Which car battery booster/jumper?

paul_c123

B0bbyEwing said:

The Noco I have is still in the returns window until the end of the month. Would you guys return it & go for something else or stick with it?

Had to use it again today, bearing in mind what Noco responded to me with.

Car was on 10.5v as shown on 1) FM transmitter 2) OBD2 reader 3) multimeter. So if they're wrong then all 3 are wrong.

So not 2v either. Should have no trouble starting it right & not need the boost feature either right?

Once again it refused to start it on the first attempt.

Bit sluggish on the second attempt but got it going.

I'm surprised because you see supposed 'dead battery' videos on YouTube & they fire up first time no problem. Again, I say SUPPOSED dead battery videos.

So it's whether to stick with it because it did start the battery ..... eventually.
Or get something else with seemingly higher ratings, even though this Noco GB40 is supposed to be big enough for a 2.0ltr diesel.

I'd have to go in to my orders but I think this was about £60-£70 in the sale. I'd max out about £100, so that GooLoo would be doable but the first link would not. I'm not willing to pay that much.

Do you have >1 car? If so, send it back and buy jump leads. If not, keep it - it starts the car, eventually.

B0bbyEwing

paul_c123 said:

B0bbyEwing said:

The Noco I have is still in the returns window until the end of the month. Would you guys return it & go for something else or stick with it?

Had to use it again today, bearing in mind what Noco responded to me with.

Car was on 10.5v as shown on 1) FM transmitter 2) OBD2 reader 3) multimeter. So if they're wrong then all 3 are wrong.

So not 2v either. Should have no trouble starting it right & not need the boost feature either right?

Once again it refused to start it on the first attempt.

Bit sluggish on the second attempt but got it going.

I'm surprised because you see supposed 'dead battery' videos on YouTube & they fire up first time no problem. Again, I say SUPPOSED dead battery videos.

So it's whether to stick with it because it did start the battery ..... eventually.
Or get something else with seemingly higher ratings, even though this Noco GB40 is supposed to be big enough for a 2.0ltr diesel.

I'd have to go in to my orders but I think this was about £60-£70 in the sale. I'd max out about £100, so that GooLoo would be doable but the first link would not. I'm not willing to pay that much.

Do you have >1 car? If so, send it back and buy jump leads. If not, keep it - it starts the car, eventually.

Yes we have 2 cars at home.
But when we're in different locations we have 1 car (in that location).

paul_c123

Remind me - this car has a known fault with the battery/electrics, you're just stretching out its use before its replaced, rather than any urgency on fixing it? I'd still go with the jump leads, but just be mindful to park it in popular locations such as car parks where others come and go. 

It is possible to jump start a car from many cars, not just your own other one.

B0bbyEwing

paul_c123 said:

Remind me - this car has a known fault with the battery/electrics, you're just stretching out its use before its replaced, rather than any urgency on fixing it? 

Why do you need reminding of this?

And where are you going with it? I have an idea but let's see.

paul_c123 said:

 I'd still go with the jump leads, but just be mindful to park it in popular locations such as car parks where others come and go. 

It is possible to jump start a car from many cars, not just your own other one.

Correct.

Although I prefer to rely on myself, not others.

And while it may not bother me asking Joe Public can you help me out here, the wife may not be so keen/confident on that depending on who Joe Public is, what he looks like etc. Also with the job she'll be going in to, there's no options of car parks, it's side streets. So it'd be a case of hanging around hoping someone approachable shows up or going knocking on doors.

Like I said, since these things are supposed to jump a battery no problem, I prefer to rely on myself.

matt_drummer

I think the point is that the booster pack may not always be the solution to getting the car going or keeping it going.

What if the problem is actually the alternator or another part of the charging system?

You could end up with you or your wife stranded, or even worse, with total electrical failure at the worst moment possible.

Whilst the booster pack gets you out of trouble for now it is not a long term solution, you know you have a fault and it may not be what you think it is.

B0bbyEwing

matt_drummer said:

I think the point is that the booster pack may not always be the solution to getting the car going or keeping it going.

