Jump Starter

[Cognosc]

Hey all,

Anyone have any advice or recommendations for a decent Jump Starter. I figure it'll be very useful gadget have around for emergencies.

I was looking for one which possibly has a Air Compressor built in, like this one: http://www.maplin.co.uk/heavy-duty-5-in-1-jump-starter-224871?c=froogle&u=224871&t=module

I did browse the forum for some ideas but there doesn't seem to be any brands or models mentioned. I did notice that one guy had a problem with his battery going dead after a couple of days of non car use and stated his battery had a 540amp Jump Start value (unfortunately there was no closure on that subject and we never did find out if he found the cause of the issue). Anyway, does this mean the above linked item is no good then as it's 300amps. I've yet to check my battery statistics - if this matters or not I don't know?

Any advise much appreciated.

[snow_muncher]

I've had one of those for about 5 years

It was fine for the 2yrs, where it only got used to inflate tyres.

Once I started to jump my car with it, it lasted a couple of months.

Its battery is now unable to hold a decent amount of charge for anytime.

I've tried reconditioning the battery with my CTEK charger, but no luck.

A mate bought a version with a solar panel on it. iirc He got less than a months use out of it before it was done.

The inverter is utterly pointless, as the battery has no guts to it.

Still very useful as a cordless tyre inflator though

[rk696]

I work at Maplin, and those units are OK. The main problem with them is, and it's not specific to this unit, is that people don't keep them charged up. The internal batteries are quite cheap, so self discharge themselves pretty quickly. You need to recharge them every couple of months.

We seem to get them back when people jump start their cars, and then don't charge them back up again. This causes the battery to sulfate internally, and this is not reversible.

Inverters are OK, but as snow muncher said, the battery doesn't have enough capacity to make it useful.

This one http://www.maplin.co.uk/5-in-1-jumpstarter is actually an OK unit too, but has suffered a really bad reputation with not holding a charge. The very first ones we got (a couple of years ago) had a design flaw where the USB sockets couldn't be turned off, causing the battery to go flat. This also caused them to go flat in the box during shipping from China, which reduced the battery's capacity. There has been a revised version out for over a year now which has a switch to turn the USB sockets off, and most stores will have the new ones in. A lot of the B Grade ones on the website are the old ones, so be careful.

Oh, and IIRC, the 1.8t starter motor is 1.1kW, so just under 100 amps.

P.s. I didn't tell you about the design flaws lol

Edited 11 October, 2011 by rk696

[Cognosc]

Much thanks to the both of you for your opinions.

I think I shall still get one despite the said flaws.

I'll try and post at a later date with a mini-review myself after a little use, maybe useful if any one else stumbles upon this thread at a later date looking into it.

Again, thank you.

[Dox]

Why not just renew the battery on your car £80ish? and sell your used one for £30ish.

When you need the jump starter it will either be flat or at home.

I use an old battery charged occasionally and a pair of monster cables jump starter cables £25 or so, 5 cars here and only 2 drivers, I also used to own a digger and a dumper.............

[miserablegit]

Probably too late now, I have a PSXeu bought from Costco, after two months of sitting in garage doing nothing it was able to jump start my wifes Beetle more than 10 times over two days and then still had enough power to pump my bike tyres up the next day. my only gripe with it is that the air pressure gauge isnt very accurate, but for jump starts it seems to be ideal.

[snow_muncher]

I use an old battery charged occasionally and a pair of monster cables jump starter cables £25 or so, 5 cars here and only 2 drivers, I also used to own a digger and a dumper.............

At the end of day, that's all those jump packs are - Battery in box with jump leads already attached.

The other problem with them, as with the car battery itself, is that during repeated discharge and charge their terminals get caked.

When I started to look at the cost of professional trucker jump-packs, I came to conclusion it made sense to replace all my batteries (3x in 2 vehicles), and use the best of the old batteries as spare/jumper

I also bought a CTEK charger/conditioner to extend the batteries life by clearing the terminal caking.

The CTEK has successfully and reliablely repaired two of my old batteries

[Dox]

At the end of day, that's all those jump packs are - Battery in box with jump leads already attached.

But they're not, you only have to compare the weight of one with a battery or normal size and of course the price, then there's the disco lights, USB, lighter sockets and compressor for free........

Then your neighbour in distress with his diesel 4X4 knocks on your door and asks for a quick start to get the kids from school 50 yards down the road and your jump pack is screwed.

Last winter both our then dailys showed themselves to be slow to turn over at the first frost, 2 new Yuasa HD batteries fitted and reliability was restored for the winter.

Who wants to mess about under a bonnet on a dark freezing night? As I've already mentioned once it gets around your neighbours you have the jump pack your door bell will be ringing forever.

A good battery, good wipers and good boots(tyres)are essential for winter motoring IMO