Portable jump starters, any good

Looking at buying one of the small car jump starters, something like Certa 12000 mAh portable jump starter. Do these things work?. Reason is last winter on a extended road trip I was camping on a DOC site 3 nights, charged phone, used car radio a lot and when it was time to leave flat battery. It is a small car and I managed to push it to the track/road out which was down hill and jump started it. Now I have a van and I wont be able to push that. Thought about split charger and 2 batteries, but then thought this may be the way to go, easy cheap. Do they do what it says on the tin, would one get my 2ltr petrol Hiace to start when I stuff up and flatten battery. Thoughts please:D

we have jump packs at work....about size of kids school bag...12 or 24 volts we start large trucks with them ,utes n cars piece of piss....small 5-10hp motors no worries...the buzzer alarm if hooked up wrong is AWESOME.... it clicks if not connected well enough too.
small led picture screen even better for techtards...tells you whats wrong if you have done it wrong....

PowerAll bailed me out once on the water, so yes, good!

I swear by mine. I had a guy use his to get my car (6 cyl Subaru) going after the lights had been left on yah...
I immediately got one the same but interestingly have not had to use it to save myself but have go lots of others going.
Several utes (last one a reasonably new Hilux), several cars, small Kobota tractor, 2l Lite Ace van.

Just be warned though they won't overcome a dead dead flat battery - has been proven in Yankee consumer tests.

Following as the one I have (don't recall brand) will do the 1.3 petrol but not the 3.0l subaru

Attachment 146917
I’ve never used it for my car but saved a few others.
My daughter kept it in the back of her car while we sorted a new battery and used it quite a lot.
Great get out of jail tool.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by chindit

Looking at buying one of the small car jump starters, something like Certa 12000 mAh portable jump starter. Do these things work?. Reason is last winter on a extended road trip I was camping on a DOC site 3 nights, charged phone, used car radio a lot and when it was time to leave flat battery. It is a small car and I managed to push it to the track/road out which was down hill and jump started it. Now I have a van and I wont be able to push that. Thought about split charger and 2 batteries, but then thought this may be the way to go, easy cheap. Do they do what it says on the tin, would one get my 2ltr petrol Hiace to start when I stuff up and flatten battery. Thoughts please:D

---

I've only heard good things about them. For devices like phones and radios, it could be worth taking a solar charger for those so that it charges when not in use. I have one that sits on the dash, and plugs in / charges through the cigarette lighter..

Or a couple of those lithium battery packs for the phone. Rather than use a radio, we use a small bluetooth speaker and a battery pack and the phone has a radio built in. Were you using the car radio? I would not think a phone would draw enough to hurt a good battery.

2post...thats VERY similar to what we have at work...possibly out of same chinese factory LOL.

I saw a new one advertised in one of the farming rags that comes out that’s small, but does most size motors. You hook it up, start the engine, leave it hooked up for 45 seconds and that recharges it ready for next time. Some new type of battery that handles rapid charging.
I’ve tried to find it again, but is placed somewhere safe. Can’t for the life of me remember who carried them, or who made them. Would be worth a few bucks, but in theory should be good to go every time.

Some advice I got about using them- connect them up and wait a good minute to pump a bit into the vehicle's battery before attempting to crank.

My wife took pity on a guy in a ute next to her at the supermarket. Went over with the Powerall and offered to assist. The guy said what do you expect to do with that, "girlie" (my wife would have been 10 years older than him). She said try it. One turn of the engine and vroom. The guy's mate go into him about a woman getting him out of the shit.
I told my wife just don't bother with those type of male chauvinist pigs.

So, as others have posted, once you've got one you will generally have no further problems of your own. :thumbsup:

https://www.projecta.com.au/news/201...-professionals
I knew I’d seen it around, and only $600ish slides.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

2post...thats VERY similar to what we have at work...possibly out of same chinese factory LOL.

---

I was given some Repco vouchers at work so bought it from them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by chindit

Looking at buying one of the small car jump starters, something like Certa 12000 mAh portable jump starter. Do these things work?. Reason is last winter on a extended road trip I was camping on a DOC site 3 nights, charged phone, used car radio a lot and when it was time to leave flat battery. It is a small car and I managed to push it to the track/road out which was down hill and jump started it. Now I have a van and I wont be able to push that. Thought about split charger and 2 batteries, but then thought this may be the way to go, easy cheap. Do they do what it says on the tin, would one get my 2ltr petrol Hiace to start when I stuff up and flatten battery. Thoughts please:D

---

they are awesome i used to jump a ls1 v8 with mine

Yip but its actually the other way around: The Lithium Ion batteries in your jump start pack need to wake up from hibernation. Esp if cold. Motorcycles use them a lot to save weight, and if the bike hasn't been used for a while you are told to turn the lights on for a minute or so before attempting to cold start the bike. The small drain gets the battery to wake up prior to the big load of turning the starter motor over.

