What Jump Starter / Battery Booster?

[NiceCupOfTea]

'K, going to buy one of those things that sits in the boot and will start a car with a dead battery - any recommendations?

Seen this Clarke one from Machine Mart:

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/...

And this Noname from Screwfix:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/43219/Van-Car-Access...

There's also this, but it doesn't list any meaningful specs and it looks identical to the Clarke one:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

I'm thinking the Clarke at the mo, Clarke stuff that I've had before is reasonable quality and it is 900A peak and 400A boost.

Anything else I should consider at that price point (£50ish quid) and will it start a 2 litre turbo OK?

[Puddenchucker]

A few tested here: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/223...

[V8mate]

Do check that your car will respond favourably to such treatment. Some modern cars require the battery to be disconnected and charged and will suffer 'electronic freakout' if you jump them when connected.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Thanks guys - the Halfords one that AutoExpress recommend isn't sold by Halfords according to theie website! However, they recommend the Clarke 910 which Machine Mart do to so reckon I may plump for that one.

[andy-xr]

Would it not be easier to buy a spare battery and trickle charger? If the battery on the car discharges just hook up the spare to the car via jump leads (the £25 Halfords ones have been fine on anything I've used mine on), or you could swap batteries around as appropriate?

[tvradict]

I've got the Halfords Powerpack 200.

Had it about a month and so far I've found it to be excellent.

It will jump my car 4 or 5 times between charges. Doesn't take long to charge it either!

Its got a 12v outlet, Light, Inverter and a 3pin 240v plug socket on the side and A compressor, not very powerful. It inflated a tyre last week, completely flat to 32Lb in roughly 10 minutes.

Edited by tvradict on Monday 29th December 20:09

[dickkark]

Sealey RS1 is the one to have.

[Gafferjim]

I have the clark one, works fine, but do remember to leave it connected as it says, for a few mins before trying to start the engine.

[hairykrishna]

tvradict said:

I've got the Halfords Powerpack 200.

Had it about a month and so far I've found it to be excellent.

It will jump my car 4 or 5 times between charges. Doesn't take long to charge it either!

Its got a 12v outlet, Light, Inverter and a 3pin 240v plug socket on the side and A compressor, not very powerful. It inflated a tyre last week, completely flat to 32Lb in roughly 10 minutes.

Edited by tvradict on Monday 29th December 20:09

I've found my one of these to be ok as well. The compressor on mine and on my mates broke more or less immediately though.

[peterguk V6 KWK]

hairykrishna said:

I've found my one of these to be ok as well.

The compressor on mine and on my mates broke more or less immediately though.

Bargain!

[hairykrishna]

peterguk V6 KWK said:

Bargain!

To be fair I bought it to jump start cars, not for the wky compressor, which it still does well.

[snotrag]

NCOT - hang on a couple of days, I seem to remember I've got a flyer for a machine mart sale next week.

[NiceCupOfTea]

snotrag said:

NCOT - hang on a couple of days, I seem to remember I've got a flyer for a machine mart sale next week.

Thanks for that! Torn between Clarke 910 and Halfords 200 at the mo. I already have a spare batt and trickle charger - but that's not much good if I'm in the middle of nowhere and have a dead battery. Also, much quicker just to connect the box, jumpstart, and go. And I have no garage so charging a wet battery is dodgy - have to leave it outside whilst charging!

[Si 330]

I bought a black and decker one this morning.
£32 in the homebase sale, is it any good? I haven't a clue just thougt it was usefull to stick in the mrs car.

[douglees]

Just thought I would respond to this, the Halfords unit is retailing currently at £49.99 with the Clarke 910 jumpstart at circa £60 if you go to Maplin you can buy the same unit, spec for spec as the 910 for a cool £24.99 better stick the £30.00 in your pocket. Oh the Maplin Stock code is A56FR only problem is it won't come in a subdued Greyish colour but a bit of a garish YELLOW! Good Luck

[douglees]

Oh, and by the way most of these big companies i.e. HAlfords, Machine MArt and Maplin do a Badge Engineering job on the excact same units sourced either from Taiwan or China i.e. only the label is changed no difference in spec if you can find the source you will get them even cheaper still, but that's hard, believe me, I've tried

[tubbystu]

dickkark said:

Sealey RS1 is the one to have.

If its worth doing properly.

RS102 version that I have has spec as follows:
Cold Cranking Amps 600A, Peak Amps 1600A - so it can spin a cold Rover V8 into life on first turn of the key.



Not cheap, but some good price reductions here (never used them so caveat emptor but.........) - http://www.directsupplyukltd.co.uk/category/sealey...

[NiceCupOfTea]

I bought the Halfords 200 in the end and it's not let me down. I was in Halfords yesterday and it's still £90 or so so not sure where that £50 came from above ^^^!

Had a dodgy battery in my Saab all last winter, was fine from day to day but if I left it for more than a couple of days it wouldn't turn the engine over. Halfords PP200 started it straight off every time and did so several times without being recharged. Lives in the boot and everything still works on it!

[67Rob]

Yep, bought mine from Halfords last summer and it's been great.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Well it seems my faithful PP200 battery isn't holding a charge any more, so on the look out for a replacement. Btw, the compressor packed up after a couple of years!

Anyway, had a quick Google and as well as the huge things you can buy (like the PP200) there seem to be loads of tiny little things that look like the USB chargers you get for phones! This Bakth one seems to be liked by autoexpress but I can't find it for sale anywhere:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/927...

Anyway, are they man enough, and why so much smaller than the traditional type?

Edited by NiceCupOfTea on Monday 24th October 10:33