Jump starters any good?

Adam Aglionby ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Got one for about £20 at the Ally Pally classic car show a couple of years ago. It's been used a fair bit since, starting cars that haven't been started for months/years/with fooked batteries.

It does what it says on the tin.

Thirded. I've used one on a diesel a couple of times, and that takes a fair belt of power.

-- Stuart

In message , Adam Aglionby writes

Seen one in regular use starting 3.5 tonne diesel vans on frosty mornings. That takes a fair bit of poke.

I've got some cheapie yellow one with a light, 12v socket, mains and car charger leads. It works very well; has jumped my car several times between charges when I was putting off buying a new battery.

Probably the most sensible £30 I've ever spent.

Richard

The message from Keith contains these words:

Saw one the size of a large attaché case start a cold double decker at Cricklewood bus garage once. Impressive. Made by Hunting HiVolt IIRC. Or possibly Hawker.

I would say that the general consensus appears to be good :-)

-- Stuart

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Guy King saying something like:

That's the thing. If I was to get one of those I'd want a decent make and all the cheapies don't instill much confidence in me.

Just a word of warning; I wrecked one by inadvertantly switching the built in light on when tucking it away in its cubby hole in the car ( yes, they're that good...my battery is at least 10 years old, so is on borrowed time! ) the sealed gel battery flattened completely, but I was unable to get any charge back into it.

The instructions clearly state that it mustn't be allowed to discharge completely and should be charged after every use

Yeah, I killed my Draper one by flattening it running a camping fridge overnight.

Replacement from Halfords is working fine - seems to be capable of a vast number of starts without needing a recharge, though. I always put it back on the charger after using it - which would be for one or two starts at a time - and it always shows full charge straight away.

Got mine for driving my "GoTo" Meade ETX105 astro telescope. Does a good job, and lights my way in from the garden after a session. Good on bicycle tyres too.

Overwhelmingly in favour then :-)

Feel left behind don`t have one already, as luck would have it Aldi have one on offer for =A324.99 from next Thursday:

Cheap pliers are O.K, got a set last time around for in van emergency tools and haven`t fallen apart yet, light use.

Adam