Portable jump starter

[undyingking]

I was quite pleased to see that there exists such a thing as a portable jump starter, ie. a device that you plug in to the mains to charge it up, and you can then subsequently use it to jump start your car. This one at Maplin is an example.

Unfortunately, a bit of hunting around turns up reviews ranging fairly evenly from "it works, brilliant" to "it doesn't work, rubbish".

Anyone actually tried using one of these, and how does it compare with a normal trickle charger?

Comments

[wimble.livejournal.com]

I've had three over the years, two of which are defunct. The third's going.
The first one's dead because it's got very peculiar leads, and I've misplaced the charger.
The second no longer seems to hold a charge.
The third is still working.

I've also got a trickle charger, which is more reliable (assuming the problem is simply a discharged battery).

They have the advantage over trickle chargers in that they don't involve removing your existing battery from the car; they work reasonably instantly, without a need for a mains supply (at the point of your emergency); they might get you moving when the problem is the battery itself (rather than the lack of charge); they provide 12v DC for other accessories (I pump up my bike tyres with an electricly powered compressor, from the jump-starter).

The downside is that they're heavy buggers, because, in essence, you're carrying a spare battery. If you need it more than rarely, you've got a separate problem (which is the bit I got very wrong).

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

It is just a battery gone flat from unuse, I don't really have any other purpose for it at the moment. WOuld be good to not have to remove the battery -- I hate doing that -- although I hear that there are very clever trickle chargers now which don't need that either. Not to mention solar-powered ones, which I assume are entirely useless. What a wonderful world we live in.

[waistcoatmark.livejournal.com]

A solar-powered trickle-charger kept my battery going for 6 months longer than it should have done. The problem with modern car batteries (well the high-current ones you need for diesels at any rate) is that they wheese a bit for a week or two and then just die dead.

The last time it had struggled a bit to start (30 secs rather than 2) for a week. I then drove all the way down to Exeter during the day - so giving the alternator plenty of time to charge up the battery and when I tried starting the battery the next day it was dead. AA man checked all the electrics - it's just that batteries die v quickly and drastically these days

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, it'll be interesting to see if this flat period has degraded the battery, when I do get it back to life. Hadn't had any trouble with it before, but it wouldn't surprise me if it became rather more vulnerable.