Detailer - bird drops in Seattle are huge but more importantly nasty due to seafood diet; they etch your paint
Roll of kitchen paper towels
Picnic blanket - multi purpose from picnic to getting cozy, to preventing cargo from damaging the interior

... and the following ones to be purchased:
Jumper cables - I do have GB50 but many years of experience with GB40 tells me not to rely only on it
ARB tow strap & D ring
Tire inflator - small electrical for emergency only
Jack pad - prevents the jack base from sinking or sliding on less than ideal surfaces
Work gloves - on cold season are a must
Ground cover - I discovered today during a practice that to change a flat you need to reach deep under the truck. On slush snow or mud it would be handy. You can tell I'm new to trucks.
Snow brush - winter only
Ice scraper - winter only
De-ice spray can - winter only, for when the freezing rain become slick ice on your locks (e.g. cargo box).
Snow shovel - winter only, for when even the crawl control can't get you out.

The above is my two wagons "standard" equipment but with GB40 due to the smaller engine sizes. I also have foldable wheel chocks for them but could not find anything suitable for 32+ inch wheels we have on the trucks, and the non-foldable are taking too much space.

As someone said above I'll say: WTF Toyota where's my storage? My old Outback and even my very old Camry has more storage and the Camry has a full size spare. This was a big surprise for me. I didn't even research how much space the LX has assuming that for its size it would be more than I need.
 
Last edited:
Jumper cables? Nope, hand crank fits under the rear seat. Doesn't need re-charging or another vehicle.

20210901_144810.jpg
 
I ended up taking out the first aid kit, popped off the cubby it was sitting in and put the cables in the storage hole. Fit perfect.
 
We use commercial Rubbermaid BRUTE stack-able boxes for trips, camping and for the junk we always carry in the cars. They're inexpensive, tough and safe for food storage.

A 20 and 14 gallon stack just high enough that they don't go much above the 2nd row seats on a LC 200 when they're folded forward.
I got them at Lowe's.

EDIT:
Also available at amazon:
Amazon product ASIN B001HTGD36
BRUTE 14/20 Gal Tote with Lid, Gray
 
Last edited:
I have a Noco GB70 and found a condition it wouldn’t help with. Something was wrong with the battery in a GM van where it was reading ~12.5v, terminals were good and tight, etc but turn key and blank dash/etc. This battery had been run totally flat multiple times, if that gives any clues to the failure mode. It was like it had the voltage but no capacity to deliver current. Something about all this confused the noco so it wouldn’t “engage” to boost the start process. Jumper cables from another battery to the same spot as the noco did the trick. Try to put the noco in totally flat battery mode, and it kicked it back out seeing the 12.5 on the start battery. Got the van running and verified charging system, all good.

Park it. Next day, exact same. Noco won’t work, jumper cables do. New replacement battery under warranty from autozone.. van is starting like new.

So yes. I’m happy with my noco.. but understand that the logic they build into it will help in the vast majority of use cases, but not all.
 
I’m going to choose to read your question a different way. “ Why doesn’t a gigantic SUV like the land cruiser or LX have more internal storage space?”

I really thought it would have more compartments. I have my compressor in a bag in the back. Been meaning to get a bin for my jumper cables and some tools, volt meter, all that stuff. I have so much stuff behind and under the rear seat of my Tacoma. Zero storage in my LC but I’m sure that has been beaten to death.
I just traded in my beefed up Tacoma, and yeah... really disappointed with the lack of storage in the LC.
hell, I had trouble finding where to put my cell phone and wallet!
 
I leave my jumper cables at home, in the garage. Never needed them even once over 34 years with my Land Cruisers.
if i am going deep into the woods, solo....i am bringing a battery to jump start the thing.
no telling what you might accidentally leave on that would discharge your battery overnight....
 
if i am going deep into the woods, solo....i am bringing a battery to jump start the thing.
no telling what you might accidentally leave on that would discharge your battery overnight....
Yeah - I usually travel as a solo vehicle. No one else to jump me. I do sometimes carry a jump pack for the reason you state.
 
There's more space in the bottle jack cubby than meets the eye. There's a giant void just behind and to the side of the jack that could accommodate alligator clamps. Then coil the rest of the wire in the below fashion. I still have the Lexus medkit and there's enough space for it all.

That said, I haven't carried cables in forever. Lithium jump pack allows me to save myself without anyone else. Haven't had to use it for me, but have saved numerous camping buddies. These lithium jump packs are insanely strong. I'm in the habit of charging prior to any camping trip. Portability is great as it allows jumping without moving or maneuvering my vehicle. Seems trivial, but when I have it hitched up to a camper, or across a campground, a portable jump pack is magic.

