Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands? Does that one look like a good one? Are they
worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

On 18/11/2016 17:04, Munch wrote:
Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands? Does that one look like a good one? Are they
worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

They are incorrectly described as a 'starter'. If you tried to use it as
such the wires would melt.

Graham T wrote:

They are incorrectly described as a 'starter'. If you tried to use it as
such the wires would melt.

Watch this, then decide ...

https://youtu.be/v=I_pzljtJapE

On 18/11/16 17:04, Munch wrote:
Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands? Does that one look like a good one? Are they
worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

I have one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DBPOWER-165.../dp/B00YDZR3ZI

and it has started a diesel 2.0l VW Touran with a dead battery (lights
on, no crank action left).

I was surprised... It seems to hold its charge well too.

Munch wrote:

Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands? Does that one look like a good one? Are they
worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

I can't comment on any particular one, but my stepson, an ex VW master tech
and AA patrol, got one from eBay. When he saw it 'in the flesh' he didn't
think it would start a car, but when the battery on his Transit was failing,
it started that three times in one day, re-charging it after the second use.

He has subsequently used it on other cars, and unless the non-starting
vehicle's battery was completely dead (as in won't turn on the interior
light) then it has worked every time.

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

On 11/18/2016 5:04 PM, Munch wrote:
Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands? Does that one look like a good one? Are they
worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

I have a couple of Floureon brand (not a typo) and they seem fine. The
"bricks" which also do USB and laptop power up to 19 volt use lithium
batteries. I would steer clear of the 12 volt only type with a handle,
these use (small, low quality) lead acid batteries, at least in the
cheaper versions.

On 11/18/2016 6:17 PM, Tim Watts wrote:
On 18/11/16 17:04, Munch wrote:
Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands? Does that one look like a good one? Are they
worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

I have one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DBPOWER-165.../dp/B00YDZR3ZI


and it has started a diesel 2.0l VW Touran with a dead battery (lights
on, no crank action left).

I was surprised... It seems to hold its charge well too.

My Floureons look virtually identical to this. My main thought on the
one you linked to was that it was at the bottom end of the price range,
but seemed to claim unreasonably high capacity. So personally, I would
go with something "branded", also Amazon's no quibble replacement of
anything faulty is better and easier than eBay's. Now I come to think
about it, one of mine suffered an obvious switch failure in the first
month (lost its positive "click"), but sorted easily by Amazon.

On Friday, 18 November 2016 19:07:54 UTC, newshound wrote:
On 11/18/2016 6:17 PM, Tim Watts wrote:
On 18/11/16 17:04, Munch wrote:
Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands? Does that one look like a good one? Are they
worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

I have one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DBPOWER-165.../dp/B00YDZR3ZI


and it has started a diesel 2.0l VW Touran with a dead battery (lights
on, no crank action left).

I was surprised... It seems to hold its charge well too.

My Floureons look virtually identical to this. My main thought on the
one you linked to was that it was at the bottom end of the price range,
but seemed to claim unreasonably high capacity. So personally, I would
go with something "branded", also Amazon's no quibble replacement of
anything faulty is better and easier than eBay's. Now I come to think
about it, one of mine suffered an obvious switch failure in the first
month (lost its positive "click"), but sorted easily by Amazon.

My 1.8 diesel Connect wouldnt start so borrowed my mates RoyPow charger and it started it no problem. So I bought one, nice and compact to store under seat.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/18000mAh-Cu...oypow+18000mah

On 18/11/16 18:11, Andy Burns wrote:
Graham T wrote:

They are incorrectly described as a 'starter'. If you tried to use it as
such the wires would melt.

Watch this, then decide ...

https://youtu.be/v=I_pzljtJapE


This video does not exist.

--
"Corbyn talks about equality, justice, opportunity, health care, peace,
community, compassion, investment, security, housing...."
"What kind of person is not interested in those things?"

"Jeremy Corbyn?"

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

Watch this, then decide ...

This video does not exist.

Finger trouble, skip to 4:45 for car related bits

https://youtu.be/I_pzljtJapE

Munch wrote

Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands?

Nope, havent tried enough to be able to say that.

Does that one look like a good one?

Yep.

Are they worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

No, they do work very well indeed.

En el artículo , Andy Burns
escribió:

https://youtu.be/I_pzljtJapE

Those mercury arc rectifiers in the background look interesting

--
(\_/)
(='.'=) systemd: the Linux version of Windows 10
(")_(")

Mike Tomlinson wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

https://youtu.be/I_pzljtJapE

Those mercury arc rectifiers in the background look interesting

Oh he does plenty of "interesting" things, seems to know enough not to
kill himself ... surprised he hasn't managed to burn his house down yet
though.

