Will a jump starter damage the batteries?

[Anonymous]

[ QUOTE ]
I have exactly that Starter pack from Halfords at £39.99 .... seems they all have that one now ...

[/ QUOTE ]Why is that? Why do people (and I don't mean yachties) want these starter packs? Do their cars fail to start? I don't drive new cars - haven't done for over a decade - but I've only had one starting problem due to a flat battery in over a decade and then I managed to bum a jump start from another motorist and had the battery changed.

Why do people spend their money on these things and where do they keep them...in the boot, in the garage,...?

I am really puzzled.

 

[oldharry]

17Ah at 300 amps cranking would last no more than 5 seconds! If your engine needs pre-heating you can effectively halve the cranking time.

Bit of a waste of time when you can probably buy a spare starter battery for not much more!

You would of course get a bit longer if you haven't completely flattened the main battery, and give the booster five minutes or so to push up te main battery voltage first. But two or three good bursts on the starter button would kill it if the engine doesnt fire almost immediately, while a proper spare battery would give you plenty of reserve.

 

[pheran]

Exactly. They will barely turn a decent size engine over, let alone start it. And why pay £40 for one when its available for a third of that elsewhere. Mine was used to power a little bit of 12v emergency lighting - did that OK!

 

[ChasB]

Been on the boat and the starter/engine that failed yesterday started straight away, Since then it's been charging overnight on the Vitrus Centaur charger. I think I now understand what's happening.

But it's late now. I'll come back to this tomorrow. Cheers for all the input.

 

[Guest]

Why have one ?

The uses I put mine to are many ... and it;'s in a convenient non-spill, easy to carry form. It has a flashlight and 12v ciggy socket built in. It can be left on its mains charger indefinitely.

My weekender boat of 5.5m - has no battery system on board and I have no intention of fitting any. So this carry on battery pack serves very well - it has enough power to run my echo-sounder / GPS or whatever else I would like to have on board ..

I have a garden tractor that has a small SLA start battery that after winter is usually flat .. this pack gets it going on the occasions I don't have time to wait for charging .. once all started and season going - alls' well....

I have a car that with its modern electronics and alarm systems etc. cannot be left during a 2 week holiday .. so throwing the pack in the back as safety emergency starter after parked up is reasonable.

With the greatest respect - you may not have a use for a pack and many others also may feel same ... but I have found enough uses for it to justify its existence.

As to its capability ... in desperation one time I actually connected it to my Mercedes 840 Truck batterys ... even though a 24V system .. on a 6 litre diesel engine - it turned it over ... ok it wouldn't start - but all I needed was to turn the engine over enough to clear rockers ... it did it.

As to buying another battery ... maybe - but I find a carry handle is better for me than a block that weighs a ton !!

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Why have one ?

[ QUOTE ]
With the greatest respect - you may not have a use for a pack and many others also may feel same ... but I have found enough uses for it to justify its existence.

[/ QUOTE ]With equal or even greater respect /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif I refer you back to my post in which I specifically excluded yachties. I can understand how a battery in a box with leads and a cigar socket could be useful for things like 12V soldering, pumping fenders and inflatables, running coolboxes.... What I cannot understand is why Joe Public is so keen to have one that they make them in huge volume /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif The average car does not suffer from flat batteries

 

[lydiamight]

£39.99 from Maplin---I bought one that looks abolutely indentical to this from Makro for £19.99 plus the VAT. Marvellous for checking tyre pressures, no more fiddling about with leads plugged into cigarette lighter sockets.

 

[Brayman]

Re: Why have one ?

[ QUOTE ]
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif The average car does not suffer from flat batteries

[/ QUOTE ]
You obviously don't have a daughter who is forever leaving her lights on and calling her dad out when her battery is flat. Since I bought her one of these things I don't get called out any more. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[pheran]

Ah - you got the posh one with the built-in compressor. The bog standard one without compressor was £14.95 +Vat in Makro's promo.

 

[Guest]

Posh ones ...

Yep - I kicked myself afterwards when the compressor ones appeared !!

Oh - found another use today ... my Lab Tech wanted a 12v source to work on my auto-helm ... easy peasy !!

 

[ChasB]

Re: Posh ones ...

Been on the boat again. Tried hard to get either starter to fail again, but no luck. Every thing's now working fine! I should be pleased.

(Bit like going to the doctor and finding the pain's gone. It'll return when you get home though...)

Will try to induce a failure at the end of the next trip. Maybe running the system for a while has something to do with it.