Curious @bloc . Wonder if that's Noco specific logic or many use that same logic that would prevent jumping in this scenario? Wonder if undoing the negative terminal to the actual battery temporarily to jump, and put it right back after the engine fires, would do the trick?

You can see the brass elements of my inflator in the depths of the void here.
1606096035400-png.2504003
 
There's more space in the bottle jack cubby than meets the eye. There's a giant void just behind and to the side of the jack that could accommodate alligator clamps. Then coil the rest of the wire in the below fashion. I still have the Lexus medkit and there's enough space for it all.
What size cables where the ones you used to fit in there (AWG, length, or actual model)? Thanks
 
Yeah - I usually travel as a solo vehicle. No one else to jump me. I do sometimes carry a jump pack for the reason you state.
That was the original reason I put in a 2nd battery.
 
What size cables where the ones you used to fit in there (AWG, length, or actual model)? Thanks

What I have there is actually my tire inflation hoses. Not jumper cables as I don't carry them. Inflation hose is roughly the same thickness as most jumper cables, and I have about 20' total there.

That was the original reason I put in a 2nd battery.

Not saying this will happen to you. There's been cases on this board where installing a second battery has led to starting failure in itself. With the second battery unable to jump even though it were supposedly designed for it. Just saying there's more complexity here than meets the eye, and the complexity itself can be a potential a liability.
 
Curious @bloc . Wonder if that's Noco specific logic or many use that same logic that would prevent jumping in this scenario? Wonder if undoing the negative terminal to the actual battery temporarily to jump, and put it right back after the engine fires, would do the trick?
Based on the fact that noco builds in a “totally flat battery” function which seems to bypass the usual logic, I assume it goes like this. Hook up your noco and turn it on. It senses battery voltage, and looks for a significant drop in that voltage to decide when to apply it’s current to help starting. Otherwise if you leave it hooked up, it can drain itself trying to charge the car’s start battery before it can do its job boosting power for the actual vehicle start.
I figured the flat battery mode was to bypass this and just send power so the rest of the start and maybe ecu circuit would work to start the car. But this draws much more of the noco capacity.

When the battery in my cruiser got tired I had to use the flat battery function to get it to work.

IMO something about this got tripped up when I tried to start that van. Remember that it wouldn’t even let me engage flat battery function.
 
Last edited:
There's more space in the bottle jack cubby than meets the eye. There's a giant void just behind and to the side of the jack that could accommodate alligator clamps. Then coil the rest of the wire in the below fashion. I still have the Lexus medkit and there's enough space for it all.

That said, I haven't carried cables in forever. Lithium jump pack allows me to save myself without anyone else. Haven't had to use it for me, but have saved numerous camping buddies. These lithium jump packs are insanely strong. I'm in the habit of charging prior to any camping trip. Portability is great as it allows jumping without moving or maneuvering my vehicle. Seems trivial, but when I have it hitched up to a camper, or across a campground, a portable jump pack is magic.

Curious @bloc . Wonder if that's Noco specific logic or many use that same logic that would prevent jumping in this scenario? Wonder if undoing the negative terminal to the actual battery temporarily to jump, and put it right back after the engine fires, would do the trick?

You can see the brass elements of my inflator in the depths of the void here.
1606096035400-png.2504003

Thanks, @TeCKis300, that is a great suggestion. For me it would not be for jumper cables as I, like many on this thread, keep a Lithium jump pack in my LC which I have use on multiple occasions. I’ve used it after a year of not being charged and it had not problem starting my LC battery from a dead start after I killed the battery listening to the radio. Yeah, I did that. I don’t remember which battery pack I have but is one of the highly rated ones on Amazon. Maybe the Noco. Not sure. But, @TeCKis300, I am definitely going to move the hose for my compressor into that space!
 
Not saying this will happen to you. There's been cases on this board where installing a second battery has led to starting failure in itself. With the second battery unable to jump even though it were supposedly designed for it. Just saying there's more complexity here than meets the eye, and the complexity itself can be a potential a liability.
So the starting battery is drained, right?
I have an Odyssey group 35 charged by a Redarc BCDC 1225D as my 2nd battery which I thought was a fairly bullet proof setup, or at least as bullet proof as the Redarc. It's been rock solid for 2 years and I've drained that 2nd battery pretty hard once or twice with the Redarc charging it up 100%. So am I in the scenario where I might have issues?

Is this what you're talking about? Not sure as you seem to say that the 2nd battery is discharged.

 
That was the original reason I put in a 2nd battery.
we get complacent, and assume the car will turn off all stray electrical loads after a couple minutes.
but, it is that assumption that i do not trust....what if it does it 99 times out of 100, but then that one time when you are 20 miles from the nearest road, and it leaves some convenience light on in freezing weather.....
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom