Jump starter pack charger

[JumbleDuck]

I have an ancient jump starter pack like this

which has a dead battery. I know it's dead because it has a stuffing great crack down it and I can see the plates. A new battery is no problem, but I have also lost the mains charger which came with it. I do have the car charger kit. Can anyone confirm what size of mains charger is used? There is a small circuit board attached to the charging point, so I am guessing that it's either a standard 12V supply but if it is taking the place of the car charger it's perhaps 12.?? or 13.??V ...

 

[Poignard]

I bought one from an eBay seller. There seems to be plenty advertised there. 12VDC

 

[LadyInBed]

I've got one of those, I don't remember it coming with a mains recharger.
I recharge mine by connecting a bog standard car charger croc clip to croc clip.
Like yours, the battery went u/s so I put in a house alarm battery from Maplins, which was a larger capacity.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I bought one from an eBay seller. There seems to be plenty advertised there. 12VDC

Thanks. I have had a look and there are more-or-less equal numbers of 12V and 15V ones.

I've got one of those, I don't remember it coming with a mains recharger.
I recharge mine by connecting a bog standard car charger croc clip to croc clip.
Like yours, the battery went u/s so I put in a house alarm battery from Maplins, which was a larger capacity.

And thanks to you too. The bust battery was 17Ah and Tayna will do me one for £30 including carriage, which seems OK.

 

[Poignard]

I had one of those starter packs and, if I remember correctly, it had a 17Ah battery in it of the same type that powers my wife's golf trolley.

I have a spare mains charger for that which you are welcome to have if you pay the postage. The label on it says the output is 12VDC 1,9A.

You will need to obtain a suitable connector though.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I had one of those starter packs and, if I remember correctly, it had a 17Ah battery in it of the same type that powers my wife's golf trolley.

I have a spare mains charger for that which you are welcome to have if you pay the postage. The label on it says the output is 12VDC 1,9A.

You will need to obtain a suitable connector though.

Thanks very much for that offer. I think I'll buy the battery, feed 12V into it and see what appears at the battery. If that looks promising, I'll PM you ...

 

[William_H]

Mains type chargers come in 2 types. The old style has a transformer inside. So are heavy. The transformer has poor regulation so might be labelled 13volts but gives about 15volts no load. The newer style has a regulated supply such that it gives the stated voltage precisely under any load. (much less weight)
So to charge a 12v lead acid battery you need to start with a voltage of at least 14v. Hence any regulated supply marked 12v will not do the job.
This kind of battery is susceptible to over charge so hopefully there is some kind of charge controller in the box. if so then you need around 15v charger rated at a current of 1.5 or 2 amps.
If there is no charge controller in the box you need a controlled 2 or 3 stage charger. Here is one from Jaycar Automatic SLA Battery Charger 6V/12V/24V 1.2A | Jaycar Electronics.
If you are unsure if there is a charge controller in the box then connect the charger to the output crock clips or the battery itself. ol'will

 

[JumbleDuck]

Mains type chargers come in 2 types. The old style has a transformer inside. So are heavy. The transformer has poor regulation so might be labelled 13volts but gives about 15volts no load. The newer style has a regulated supply such that it gives the stated voltage precisely under any load. (much less weight)
So to charge a 12v lead acid battery you need to start with a voltage of at least 14v. Hence any regulated supply marked 12v will not do the job.

Thanks. Unfortunately, modern 12V chargers are indeed sold for this job. My guess is that some of the systems do, as you say, have charging circuitry inside. All I know for sure is that this one is designed to work on 12.8V.

 

[TernVI]

I've messed around with a lot of 'wall wart' 12V (and other) supplies.
A typical transformer based '12V' DC supply will be over 15V open circuit and about 12V at its rated load.
So it's easy to regulate to 13.7 or so for slow-charging something like a jump pack.
This 'poor regulation' of the transformer etc also gives crude but effective current limiting.



Not knowing what the circuit is in the jump pack, You could either just connect various '12Vish' things and see what volts appear on the battery, or forget the built in circuit and use a motorbike battery maintenance charger instead.

 

[madabouttheboat]

I wouldn't bother. Unless you are trying to jump start a big diesel, put the £30 towards a modern compact Li-ion pack that is almost small enough to fit in your pocket. Something like this:

NOCO Boost Plus GB40 1000 Amp 12-Volt UltraSafe Portable Lithium Jump Starter, Car Battery Booster Pack, And Jump Leads For Up To 6-Liter Gasoline And 3-Liter Diesel Engines: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

I paid about £50 for the one I bought, and it has started all sorts, including my 3 litre diesel Range Rover.

