Truly Portable (mains free) Jump Starter?

[dirtydog]

Yeah the terminals are under the flaps at the corners.

Have you tried any local motor factors for batteries? Or even ebay? I bought a Lion battery for my mk5 a week or so ago it's 76ah and 680cca (matches the other battery already on it) for £43 delivered

[cormie]

I'm in Ireland and generally the prices here are far more expensive than what can be found on eBay/Amazon so I might be better off just going with ordering online. Do you reckon that battery would suit the job anyway?

[dirtydog]

It started my mk5 on its own (other battery was on charge) and it had been sat for about 6 weeks

I also used one of the van batteries to jump start my old 2.8td Shogun as well

[cormie]

Cool, so if I get the one from amazon it should certainly be enough I guess

[cormie]

Exactly the same procedure as if you were starting from another vehicle, connect jump leads in the correct place - I think there is somewhere specific on the newer vans you may need to connect them but someone else will be able to tell you for sure - and turn the key, no need to wait.

Leave engine running and disconnect jump leads one at a time, making sure not to short circuit anything.

Make sure your drivers know how to connect the jump leads up correctly so they don't cook anything, you will need decent THICK jump leads, thin cheap ones are no good at all.

x2 on all of that, exactly what I do.

Do not use a trickle charger as that will boil the battery and cause a nasty smell
A smart charger literally puts a short pulse of charge into the battery on a regular basis to keep it topped up, it doesn't keep the battery on charge the whole time. Mine sits in my office with a cheap digital volt meter on top which tells me its state of charge at all times. My smart charger is a cTek, but there are cheaper ones around nowadays

Uh oh, I came back to have a look at your set up again and realise you have a full light on, but have it at the motorcycle option, not the car option. I put mine to charge on the car icon and it was on the charging icon for the battery last night and is now green and full on the full battery icon. But I'm worried now I didn't charge it like I'm meant to. Is it safe to leave it plugged in on car mode?

[Altransit]

Yes is should be on car option. I hadn't noticed when I took that picture that it was on the wrong one, although once it's fully charged it doesn't make any difference, 'cos either will keep it topped up

Smart chargers are quite safe to leave on all the time, mine is

[cormie]

Phew, glad to hear that Well I got 3 jump starts from the charge it had when delivered, spread over a week or so. I hope getting 3 jumps off it from it's delivered charge didn't do any harm to it as it took me about a week to finally plug it in and charge it up, I'll try keep it topped up anyway but it is kind of in the way so don't think I'll have it plugged in permanently.

Thanks again for the input!

[cormie]

Oh no, I tried jump a completely dead transit yesterday with this, and although it brought it back to life in terms of the radio and door locks working, it wouldn't jump it, it just kept clicking. I eventually had to hook the leads up to a running astra van and wait a minute or two before jumping and it started eventually.

I'm a little confused, why wouldn't a fully charged 800cca battery be able to jump a dead transit and a battery from an astra be ok (with engine running)?

Is the fact I'm connecting the jump leads to the dead battery a factor and would I be better off removing the dead battery and jumping it direct from the spare and then connecting the old one back once it's running and the alternator would then charge the old one? Or have I a dud battery, or did I kill the new battery? Is there any way to find out the quality of a battery in relation to it's rated figures?

Any feedback would be great!

[KevofCov]

Hi Cormie

I have the same problem.
Fully chargered spare battery and good leads with good conections but it wont make any difference to starting a dead van.
Driving me nuts
Think it needs an adult to tell us why

Kev

[Altransit]

It's all about how much current a set of jump leads will carry, and how much voltage drop there will be along the length of the leads. A drop of only 0.5v due to the resistance of the leads/connections will prevent the starter from being able to draw the necessary current from the donor battery
I've never managed to jump start a diesel with a proper flat battery, without either bolting in the donor battery, or giving a partial recharge to the dead battery by connecting it to a charge from a running engine or battery charger, for 5 or 10 minutes before jumping it again - hence the recommendation to buy a Transit sized battery in the first place

[cormie]

Interesting, I thought this would be more than capable of jumping it, which is a pity to learn there's times it won't be, but on the other hand, if this can't do it, then the other ones certainly wouldn't be able I'm guessing, and to have this battery able to be bolted in to replace the other and then it should start, well that's reassuring enough I guess now if only there was a way to just quickly connect the wires to the start to this instead of having to remove the old battery and everything at the same time.

By the way, once the engine is running, is it safe to remove the battery and put the old one back in so as to charge it with the alternator?

[Altransit]

You should never remove a battery from a running engine as the spikes could damage the diode pack in the alternator.

[cormie]

Oh! Thanks for the warning I guess I could just trail the jump leads to the dead battery up on the passenger seat or something then (with it secured of course!)

[Altransit]

Oh! Thanks for the warning I guess I could just trail the jump leads to the dead battery up on the passenger seat or something then (with it secured of course!)

I think I mentioned previously that I have a purpose made lead which plugs in to the power point (cig lighter) and will charge a battery, at a safe rate, inside the cab
Don't try this by just connecting it directly, as you'll blow the fuse and/or melt wires

[cormie]

When you say purpose made, did you make it yourself, or did you buy a purpose made lead for the purpose? Any idea what I should be looking for if I'm to get the same?

Thinking about it, it might actually be better to have the battery stored in one of the vans and charging with such a lead every time the van is in motion, rather than having the battery sitting on my floor in the way.