mini jump starter

Hi all, does or has anyone used one of these mini jump starter power pack jobies ? Thought it would be handy to keep one in the truck when I went fishing or a day out for charging the phone or starting the truck if need be as they're only small and wouldn't take up much room, but wanted to know if they were any good or if anyone could recommend a make ?
cheers Ian

ive never tried one but a std jump pack isnt allways enough if battery is flat

I was given a little yellow 3inch or so cube for christmas, tried to start a saxo with it the other day, used it as per instructions, and , ended up on the bus to work,

Got one of fleabay the other day as one of the cars was playing up, 180000mAh 600CCA for about £30. Was sceptical and wanted to make sure it'd be okay. Started the mower first with a completely dead battery, no problem. Then tried a 1.4 petrol that has a habit of flattening it's battery when left for a few weeks, again no problem. The Westfield it started three times although by the third it was getting a bit sluggish. Re-charged it and decided to try starting the 200Tdi Defender without the main battery connected to see what it could do. It did fail at that point although the engine actually turned over but you can only use it in 3 second bursts so no use for churning the engine over on older vehicles.

Given the Defender was stone cold and didn't have a battery in the system at all I wasn't surprised. In short, as an emergency backup when the battery is struggling I don't think it'd have a problem. Have now ordered a couple more 60000mAh one's to keep around in the workshop and the boat just in case.

@Muddy Vicky ,

Sounds interesting, you got links or fleabay item numbers? please.

Cheers

neilly said:

@Muddy Vicky ,

Sounds interesting, you got links or fleabay item numbers? please.

Cheers

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The bigger one I've just ordered but haven't tried yet: 391546342585
The original one that the price has since gone up on: 112256898872

Admit to being incredibly sceptical myself. Also ran an old laptop off the original one for a couple of hours although it did get a bit warm. Came with all leads inc. usb charger, multiple laptop connectors and in a nice semi-hard shell case. Lot easier than lugging an old battery out of the workshop everytime something misbehaves!

@Muddy Vicky , Those look quite nice.
Let us know how the bigger units work.

Cheers.

neilly said:

@Muddy Vicky , Those look quite nice.
Let us know how the bigger units work.

Cheers.

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Will do. It'll be a few weeks until I get a chance but I'll try starting the Defender again without the battery in. If it can do that I'll be more than a little surprised.

Ian Maycock said:

Hi all, does or has anyone used one of these mini jump starter power pack jobies ? Thought it would be handy to keep one in the truck when I went fishing or a day out for charging the phone or starting the truck if need be as they're only small and wouldn't take up much room, but wanted to know if they were any good or if anyone could recommend a make ?
cheers Ian

Click to expand...

I bought one once to keep in my camping car in case the battery went flat or for a bit of support for the battery. It was useless. I tried it once. It has been in the back of my garage ever since. I would sooner spend the money on making sure I have a good battery to start with.

I bought this one mainly because I wanted a battery to recharge all the gadgets when I'm out on a boat with no engine. This was the most cost effective way of getting 18Ah at 12V - a lead acid wouldn't last more than a few discharges. It's got two USB sockets and a lead with multiple tips for devices and you tell it what Volts you want to supply, so good for all sorts of things. It's reverse connection protected and has a torch etc..

The starter function was just going to be a possible bonus - until a week or so ago when I left the interior light on in my Punto. Completely flat battery, so gave it a go. Instant start. Took it indoors to recharge it later, only to find the display still on 100%. Mentioned it one here and someone asked what it'd be like in the cold, so I put it in the freezer for 24 hours. Still 100%. I've had to use it twice more because I was only doing short trips with lights on, and for your benefit, I've just been out and checked. It's still on 100%!

And yes, I have run it down to about 70% using it as a charger, so there's nothing wrong with the display...

What I haven't done is try it on a larger cold engine. My project V12 would be a good test, but the starter's not in it at the mo. I'll see if I can try it on a neighbours Landy in the week.

Amazon product

I see that they're doing a bigger one for a couple of quid more - but it doesn't have the variable voltage output I don't think. That's valuable to me so I'd still choose the G7.

