Battery charger/booster advice needed.

[Benthosboy]

Howdo all.

Had a phone call from OH at 6 o'clock this morning to say the car wouldn't start. As I'm 200-odd miles away, I talked her through rigging up the (ancient) battery charger but it turns out the battery has died. To make it worse, her breakdown cover expired a couple of weeks back and guess what?....... A good friend has saved the day by driving over and giving her a jump-start and she's since had a shiny new battery fitted.

As I'm away all week, I've tried to put in place "just in case" measures to deal with short-term problems like this so I've thought about getting a charger/booster, something reasonably "simple" that she won't struggle with. She's not daft, far from it, but the easier the better. Can anyone recommend a decent make/model? I don't have a fortune to spend, but equally I don't want to waste money on cheap and nasty.

Thanks, as always.

 

[eSCHEn]

There was discussion on this very recently and a few members have tiny lithium units that will start you from dead. Cannot find the damn thread now though!

Edit: Hah, got it! Here it is. HTH

 

[Paul99]

There was discussion on this very recently and a few members have tiny lithium units that will start you from dead. Cannot find the damn thread now though!

Edit: Hah, got it! Here it is. HTH

Based on Normspanners post I bought one of them Fluoreon packs maybe a month or so ago and it's been the best £60 spent in a long time. It's been used over a dozen times and has not yet failed to start any of our and others vehicles too. Just to test it I disconnected the battery on our Daihatsu Fourtrack (2.8TD) and was amazed that it even managed to turn it over let alone start it!!! the engine was warm though - not sure it would quite do it on it's own from stone cold. With a very near dead battery attached though it's no problem for it.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Is it really necessary if you have a new battery. Surely renewing breakdown cover would be a better way of spending money ? No point having a battery jump starter if the car breaks down for another reason, puncture etc without such cover for OH.

 

[MattH]

Aldi have a compressor / booster / charger unit on sale for £50. Not sure of the quality but their other stuff always seems good.

 

[wristpin]

If you are going the charger route, C-tek seem to be the business. I have a 3600 which is permanently connected to the starter battery on the diesel stand- by set to maintain its battery in good health but it's pressed into service elsewhere when needed. Came with a set of leads that can be left bolted to the battery terminals so that connecting up is just a plug in job . Also has a similar lead set with croc clips for other use - again just plug in.

 

[AndyStobbs]

Based on Normspanners post I bought one of them Fluoreon packs maybe a month or so ago and it's been the best £60 spent in a long time. It's been used over a dozen times and has not yet failed to start any of our and others vehicles too. Just to test it I disconnected the battery on our Daihatsu Fourtrack (2.8TD) and was amazed that it even managed to turn it over let alone start it!!! the engine was warm though - not sure it would quite do it on it's own from stone cold. With a very near dead battery attached though it's no problem for it.

The rep from a local motor factor brought one in the other day. I laughed him out of here. The wire going to the crocodile clips cannot have been above 6mm2 - the wiring on my jetski is thicker. This wasn't a Fluoreon one, can't remember what make it was, but at over £150 it didn't strike me as a bargain.

Is the wiring on yours quite thick?

 

[Robotstar5]

Just don't try what I saw at one of those fly by night used car pitches, car wouldn't start so the "salesman" comes out with another battery and inverts it onto the dead battery so the terminals touch!

 

[Paul99]

The rep from a local motor factor brought one in the other day. I laughed him out of here. The wire going to the crocodile clips cannot have been above 6mm2 - the wiring on my jetski is thicker. This wasn't a Fluoreon one, can't remember what make it was, but at over £150 it didn't strike me as a bargain.

Is the wiring on yours quite thick?

Nope the wiring is thin on the fluoreon too - 6mm diameter and they do warm up a bit if you crank over and over (which you're not meant to be doing with them BTW - their only meant for short sharp bursts which should be enough to start anything but BIG diesels). They certainly don't get hot enough to start melting anything though. TBH when I got it in the post the clips and cables looked disappointing but to be fair they have proved to be absolutely fine so far and the thing has saved us so much time and hassle rolling out extension leads or trying to use jump leads - use it once and there's no looking back. £150 is a bit steep if it's Chinese made - the Fluoreon I got is less than half that and as I say even after only a month I can honestly say it's worth every penny.

 

[wookie]

Absaar are decent (well the slightly ancient one the old man has is)

Got my eye on the following

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Absaar-12...-Charger-/141111081132?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

started several completely flat vehicles thus far without any fuss (and I mean sitting for 3 months+ flat where even the interior lights wouldn't come on)

Looks very similar to the one I've had for years, except mines black and has a LED based power meter that doesn't work any more, having said that it still charges batteries up fine and does the job as a boost charger, just clip it on give it a min or two (if you have time ) and then start your car. I've had it start 2 Litre engines with a completely knackered battery attached, the battery couldn't manage 6 volts when tested with a multimeter.