Which car battery booster/jumper?

B0bbyEwing

Bigwheels1111 said:

Keep it simple.

There are loads to buy, £20-£200.

Two thing to know.

A lot of them will not work if the battery is flat as it does not read any voltage and thus will not fire up.

The more amps the better.

So must have a boost button to override the lack of voltage.

I love the GooLoo GT4000 unit I have. Prime deal £61.36 today.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09CZ74YB1?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1

Ordered my one on 8 March 2023.

The charge lasts up to 2 years, I drain it every November and recharge it just to make sure it will work when I need it.

Jumped a C4 diesel with a dead battery for a week, until the new battery was fitted.

Used at least 15 time to jump it on the same charge.

Also a mini petrol last month, Again over 10 times if not 20 times in 4 days on same charge.

I would give it 10/10

Wasn't aware of the amps thing. I may send back the NOCO I bought then as its only 500 amps & yours states 4000 and there's only a few quid difference between the two. 

Barkin

born_again said:

paul_c123 said:

I haven't seen a car for a long time where the BMS won't turn off the interior light after (say) 20 minutes, to save the battery. Buy a jump pack if you want though.

Until something goes wrong, such as a actuator fails, or switch no longer makes contact.

My daughter's car doesn't need anything to fail. Interior light, sidelights, headlights can all be left on inadvertently, and will stay on until the battery's drained.

Ask me how I know...

A relatively inexpensive booster pack has got her out of trouble on several occasions.

Ectophile

I suspect after a point the amps ratings become totally fictitious. 4000A is a ridiculously high current unless it's a giant professional unit intended for jump starting trucks.  It's way above the Cold Cranking Amps figure for a normal car battery.

B0bbyEwing

Ectophile said:

I suspect after a point the amps ratings become totally fictitious. 4000A is a ridiculously high current unless it's a giant professional unit intended for jump starting trucks.  It's way above the Cold Cranking Amps figure for a normal car battery.

Yeah I didn't have the time to look in to it earlier as I was at work with my last post. 

Just done some more reading on it now, had a play with a few search phrases & 4k seems like overkill for what I'd need.
And also not sure why I thought mine was only 500A. Just looked at my order history now & it's actually 1k.

shera12

Cheaper jump starters can work, but the pricier ones (like NOCO) are usually more reliable and safer, especially for diesels. If you want something that’s going to work every time, the better-quality unit is worth it. But if it’s just for occasional use, the cheaper one might be fine.

ohreallƳ

@Bigwheels1111 is on track.  Many don't understand how these battery jump starters operate. They essentially won't start a dead battery (some may, majority won't) due to their operating principle, in that they need some voltage in the vehicle battery to charge the supercapacitors (SC) in the booster, this is what provides the energy to turn the starter motor. A completely discharged battery may be a problem.

BlueonBlue

Whatever you buy dont get the ripoff Halfords ones at £60 without a boost button they are for mugs.
Dont buy any jump starter without a boost button ...
I watched a guy in a car park fail with a halfords one he would have got a private parking invoice on top of it all too .

GrePro ,Gooloo have them around £30-35 via prime on amazon 3000A rated with boost buttons if you look hard.
Loads and loads of knockoff brands exist at similar prices which I just wouldnt bother with for obvious reasons .

Another brand I do see online is Aperx 3000A comes up often around £25 so seems ok might be ok but if your flush follow  ohreally and bigwheels advice above .

That black friday gooloo GT4000A deal at £61 was very good but the next one down the GT3000 may be a cheaper option .

I often wonder if some Amazon sellers buy up old stock jump starters that have been sitting for years and flip them so choose your seller .
Another point is some brands make it differcult to accept returns if they do happen to be faulty electrically but I imagine this is a more rare  occurance.

Mildly_Miffed

B0bbyEwing said:

Wasn't aware of the amps thing. I may send back the NOCO I bought then as its only 500 amps & yours states 4000 and there's only a few quid difference between the two. 

It's meaningless. The original car battery won't deliver much over 500A at most (look at the "CCA" rating on it), and the starter won't pull more than 150-200A anyway.

There's often confusion between A and Ah.

Amps (A) is the amount of current actually flowing. Think of the battery as a water tank, and it's litres per minute coming out of it.

Amp Hours (Ah) is the amount of electricity the battery actually holds. Think of the battery as a water tank, and it's the capacity of the tank in litres.
(Obvs mAh are 1/1000th of Ah, and Wh are 1/12th of Ah at 12v)

And, yes, most small lithium cheapies lie about the Ah capacity... But you don't NEED that much if the car usually starts quickly.

I have an eBay no-brander that cost me <£50 a decade ago.
Mucking about with old cars, and having a rep amongst neighbours for that, it sees regular use...
It's started a mate's 3 litre four-pot diesel Land Cruiser from so flat that it wouldn't even light the oil pressure light.
The one time it's failed me was a different mate's motorhome that'd been in a shed all winter with the battery connected. It detected the near-pancake battery, but just flattened itself in short order trying to put *something* into the battery... He plugged the van in to hookup, its onboard charger charged both batteries, and it started just fine the next morning.

Barkin

Mildly_Miffed said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Wasn't aware of the amps thing. I may send back the NOCO I bought then as its only 500 amps & yours states 4000 and there's only a few quid difference between the two. 

It's meaningless. The original car battery won't deliver much over 500A at most (look at the "CCA" rating on it), 

[...]

And, yes, most small lithium cheapies lie about the Ah capacity...

This ^^^

Like most car audio power figures, it's mainly advertising/marketing nonsense.

paul_c123

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4N5txe7oZA