Portable jump start battery, how much power is needed?

I've been looking at one of those portable jump start pack things as would be useful for camping etc.

I'm wondering what sort of power is needed to turn over a P38 2.5 diesel engine?

The one I'm looking has up to 900mA cracking power which means nothing to me.

Does anyone know what sort of mA power I'd need and how you work out such a thing?

Cheers

Dr W said:

I've been looking at one of those portable jump start pack things as would be useful for camping etc.

I'm wondering what sort of power is needed to turn over a P38 2.5 diesel engine?

The one I'm looking has up to 900mA cracking power which means nothing to me.

Does anyone know what sort of mA power I'd need and how you work out such a thing?

Cheers

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900Ma would not get you far, that's less than 1 amp Hopefully you mean 900amps cold cranking power.
With the diesel, best to get the biggest you can afford and lift.

Bare in mind that a flat battery on a P38 may well cause you all sorts of other problems, hope you have your EKA code. I reckon you are better buying a decent sized solar panel to make sure you don't get a flat battery in the first place.

Dr W said:

I've been looking at one of those portable jump start pack things as would be useful for camping etc.

I'm wondering what sort of power is needed to turn over a P38 2.5 diesel engine?

The one I'm looking has up to 900mA cracking power which means nothing to me.

Does anyone know what sort of mA power I'd need and how you work out such a thing?

Cheers

Click to expand...

Someone who knows more about electricary than me will be along shortly to put you right. But Ma to me is milliamps. 900 milliamps may power a torch but that is about all. Don't you mean cranking power? 900 amps cranking power would do the job i think. Is 900 milliamps not the maximum charge rating?

900mA

ROFWLAPM

900mA, LOL, I have no idea why I wrote this, I went back to look at the advert and it was 900 amps, brain doing funny things.

Cars fine but thought it might come in handy just in case.

The Mad Hat Man said:

900mA

ROFWLAPM

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Blimey, not only do you make cables but you speak Russian as well

900A will be fine. Keep it on charge when not in use as the charger will keep it in maintenance mode.

My 600A Halfords caravan battery would not crank my 4.6
Bought new battery, wired up caravan battery to ranger battery leads and replaced battery. Disconnected the caravan battery, cranked the ranger, all good and no system or codes lost.
All batteries used here are the sealed type, don’t know if these are better than un-sealed or not.

If your Halfords Caravan battery is a leisure type, they're not designed for starting vehicles. Vehicle batteries are designed for heavy discharge loads for a short time whereas leisure batteries are designed for a very light discharge for long periods of time. The diffwerence is in the plate construction. A very heavy discharge on a leisure battery can buckle the plates and totally shag it.

Thanks for the info, yes, my Halfords battery is a leisure battery, didn't know about plate buckling. I have fully charged it and put it back on the van so fingers crossed. It has a four year guarantee.

the walrus said:

It has a four year guarantee.

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Not if you have fuct it - they are getting very picky on warranty claims on batteries.

Dr W said:

I've been looking at one of those portable jump start pack things as would be useful for camping etc.

I'm wondering what sort of power is needed to turn over a P38 2.5 diesel engine?

The one I'm looking has up to 900mA cracking power which means nothing to me.

Does anyone know what sort of mA power I'd need and how you work out such a thing?

Cheers

Click to expand...

Living in the same town, you'll presumably know "Proper Job"? They sell two with different ratings; 300 and 400 .....forget the 3, but the 400 has 600amp cold cranking, built in torch and compressor - i've used it to good effect on my 4.0l and they're less than £30!

Ridesafe said:

Living in the same town, you'll presumably know "Proper Job"? They sell two with different ratings; 300 and 400 .....forget the 3, but the 400 has 600amp cold cranking, built in torch and compressor - i've used it to good effect on my 4.0l and they're less than £30!

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Ahhh Proper Job, what a great place. I'll keep an eye out.