Amazon product

Cheers all mixed bag of responses, will have a look at those 2 Muddy Vicky and look back when you've tested the bigger one. I saw those 2 boguing on ebay but wasn't sure if the make was any good, think that's the key some of the cheap ones are going to be rubbish and others will be good its just finding the good makes.
cheers Ian

I bought one which just couldn't crank the na engine, 600amp max, 300 starting. Bought this one Amazon product and it works fine

@Huddy84

Is there meant to be a link there?

Cheers

Yeah, for some reason it came up as an advert...

This is what I got. Just watch the 'starting' and 'peak' power when choosing.

AllStart Portable Jump Starter by AFTERPARTZ 18000mAh 800A for all 12V Engine USB Charger 12-16V Power Bank Car Battery Emergency Booster Advanced Battery Protection

Works bought one for the trucks, the day guys have used it and said it works well, me Im suspicous and dont want to waste my time so its the terberg and the 20 foot plug in jump leads every time.

I've got one, a Floureon T3 18000mah, it started a dead Quashqai and my Dads mitsubishi Outlander 2.4L ok... not tried it on the defender yet.... mine came with a little compressor that works well too.

You've just got to love the use of mAh as a unit when talking about car starter! why state 180000mAh when 180Ah is far more appropriate. Anyway Ah is a measurement of the total amount of energy stored and not what it can supply at the same time.

This is the dogs nuts .......

http://www.screwfix.com/p/ring-320a-li-ion-power-pack-12v/6688h

It makes me wonder exactly what kind of battery technology is at play here, for instance, a bare-bones 12 volt 20Ah gel lead acid battery on it's own measures 181 x 167 x 76 mm, weighs 6.7 Kgms and costs something like 43 quid.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CSB-EVX-12200-Cyclic-Sealed-Lead-Acid-Battery-12V-20Ah-EVX12200-SLA-/291741196652?hash=item43ed21616c:g:bIoAAOSwKfVXFOiS

This little thing measures 165 x 79 x 40 mm, weighs less than half a kilogram (470 gms) and costs just £34.50. That's in a little box which also contains a LED flashlight, a couple of USB sockets and other bits.
I've ordered one of those "68800mAh devices" so it'll be interesting to find out, but since I've only just replaced the main vehicle battery for a 120 Ah, 1000 CCA one, it might be a while before it becomes essential.

brian47 said:

It makes me wonder exactly what kind of battery technology is at play here, for instance, a bare-bones 12 volt 20Ah gel lead acid battery on it's own measures 181 x 167 x 76 mm, weighs 6.7 Kgms and costs something like 43 quid.
.

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Lithium Ion or more likely LiFePo4. That's why they can cope with such high discharge rates. The downside is that to charge them you either need a complicated (expensive) cell balancing system to take charge quickly or you have to charge at a very low rate, ie the 1-1.5 Amps their chargers come with.

Gradually SLA replacement Lithium's are coming on stream but you're talking well over five times the equivalent price. However they're much lighter and smaller (good for racing applications) and can give and take charge much better than a lead acid can (good for off-grid such as boats and remote houses).

Simple fact is that the next few years are going to see a dramatic change in battery technology as aqueous, graphene, etc. technology develops or better yet, storage systems that are still buried deep in the oil companies vaults somewhere are released as the car manufacturers attempt to clense themselves of the emissions fiasco.

Muddy Vicky said:

Lithium Ion or more likely LiFePo4. That's why they can cope with such high discharge rates. The downside is that to charge them you either need a complicated (expensive) cell balancing system to take charge quickly or you have to charge at a very low rate, ie the 1-1.5 Amps their chargers come with.

Gradually SLA replacement Lithium's are coming on stream but you're talking well over five times the equivalent price. However they're much lighter and smaller (good for racing applications) and can give and take charge much better than a lead acid can (good for off-grid such as boats and remote houses).

Simple fact is that the next few years are going to see a dramatic change in battery technology as aqueous, graphene, etc. technology develops or better yet, storage systems that are still buried deep in the oil companies vaults somewhere are released as the car manufacturers attempt to clense themselves of the emissions fiasco.

Click to expand...

All interesting stuff. Thanks for that.