In article ,
Mike Tomlinson writes:

Those mercury arc rectifiers in the background look interesting

There used to be lots of them in Underground stations.
Used to generate DC for powering lifts and things like that.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Mike Tomlinson writes:

Those mercury arc rectifiers in the background look interesting

There used to be lots of them in Underground stations.
Used to generate DC for powering lifts and things like that.

Cinemas and theatres too. For arc lights and projectors. Marvellous things.

--
*If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In uk.rec.cars.maintenance newshound wrote:
My Floureons look virtually identical to this. My main thought on the
one you linked to was that it was at the bottom end of the price range,
but seemed to claim unreasonably high capacity. So personally, I would
go with something "branded", also Amazon's no quibble replacement of
anything faulty is better and easier than eBay's. Now I come to think
about it, one of mine suffered an obvious switch failure in the first
month (lost its positive "click"), but sorted easily by Amazon.

They all seem to lie about capacity. For example this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DBPOWER-800...dp/B013UBRZUS/
is 8000mAh. They can't possibly have a DC-DC converter in there for
300A starting current, so the cells must be in series up to at least 12V.
That means you'd think it would be 12V x 8000mAh = 96Wh, but the seller says
lower down it's 30Wh.

8000mAh x 3.7V cell voltage = 29.6Wh so they're just adding up the capacity
of the lithium cells, which isn't how watts, amps and volts work.

Theo

Andy Burns wrote:
Finger trouble, skip to 4:45 for car related bits

https://youtu.be/I_pzljtJapE

I wonder where he managed to find a CLK500 that hasn't been started in
months, yet has been parked on a single yellow line all that time...?

Theo

On 20/11/16 17:33, Theo wrote:
In uk.rec.cars.maintenance newshound wrote:
My Floureons look virtually identical to this. My main thought on the
one you linked to was that it was at the bottom end of the price range,
but seemed to claim unreasonably high capacity. So personally, I would
go with something "branded", also Amazon's no quibble replacement of
anything faulty is better and easier than eBay's. Now I come to think
about it, one of mine suffered an obvious switch failure in the first
month (lost its positive "click"), but sorted easily by Amazon.

They all seem to lie about capacity. For example this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DBPOWER-800...dp/B013UBRZUS/
is 8000mAh. They can't possibly have a DC-DC converter in there for
300A starting current, so the cells must be in series up to at least 12V.
That means you'd think it would be 12V x 8000mAh = 96Wh, but the seller says
lower down it's 30Wh.

8000mAh x 3.7V cell voltage = 29.6Wh so they're just adding up the capacity
of the lithium cells, which isn't how watts, amps and volts work.

Theo

Why not just buy the battery for $50?


https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-...5c-w-xt60.html


--
"Women actually are capable of being far more than the feminists will
let them."

Theo wrote:

I wonder where he managed to find a CLK500 that hasn't been started in
months, yet has been parked on a single yellow line all that time...?

If there are no "hours" signs, what does a single yellow line mean?

In uk.d-i-y The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 20/11/16 17:33, Theo wrote:
They all seem to lie about capacity. For example this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DBPOWER-800...dp/B013UBRZUS/

Why not just buy the battery for $50?

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-...5c-w-xt60.html

Because, at post-Brexit prices, $50 is GBP40.49 (+VAT+import fee). The
Amazon pack is GBP29.99, and for that you get a charging circuit, battery
manager and leads as well.

Theo

In uk.rec.cars.maintenance newshound wrote:
I have a couple of Floureon brand (not a typo) and they seem fine. The
"bricks" which also do USB and laptop power up to 19 volt use lithium
batteries. I would steer clear of the 12 volt only type with a handle,
these use (small, low quality) lead acid batteries, at least in the
cheaper versions.

Is Floureon a decent brand, or just a made-up name like all the others?
Because I note there's:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/FLOUREON®-...dp/B0146DB050/
44Wh for 28 quid, looks decent value? Though the reviews are a bit mixed.

Theo

On 21/11/2016 01:39, Theo wrote:
In uk.rec.cars.maintenance newshound wrote:
I have a couple of Floureon brand (not a typo) and they seem fine. The
"bricks" which also do USB and laptop power up to 19 volt use lithium
batteries. I would steer clear of the 12 volt only type with a handle,
these use (small, low quality) lead acid batteries, at least in the
cheaper versions.