What if the problem is actually the alternator or another part of the charging system?

You could end up with you or your wife stranded, or even worse, with total electrical failure at the worst moment possible.

Whilst the booster pack gets you out of trouble for now it is not a long term solution, you know you have a fault and it may not be what you think it is.

Have had battery & alternator tested. They're not at fault.

Also, battery will charge perfectly fine if the car is used daily on a reasonable drive. It's when you leave it for days.

Followed a YouTube guide on testing for parasitic drain but the test went wrong, or rather it didn't act as it did in the video.

Watching other videos after we tried this out, which I thought were more helpful/detailed, where I think we went wrong was that when disconnecting the negative lead we lost connection, as in we took the lead off the terminal & then applied the multimeter probe which is what one video seemed to be showing.

Another video though said that you need to keep connection throughout otherwise the cars electrics can wake up or whatever & you're back to square 1 waiting on the electrical system shutting down as you'll be getting false readings. 

We latched the drivers door to make it think the door was locked but have since found that we should've looked at latching the bonnet too.

Just need to get round to re-trying.

Which knowing my luck will return the same results but can but try.

Car is in for MOT in the first week of March anyway & if it's not identified before then then I plan on asking them to take a look.

paul_c123

B0bbyEwing said:

paul_c123 said:

Remind me - this car has a known fault with the battery/electrics, you're just stretching out its use before its replaced, rather than any urgency on fixing it? 

Why do you need reminding of this?

Because I can't be arsed reading through the 6 page thread and possibly other threads of yours again - I am busy with other stuff etc. The point being, jump leads are pretty good at reviving a completely dead car under all manner of conditions. A booster pack isn't that great, and itself depletes over time.

Fair enough if you're nursing a car with some weird electrical issue, I'm not against that. I'm not going to simplistically tell you "fix it" because I know it takes proper diagnosis and workshop time to do that. And that it is beyond the skill level or desired customer profile of many garages.

B0bbyEwing

paul_c123 said:

B0bbyEwing said:

paul_c123 said:

Remind me - this car has a known fault with the battery/electrics, you're just stretching out its use before its replaced, rather than any urgency on fixing it? 

Why do you need reminding of this?

Because I can't be arsed reading through the 6 page thread and possibly other threads of yours again - I am busy with other stuff etc. The point being, jump leads are pretty good at reviving a completely dead car under all manner of conditions. A booster pack isn't that great, and itself depletes over time.

Fair enough if you're nursing a car with some weird electrical issue, I'm not against that. I'm not going to simplistically tell you "fix it" because I know it takes proper diagnosis and workshop time to do that. And that it is beyond the skill level or desired customer profile of many garages.

Then apologies from my end because I thought like the chap on page 4 you were going to come in from the smart !!!!!! angle. 

So to remind you -

Yes there's an electrical issue or issues. Something is draining the battery. 

The battery & alternator are good.

As per my last post, I've attempted to find what the drain is but later YouTube videos suggest I tested wrong, even though the way I tested seemed to be in line with the first video I watched. 

I need to get round to testing again but other things come up & while the battery can be jumped, it'll do for now. 

Monday-Friday is a total write off for getting anything like this done anyway.
Some Saturday's are a write off because I work them.
Which leaves Sunday. Once I get the stuff I wanted to do Monday-Saturday squeezed in to Sunday then if there's time left over I'll get to it.

If the battery stops starting from a jump then the urgency goes up obviously. Some would do it right now, I'm not doing. That's the decision I make.

paul_c123

One idea may be to just leave it on trickle charge at home. If you need to use the car, it will probably have enough electricity to restart after having been left a few hours "off charge".

B0bbyEwing

I've just noticed that because I said the word without a d I get the !!!!!!! censor but because you stuck a d on the end that makes it ok.
Selective censorship. It's like being at work

Anyway, I actually stuck it on a trickle charge when I got home from work. Boring unimportant story but I'm actually going to need to use it to get to work tomorrow now.