Portable Jump Starters. Anyone got any experience or views?

[biscuit]

I have had one for many years (18 a/H), and always take it on the boat, just in case. Its main use is with an electric pump to inflate the dinghy on the foredeck.
Once my neighbor on the moorings borrowed to start the twin diesels on his motor cruiser, which it did, to my surprise.
Last year its internal battery failed, but I fitted a replacement from E bay, and it's as good as ever.

 

[Stemar]

I can't help thinking that you're addressing the wrong problem. A jumpstart pack is addressing the symptom of an expensive problem, not the problem itself, which is that your battery is going flat during the winter. You'll get away with running a car battery down a couple of times provided it gets charged back up PDQ, but a boat battery staying discharged to the point where it can't start your engine will probably never recover fully and will turn up its toes after a very limited number of episodes.

Solar panels are at their weakest during the winter, but I'm expecting the 40w of panels I installed this "spring" to keep up with the self discharge of my batteries and even put back at least some of what I use when on board at the weekend. In March & April, I was coming down to fully charged batteries each weekend.

I got lucky with my timng and was able to get two 20w panels and a dual charger for change from £100 from Solarstore, but prices have gone up since.

I'll be at Hardway this weekend. PM me for a phone no if you're interested in discussing it over a pint

 

[vyv_cox]

I can't help thinking that you're addressing the wrong problem. A jumpstart pack is addressing the symptom of an expensive problem, not the problem itself, which is that your battery is going flat during the winter. You'll get away with running a car battery down a couple of times provided it gets charged back up PDQ, but a boat battery staying discharged to the point where it can't start your engine will probably never recover fully and will turn up its toes after a very limited number of episodes.

Solar panels are at their weakest during the winter, but I'm expecting the 40w of panels I installed this "spring" to keep up with the self discharge of my batteries and even put back at least some of what I use when on board at the weekend. In March & April, I was coming down to fully charged batteries each weekend.

I got lucky with my timng and was able to get two 20w panels and a dual charger for change from £100 from Solarstore, but prices have gone up since.

I'll be at Hardway this weekend. PM me for a phone no if you're interested in discussing it over a pint

Exactly so, as I said in post#8. I have been cruising for 25 years, had boats on deep water moorings, marina berths, lived aboard for half the year and left the boat to its own devices for the other half. I have never owned or needed one of these starter devices. Spend the money on solar instead, your batteries will benefit enormously and your engine will always start.

 

[davidej]

Really annoying but for the first time in X years (where X is a large number) I went on the boat and found the batteries flat.

I know, my fault entirely - I hadn't switched off properly. It also confirmed what I already suspected that the motor and domestic batteries are not properly isolated.

Anyway - batteries all in the garage trickle charging. I will take them into town tomorrow for testing - some are 5ys old and may need replacing.

Back to the point - I thought I might buy one of these thingys which in any event would be useful at home.

Have done a bit of a web search and they are available from about £35 to over £100. Try as I might, I could not find specification as to AH or CCA on any of them.

How do I decide what to buy?

 

[William_H]

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Back to the point - I thought I might buy one of these thingys which in any event would be useful at home.

Have done a bit of a web search and they are available from about £35 to over £100. Try as I might, I could not find specification as to AH or CCA on any of them.

How do I decide what to buy?

It is just impossible to have a battery plus charger and any other device in a case that has a decent capacity or CCA that is still small and light to carry. Certainly AH and to a lesser degree CCA are directly related to the size of the battery.
So I think if you want portable power buy a suitable physically sized like a car battery (best CCA for its size) and use that. Assuming you have jumper leads and a charger. You can buy a battery box or make a carry bag to make transport easier.
Warning rattles on here....
With the aid of SWMBO sewing machine I got some old sail cloth. Folded it over to make like a webbing. Or you can buy webbing.
Make a strap that goes around the battery a bit above mid way. From that sew 2 loops of webbing going under the battery. Attach one or 2 handles to go over the battery. You have a simple convenient carry basket for your battery. olewill

 

[pongoglo]

It is just impossible to have a battery plus charger and any other device in a case that has a decent capacity or CCA that is still small and light to carry. Certainly AH and to a lesser degree CCA are directly related to the size of the battery.

Whilst I will confess that I don't understand the technology (maybe someone here can enlighten) I cant agree with you at all. I have used one of these many many times over the years to jump my Land Rover Disco (and many neighbour's) when it has sat idle for a while over the winter months and always carry one in the boot. The compressor alone is worth its salt enabling you to keep your tyre pressures under check. When it comes to the boat however my particular model is under-powered as I say at the beginning of the thread. It has however come in handy many times for running a portable bilge pump for example, or powering my laptop when onboard.

This doesnt mean that these portable Jump Starts cant do the job. Just that mine is a cheapo Maplin's effort and for my engine which is a heavy and somewhat vintage BMC 1.5 it is somewhat lacking. As I have said earlier, I have borrowed a neighbour's Halfords model on the pontoon and it has done the job in an instant. Whilst it is true that any lightweight powerpack wont have much Ah, somehow they seem to be able to generate a very large CCA, up to 900 or so its says - how? G knows!

Back to the point - I thought I might buy one of these thingys which in any event would be useful at home. Have done a bit of a web search and they are available from about £35 to over £100. Try as I might, I could not find specification as to AH or CCA on any of them. How do I decide what to buy?

From my research I have concluded that the minimum Ah that will do the job is 17Ah. The better Halfords one have a 20Ah battery, and the top of the range Ring type go as far as 34Ah, and claim it will start vehicles up to 3500cc. The Ring is currently on offer at Halfords for 119.00 GBP which is pretty good:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...uctId_862345_langId_-1_categoryId_255206#tab3

or you could opt for one of these:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...uctId_183849_langId_-1_categoryId_255204#tab3

At 59.99 GBP it is half the price and has a compressor, which the Ring lacks. It has a 17Ah battery, and claims to start engines up to 2.0 litre. If you read the reviews it would seem it does.

I don't work for Halfords by the way, and an Amazon search should produce silmilar results. I also don't know how these lightweight devices manage to push out such large CCA, as I also say my knowledge of physics isn't very good , however someone here might?

 

[ghostlymoron]

One of these got me out of the brown and smelly once. Both batteries flat on swinging mooring. I managed to borrow one from an adjacent boatowner (thanks Copper Captain) which got me started. Later found that the diode splitter wasn't working. I changed the diodes to a VSR and installed a 20w solar panel - no further problems.