mini jump starter packs

[grumpy the 7th]

Has anybody got experience of these things? They seem far too small and lightweight to cope with starting a car with a flat battery. It's suggested they can be kept in the glove box (yes some are that small) for whenever you might need it. Do they work or are they snake oil?

How long do they hold their charge for?

Whats the cranking output?

How many starts of your car does do before it needs recharging?

Presumably it'd run a mobile phone / sat nav for ever??

If they're capable of holding a charge for a month or so and then still capable of starting your car they'd be a good extra to pack when touring in far off lands.

I do have an Aukey 20000mAh (2 Amp) power pack  but I don't think this would start a car

 

[Jonathan Kay]

Private Message sent.

Jonathan

[grumpy the 7th]

Thanks Jonathan, that'll keep me going for a day or two 

7 minutes to reply, Wow! you must really in full time employment

whats your job description?  "diligent blatchat reader and commentator"

 

[Roadsport06]

I have one, jump started my 7 twice when my battery was on its way out. Not quite up to jumping a VW 2.0 diesel though.

 

[pugwash]

I would be interested in your findings.  I would like one big enough to cope with a 3.6l diesel and while a few claim to get up there I would be interested in more evidence.  You won’t know it works until you need to try it for real.

[Wodybode]

They do work but.... there is always a but, the rated Ah for them are given at the voltage for the battery inside the unit and importantly this is NOT 12v. So when they say it’s 10Ah that is not 1 amp for 10 hours at 12v it’s probably 1 amp for 10 hours at 3.6v which is very different.  Having said that, they do work and are very small, most have a light on them and you can charge your phone 3-4-5 times. They have inverter circuits that can change the output voltage to suit whatever is required such as 12v for the jump start facility, 5v for the usb, plus various other voltages for the dc out port for laptops etc. If you want a true rating of its power you need to look at its watt hr rating.

[SLR No.77]

I have a Cobra Jumpack, I contacted Cobra and they sent me a spare connector lead which I've cut off the crocodile clips and fitted ring terminals to hard-wire it to the Caterham battery, makes it much easier to just plug the Jumpack in if I need it. The terminals on my Odyssey battery aren't really big enough to get a good contact with the crocodile clips.

I'm not too bothered about the technical details, in truth I don't really understand it all, but having needed to use the Jumpack it definitely worked :)

Stu.

[Stridey]

Useful things. Not only to jump start yourself and others, but to charge phones and pads etc via USB. Highly likely if you battery is dead your going to be on your mobile for recovery if it’s serious.

It’s one of those newer technology things that really do make sense.

[Gnockoff]

I have a Smartbox 6s from these people:

https://www.workshopplus.co.uk

It's the size of a paperback book, charge it up every three months or so depending on use, will start cars up to 6.5 litre Petrol or 3.5l diesel so made short work of my daughters 1.6 Astra. Comes with cables for phone charging as well as crocodiles for car.

Brilliant piece of kit.

 

[David aka Blue7]

Private Message sent.

Jonathan

I see that reply quite often and wonder why a pm and why the comment can't be shared? 

I definitely know what my reply will be

 

[Jonathan Kay]

:-)

Check now.

Jonathan

[David aka Blue7]

Nice one

[grumpy the 7th]

Researching this is a minefield Far too many products out there and non consistently coming out in the top three. Reading many reviews. I tend to look for good reviews then look at the 1* and try to decipher the wheat from the chaff. (genuine problems or just silly gripes)

Might be simpler to keep the jump leads for touring holidays and look for a passing motorist· 

But! I'll keep looking

[Terence]

I've been using one of these for about a year now. An excellent piece of kit, which has recovered "dead" batteries as well as starting anything so far that I have used it on.

It's expensive, but well worth it in my opinion:

https://no.co/gb70

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOCO-GB70-UltraSafe-Lithium-Starter/dp/B016UG6PWE?th=1

[grumpy the 7th]

Hi, Saki,thanks for the input.

That's a bit big to carry in the 7 for nearly 4 weeks round Spain, France, Italy & back but I've looked at the noco GB40, Tracklite T8 and a few others.

Should also mention I've got the Powervamp PC680 drycell.

 

Thanks again Jonathan,

The Smartbox 6s looks like it'd do a job but it only has a 12v jump start output, no standard 12v o/p for other ancillaries .

I've also found the Beatit range doh...................

[Felixgogo]

https://no.co/products/power/jumpstarters

I have a NOCO GB40, excellent bit of kit, very robustly built, started my failing tin top battery 3 times easily on one charge, after the high humidity here in HK killed my battery.

It still is at 100% charge after 3 months of storing in the boot of the car, and it's very reassuring that I can jump start the car if needed on my own.

For a euro trip I would definitely get one of these. I use CTEK for trickle charging, but these NOCO starters seem to be the top of the tree for battery starters and built as well as you would expect them to be. 

Cheers

Ian