My mechanic reckons there is a solar charger you Hook up to your battery and leave on the dash in the sun obviously and it Keeps the charge up,he uses one for his truck at the beach house which doesn’t get used a lot,he said jay car has them I think.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The bomb

My mechanic reckons there is a solar charger you Hook up to your battery and leave on the dash in the sun obviously and it Keeps the charge up,he uses one for his truck at the beach house which doesn’t get used a lot,he said jay car has them I think.

---

I have one on a car in Hastings, it’s kept the battery topped up enough to start every time. I would recommend one for any one who has a boat or car they don’t use regularly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The bomb

My mechanic reckons there is a solar charger you Hook up to your battery and leave on the dash in the sun obviously and it Keeps the charge up,he uses one for his truck at the beach house which doesn’t get used a lot,he said jay car has them I think.

---

If this is it
https://www.jaycar.co.nz/12v-1-5w-so...arger/p/MB3504
then $34 sounds pretty good

A lot are just a little electric fence battery in a fancy plastic box. The best one we had got used several times a day, I've started everything from scooters to small diesel trucks with it, and it went strong for at least 3 years before I changed jobs. It was tiny too, you could easily grab it and something else with one hand, then use your other hand to grab the keys, open the door, pop the bonnet release with the other hand, all with minimal effort. Pretty sure it was one of these: https://www.mrpositive.co.nz/heavy-d...a-jump-starter, but I dunno if we paid that much for it, probably got trade price through BNT or something. I think they come 1500 and 1700 amp

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tommy

A lot are just a little electric fence battery in a fancy plastic box.

---

And many are just a motorbike battery in a plastic box, though they still worked better than the powerbank style one I have that is batting 0 for 2 so far.
And none work if they aren't charged! ;)

Thanks for all the replies. Looking on the net went from a small powerall type thing to finding a school bag one on special at repco. Then my son who is in the trade said BNT have one in the trade mag. Its a 1700 mah looks like a normal battery with jump lead on each side. Have to wait until trade day and I think its $110 that could be +gst so hopefully it will do the job when required.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tommy

A lot are just a little electric fence battery in a fancy plastic box. The best one we had got used several times a day, I've started everything from scooters to small diesel trucks with it, and it went strong for at least 3 years before I changed jobs. It was tiny too, you could easily grab it and something else with one hand, then use your other hand to grab the keys, open the door, pop the bonnet release with the other hand, all with minimal effort. Pretty sure it was one of these: https://www.mrpositive.co.nz/heavy-d...a-jump-starter, but I dunno if we paid that much for it, probably got trade price through BNT or something. I think they come 1500 and 1700 amp

---

That one looks the same as mine, got from SCA, it's been good

My son has one thats not much bigger than a cell phone , multiple starts on 6cly landcruiser no problem . i will take a photo of it next time hes down .

My wife has one next to our bed. A lead clamped to each of my big toes and and I'm like the energiser bunny.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tahr

My wife has one next to our bed. A lead clamped to each of my big toes and and I'm like the energiser rabbit.

---

KINKY !!!!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

KINKY !!!!!!!

---

But necessary.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HILLBILLYHUNTERS

My son has one thats not much bigger than a cell phone , multiple starts on 6cly landcruiser no problem . i will take a photo of it next time hes down .

---

Yeah the first time I saw one of those that small start a car I was impressed - grunty for their size

I have the power all 600amp one. Can start a 3.2ltr ranger, I know that. Tested it isolated from the battery, (which was fine.) You just have to make sure it hasn't lost too much charge sitting in your wagon for months without checking it.

I have a 16000mha powerall if a diesel 4wd truck battery is dead flat I have struggled to start even if the unit is freshly charged, despite the fact that it is supposedly rated for diesels. I took the first one back because I thought it was a dud, the 2nd one was not really any better. The guy at repco said they have had a lot of issues with them. It seems fine for smaller petrol cars, and is super compact so handy for boats, but if I were buying again I would look at something else....

I take a starter kit with me every where lives in ute transfer it to the boat when going fishing or if flying into the bush as I can charge my phone,gps ect off it as well and have saved a few people in the middle of no where with a flat battery modern technology good shit buy one you will not regret it

I find the jump packs shit

I got one as a replacement to try one out after a robber stole our NS70 with short jump leads attached
long story short it works on small things and on big diesels on shit cold mornings its disappointing

we are back with batteries with terminals attached to decent short leads

just buy a decent pair of jumper leads and cut them in half and add terminals (or get an auto sparky to press ends on)
and buy two batteries