Recommended jump start kit?

motorguy

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

I've had a Clarke Jumpstart 4000 for several years, its not cheap but it will start virtually anything.
If you need a jump pack the worse thing is not having one with enough clout when you do need it.

I've had two Jumpstart 4000s over the last 10 years. Great unit but extremely heavy being based on a big old fashioned car battery.

Will start a diesel 5.0 litre truck engine, but never had to do that.

Is very bulky and is a weighty 17KG which is quite a lot to lug around.

By contrast the Jumping Jack will readily start a petrol or diesel up to 3.0 litres, usese the latest Lithium Ion batteries, weighs 1.1KG and can fit in your glovebox.

gilbert_and_sullivan

motorguy wrote: »

I've had two Jumpstart 4000s over the last 10 years. Great unit but extremely heavy being based on a big old fashioned car battery.

Will start a diesel 5.0 litre truck engine, but never had to do that.

Is very bulky and is a weighty 17KG which is quite a lot to lug around.

By contrast the Jumping Jack will readily start a petrol or diesel up to 3.0 litres, usese the latest Lithium Ion batteries, weighs 1.1KG and can fit in your glovebox.

If you still have the case for one of the 4000's, you can get a new battery for approx £72 from one of the online sellers, a well worded search will take you straight there.

I've had to jump hundreds of vehicles over the years due to my previous work, worse i've found are 4cyl larger Diesels such as Transits and Japanese 4x4's.

The typical jump start with pro quality leads you would end up needing up to three sets of leads to carry enough current, not helped by the length of pro leads, where the 4000 would spin these over without a problem.

I'm going to investigate the one you mention though for when pack replacement is necessary, as such extreme regular jump starting isn't normal for me now.

George_Michael

bsod wrote: »

what's the point, just make sure the car battery is charged, or carry a spare.

And you can save even more money by cancelling your house buildings & contents insurance and simply making sure that the place never catches fire or gets burgled.

Things such as jumper leads and the devices being discussed here are for dealing with unexpected problems and however well charged the battery is, problems can occur and mistakes can be made which may lead to it getting inadvertently run down.

Stoke

Personally, I'd try and work out why your car is dying.....

and more importantly why does it need jumping? Dead alternator?

Hermione_Granger

Stoke wrote: »

Personally, I'd try and work out why your car is dying.

Which is exactly what the OP has said they are doing!

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

My car has a new trick where it randomly dies which I'm trying to figure out but in the meantime I need a jump start kit to get the car going again

Johnmcl7

That's correct, the car was completely dead a couple of months ago and as it was on its original battery and they're not that expensive, I put a decent Bosch one and the car has been fine since. However it was dead again when I tried to use it at the weekend and there's no obvious cause (such as lights being left on or similar). I suspect something is draining power as if it was the alternator I'd expect the new battery to have lasted much less time.

The car is sitting dead on the driveway right now so I need to get it to the garage but realistically this may be a more difficult problem to sort so the car may die again in the meantime so it may need jump started again.

John

bsod

George_Michael wrote: »

Things such as jumper leads and the devices being discussed here are for dealing with unexpected problems and however well charged the battery is, problems can occur and mistakes can be made which may lead to it getting inadvertently run down.

The problem isn't unexpected, it's known about.

Buying something that's probably going to be tucked away unused for decades isn't addressing the problem - a new car battery (already bought apparently) and a battery charger are cheaper and more useful

George_Michael

bsod wrote: »

a new car battery (already bought apparently) and a battery charger are cheaper and more useful

As you say, a new battery has been bought and didn't solve the problem and what use is a battery charger if the car fails to start after being left somewhere away from home where there may not be mains power available? (such as in a carpark or at the OP's place of work).

bsod wrote: »

Buying something that's probably going to be tucked away unused for decades isn't addressing the problem

This brings me back nicely to my earlier point. Even though it may not be used again for a long time, it's still available if needed. I have a good set of jumper cables and a tyre pump which I've not used for ages, but on the extremely rare occasion I do need one or the other of them, they will get me out of the cack.

foxy-stoat

What car is it?

tonyh66

how many miles are you doing in the car, so the battery can get charged by the alternator? I only do 6000 m/yr and find my battery slowly drains over time. It starts to struggle this time of year when the temperatures drop.