GIT 210 Final Team #10
Bambee Garfield - Project Manager
Ruben Garcia - Communicator
Tammer Gad - Art Director
Building Better Battery Booster “Jumper” Cables
Have you ever been stuck in a dark parking lot with a dead battery? It can be a little bit nerve wracking trying to figure out how to handle this situation. Do you call the Auto Club? Call a friend? Get some random stranger in the parking lot to help you with a jump start? One of the first things you’d need to get a jump start is a good set of battery booster cables, also known as “jumper cables.”
What Currently Exists on the Market
Battery booster cables are a pair of insulated wire cables with alligator clips at either end typically used to “jump” start a vehicle’s dead battery. There are numerous issues with the existing models available on the market. These existing cables are typically 12-20 feet in length, which requires two vehicles to be nose to nose in order to use them. Often times when a car has a dead battery and requires a jump start, getting them both in this position is difficult. This typical length allows for convenient storage as it curls up in a fairly small area.
Another issue with existing cables is their storage. Many come with a cloth bag for storage which requires you to roll the cables up to put them in the bag. This poses a couple of issues. Cloth storage bags often wear out quickly as the metal clips can wear holes in the bag. Another issue is losing the bag or not wanting to use it, which then leaves the cables loose in the garage, the trunk of the car or tool box of the truck.
Redesigning Battery Booster Cables
We took a look at what was currently on the market and created our mindmap in order to redesign these cables to effectively serve our customer. We wanted to make the Recoil Cables as user friendly as possible. We thought about the soccer mom driving a minivan that would need assistance on hooking the Recoil Cables up to the Tow Truck driver who would use the Recoil Cables on a daily basis.
Redesigning Battery Booster Cables
We took a look at what was currently on the market and created our mindmap in order to redesign these cables to effectively serve our customer. We wanted to make the Recoil Cables as user friendly as possible. We thought about the soccer mom driving a minivan that would need assistance on hooking the Recoil Cables up to the Tow Truck driver who would use the Recoil Cables on a daily basis.
One never knows what kind of situation they will be in when needing to use their jumper cables. We have created each grip in two ways to make visibility one of the key elements of our redesign. The labels indicating positive and negative on each handle will glow in the dark. We have also incorporated a small, push button led flashlight into each grip.
Any car or truck owner will be able to benefit from our improved Recoil Cables. We have improved the existing product by multiplying the length by more than 2 ½ times to allow vehicles to be farther apart when the cables are in use. When not in use, the plastic case keeps the cables in a neat package in the trunk, tool box or on the shelf in the garage.
Word Count: 609