 

[TernVI]

Some of those Li Ion jump packs are indeed very impressive.
But I suspect the OP does not actually want his pack for starting cars?

 

[JumbleDuck]

I wouldn't bother. Unless you are trying to jump start a big diesel, put the £30 towards a modern compact Li-ion pack that is almost small enough to fit in your pocket. Something like this:

NOCO Boost Plus GB40 1000 Amp 12-Volt UltraSafe Portable Lithium Jump Starter, Car Battery Booster Pack, And Jump Leads For Up To 6-Liter Gasoline And 3-Liter Diesel Engines: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

I paid about £50 for the one I bought, and it has started all sorts, including my 3 litre diesel Range Rover.

I'm tempted, but these things don't so far seem to have very large capacities. It's quite hard to find the capacity of the one you linked to, but the manufacturer's data sheet says 24Wh, which of course is a shade under 2Ah or 24s at a typical 300A cranking current. That's absolutely fine if the task is to start a willing engine with a flat battery; my use case is to help start two classic cars which get laid up for half the year and can sometimes do with a bit of help to get going - and it takes rather more than 24s on either to refill the petrol system.

Hence why I'd like to get the old pack going again, 17Ah being a bit more like it. However, I would like to get a lithium version as well sometime, and the NOCO looks good, so many thanks for the recommendation.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Some of those Li Ion jump packs are indeed very impressive.
But I suspect the OP does not actually want his pack for starting cars?

Crossed postings. I would like to be able to use it for starting cars as well as as a (lots of "as"s there) general purpose 12V power supply.

 

[LadyInBed]

JD I'm sure you have a battery charger or two at home!
I refer you back to #3

I recharge mine by connecting a bog standard car charger croc clip to croc clip

 

[JumbleDuck]

JD I'm sure you have a battery charger or two at home!
I refer you back to #3

Loads, but it would be handy to be able to use one for it. Your suggestion is good, though - thanks!

 

[Adios]

This is the daddy when it comes to starters IMO. Made in the UK and used to be exclusively for Snap On but now can but them direct from portable power. I've had one for a decade and its still holding its charge and doing its job Portable Power 1700 RC 12v Jump Starter Start Booster Pack Snap On PORPR1700 Getting a used one from ebay probably a good bet if its in good condition but its a gamble of course.

I also have a newer much smaller and cheaper lithium pack to keep in my unreliable car which has worked impressively well on a 2.4l petrol, not sure how big an engine it would do though. Perhaps the older type have had their day and lithium is the way to go?

 

[reeac]

I carried one of those big old jump starter kits in our boat for years and never needed it. Then I discovered that the (quite small) battery inside had failed so I dumped it. Bought a small modern Li ion one made by Arteck. It's a K12 model, 8000mAh, / 300 A peak current. Said to start up to 2.5 litre (probably petrol) engines and with lockdown I've used it twice on a car, although only a 1.4 litre one, with no problem. Retains its charge extremely well. Cost £30 if I recall correctly and fits neatly into a zip up case which also holds the charging and jump leads. They make bigger models. I would never go back to one of the big old style ones

 

[ashtead]

In case of interest I bought a small pack from Lidl which happily starts a V6 petrol engine and also charge the phone and powers an old light. I also have a dead pack (in grey not yellow like Mr JD) from Halfords complete with wall plug socket Interested that Tanya might have a solution but never heard of them ? Are they reliable for the £30 ? Have you used before?

 

[JumbleDuck]

This is the daddy when it comes to starters IMO. Made in the UK and used to be exclusively for Snap On but now can but them direct from portable power. I've had one for a decade and its still holding its charge and doing its job Portable Power 1700 RC 12v Jump Starter Start Booster Pack Snap On PORPR1700

Thanks. What a weird website. They seem to be selling things, but I can't see anyway of buying that power pack, or even the price.

 

[Adios]

Thanks. What a weird website. They seem to be selling things, but I can't see anyway of buying that power pack, or even the price.

This would have been a better link. Single 1800RC (Rapid Charge) Pack

I think if you are going for that type but don't spend so much money you might be in false economy territory with short lived lead acid starters like those from halfords. In which case better to go for a li-ion starter, maybe a hefty one if using for a large diesel engine. My Li-ion one seems fine for the car. Very fast discharge li-ion wasn't around when I bought my Snap-on one (second hand) but I just looked what snap on sell now and its still lead acid starters but also sell a "portable" li-ion pack. I wonder if they are only still selling lead acid as mechanics trust the technology but in fact as long as its kept charged a li-ion is really just as good. Why wouldn't it be?