I have a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica, yesterday I.

Neither of those items failed by just sitting there. The alternator doesn't do anything until after the engine is running. Those little jumper packs are way smaller than the car's battery. They are never meant to start the engine on their own. The intent is to put enough charge into the car battery over a period of time so the engine can be started. Typically they need to be connected for five to ten minutes before trying to start the engine.

To compound the problem, if the battery was run close to completely dead, it will take a good ten to fifteen minutes on a charger before the acid in it becomes conductive and the battery STARTS to take a charge. Once it starts charging, it can take another half hour to an hour to become fully recharged.

Also, older batteries should never be charged at a fast rate. Without going into all the details, charging at a fast rate from a home battery charger may not destroy a battery right now, but it can hasten a failure that is about to occur in the next year or two.

Use a small portable battery charger or a "wheel charger" and charge the battery at a low rate for about an hour. If you use a 10 or 20 amp setting, and the charger has an amp meter, you'll see the current starts out real low, then in a few minutes will come up higher. When the battery is fully charged, the current will go back down to around 5 amps.