MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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As I’m currently sat in Bristol airport car park waiting for the RAC to turn up to revive my dead car....
I’d like something in the boot to avoid a similar situation.
Probably best to work what's wrong first. Something drawing to much power when off, battery on the way out, duff alternator? Jump leads are handy if it may happen again. They won't go flat if left in the boot and you can usually find a good Samaritan. I'd put the jump starter as a third option. We've got a small LIon one that claims to start a car although I am a little sceptical. It mostly gets used for charging phones when camping
My experience is they are great if your going to use them regular.
If they don't get regular use they are inevitably flat everytime you want to use them.
Don't buy a Halfords one would be my advice if you do press on
More importantly than having a jump pack is sorting why you have a flatbattery.
Yup. Also, an old car battery as long as it's still holding a reasonable charge and outputting 12V makes a perfectly good jumpstarter.
There's these modern lipo ones but they seem like voodoo to me, can't really believe they work.
No idea why it’s dead at the moment but searching the Internet suggests that Subaru’s with unexplained dead batteries are not uncommon...
That’ll be of great comfort to anyone who’s recently bought a second hand Subaru. 😆
We have a little jump pack from Amazon. It’s about 8inches x 4 inches and comes with a tiny jump lead. We use it for changing iPads/phones when away and never thought it would jump a car. Apparently it turns over a 3L diesel or a 4L petrol engine. It spun my 2.5 T5 over this morning and also started a 3.5tonne digger a few weeks back. Very impressed.
Small hardtail, can of red bull, your sisters jeans and a piss pot lid?
Oops, misunderstood, as you were....
AutoExpress published this comparative review of mini jump starter packs earlier today. OP should be able to find something to suit his needs.
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/92728/best-mini-jump-starter-packs-2018
it's incredible that autoexpress do a test and don't even mention what type of engine or size that they were working with .Not all packs can cope with all engines. IIRC there's some excellent youtube review/tests by an american guy who seems to know better than most.Forget his name at the moment but he has serious test rigs/equipment and discovered most claims re power/capacity are total nonsense. I did buy a small pack for my motorbike on his recommendation and it did in fact start my 1.8td engine on one occasion when it was low on battery but on another occasion when totally flat it couldn't cope. i think many are like this.
There’s these modern lipo ones but they seem like voodoo to me, can’t really believe they work.
The AA man who came out to me when my car battery died on its ass while on holiday used a neat little box that I didn’t think would turn over a Honda 50, let alone my 1.9 TDi, which was around 13 years old, with just over 50% capacity, but it did. We use jump packs at work, but we have hundreds of cars on our various storage areas, some sit around for a while, so batteries lose power. Some cars need a jump pack and jump leads, occasionally one proves really difficult to start, a Berlingo a while back took most of a day to get it started!
The packs we use are pretty big, the size of a small, fat briefcase with a carrying handle, and they weigh a fair bit, too. I can’t remember the make, but they’re really too big and heavy to be portable.
We have a little jump pack from Amazon. It’s about 8inches x 4 inches and comes with a tiny jump lead. We use it for changing iPads/phones when away and never thought it would jump a car. Apparently it turns over a 3L diesel or a 4L petrol engine. It spun my 2.5 T5 over this morning and also started a 3.5tonne digger a few weeks back. Very impressed
Same but eBay. £40 or so. Started many dead bikes and vans
I VERY much doubt the spec of that pack you've linked to although it sounds as though it worked for you. It says 68,800 mah battery ...I suspect they mean 6800 mah as even far more expensive well known models are well under 20,000. Mine is 8000 iirc and as mentioned had no problem with my 1.8td but battery wasn't fully dead which seems to make a big difference to how effective they are .
The NOCO GB40 from Amazon (£99) wouldn't even turn over the engine of my V60 with the main battery disconnected.
It's possible that the ground connection wasn't brilliant (a fairly small nut is tough to get a solid connection on with a jump lead) and the pack's own battery was only 75% charged too, but if you're stranded that's not helpful.
Shame really, very nicely designed and a teardown on YouTube suggested a thoughtful construction, which is always good if you're going to keep a big lithium battery in your car.
Bear in mind that you can't return it through the post if there's a problem; you'll have to use a courier approved to carry dangerous goods which isn't cheap.
In my case Amazon refunded me and told me to keep it, which might give you some idea of the cost of sending it back...
@Countzero- I know they work, I just don't believe it 🙂
"The NOCO GB40 from Amazon (£99) wouldn’t even turn over the engine of my V60 with the main battery disconnected."
They are booster packs not replacement starter batteries.
I'm not surprised. Why did you take out the main battery.
These look decent ..need to be or know a Costco member though ..
got home fine after 3.5 hours waiting for the RAC man to show up. the call centre blamed the M5 closure yesterday...
battery was completely empty. 3.5V left in it when it tested it so something hadnt shut down properly. bloody keyless cars.
seems to have charged back up fine on the 2 hour drive home and seems ok overnight.
Got the previous version of this.
started a 3 litre diesel BMW that had a dodgy battery with no trouble and also does my 2.8 litre diesel motorhome.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/202292790932
I’m not surprised. Why did you take out the main battery.
To see if it could start the car with a completely dead battery, obviously. If the description says it can deliver 1000A cranking current, why would it even need the battery in the first place?
It’s sold as a jump starter, not a booster. Frustratingly Volvo don’t permit you to jump from directly from the battery terminals, citing death / destruction / plagues etc if you try.
I wonder if the cars electronics detected a lack of current across the battery terminals and refused to do anything?
That makes sense, actually, as there’s a lot of sense circuitry on the main battery. There shouldn’t be a huge load on the booster pack as the car has a separate battery to drive the cabin electronics.
the NOCO all singing /dancing pack that looks so futuristic and seems popular on amazon got a very poor review iirc when tested by someone who had specialist testing equipment ..it exaggerated power output by a massive amount as well as performing rather poorly .Like most things the manufacturer's claims are when used in a dream world..however a good one is worth having as they do work .