Is Floureon a decent brand, or just a made-up name like all the others?
Because I note there's:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/FLOUREON®-...dp/B0146DB050/
44Wh for 28 quid, looks decent value? Though the reviews are a bit mixed.

Theo


I have bought floureon replacement battery packs for dyson mini hoovers
and they have worked just fine for the last two years.

On 21/11/16 01:39, Theo wrote:
In uk.rec.cars.maintenance newshound wrote:
I have a couple of Floureon brand (not a typo) and they seem fine. The
"bricks" which also do USB and laptop power up to 19 volt use lithium
batteries. I would steer clear of the 12 volt only type with a handle,
these use (small, low quality) lead acid batteries, at least in the
cheaper versions.

Is Floureon a decent brand, or just a made-up name like all the others?
Because I note there's:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/FLOUREON®-...dp/B0146DB050/
44Wh for 28 quid, looks decent value? Though the reviews are a bit mixed.

Theo


Well, all I can say is I mentioned one earlier that has been
consistently good in my use and IIRC the reviews were excellent.

"Mixed reviews" on Amazon is a red flag to me - it usually means:

1) The manufacturing quality is inconsistent;

2) Some users do not really *use* the product to its claimed limits.

On Mon, 21 Nov 2016 08:05:08 +0000, Tim Watts wrote:

On 21/11/16 01:39, Theo wrote:
In uk.rec.cars.maintenance newshound wrote:
I have a couple of Floureon brand (not a typo) and they seem fine. The
"bricks" which also do USB and laptop power up to 19 volt use lithium
batteries. I would steer clear of the 12 volt only type with a handle,
these use (small, low quality) lead acid batteries, at least in the
cheaper versions.

Is Floureon a decent brand, or just a made-up name like all the others?
Because I note there's:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/FLOUREON®-C...dp/B0146DB050/
44Wh for 28 quid, looks decent value? Though the reviews are a bit mixed.

Theo


Well, all I can say is I mentioned one earlier that has been
consistently good in my use and IIRC the reviews were excellent.

"Mixed reviews" on Amazon is a red flag to me - it usually means:

1) The manufacturing quality is inconsistent;

2) Some users do not really *use* the product to its claimed limits.

Agreed and that's why I just took a chance on an 18V 3Ah NiMH battery for my
Makita combi. I'd had it for a couple of weeks or so when there was an
e-mail from Ebay re. a review.
The battery charged well, has plenty of torque and has done some work, but
not enough to be equivalent to 1 of the original 1.4Ah NiCads, so I don't
yet know. When it's managed to go through a couple more recharges and use
I'll post back here on how it's doing.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On 20/11/2016 17:33, Theo wrote:
In uk.rec.cars.maintenance newshound wrote:
My Floureons look virtually identical to this. My main thought on the
one you linked to was that it was at the bottom end of the price range,
but seemed to claim unreasonably high capacity. So personally, I would
go with something "branded", also Amazon's no quibble replacement of
anything faulty is better and easier than eBay's. Now I come to think
about it, one of mine suffered an obvious switch failure in the first
month (lost its positive "click"), but sorted easily by Amazon.

They all seem to lie about capacity. For example this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DBPOWER-800...dp/B013UBRZUS/
is 8000mAh. They can't possibly have a DC-DC converter in there for
300A starting current, so the cells must be in series up to at least 12V.
That means you'd think it would be 12V x 8000mAh = 96Wh, but the seller says
lower down it's 30Wh.

8000mAh x 3.7V cell voltage = 29.6Wh so they're just adding up the capacity
of the lithium cells, which isn't how watts, amps and volts work.


Something similar he

http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-...etail&id=39459


--
Cheers, Rob

Tim Watts explained :
On 18/11/16 17:04, Munch wrote:
Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands? Does that one look like a good one? Are they
worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

I have one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DBPOWER-165.../dp/B00YDZR3ZI

and it has started a diesel 2.0l VW Touran with a dead battery (lights on, no
crank action left).

I was surprised... It seems to hold its charge well too.

Cheers Tim, I went on to buy this one because of your reply and it
arrived yesterday. Now I just need a mate with a 'basic' car that we
can disconnect the battery from and try it - I don't want to do that on
my own car as it'll lose all sorts of settings

Munch wrote:

[...]

Cheers Tim, I went on to buy this one because of your reply and it
arrived yesterday. Now I just need a mate with a 'basic' car that we
can disconnect the battery from and try it - I don't want to do that on
my own car as it'll lose all sorts of settings

Are you suggesting that you would disconnect the main vehicle battery, and
try to start and run from the jumper pack?

If so, I would strongly discourage that idea - it's not what these starter
packs are for, and could cause you all kinds of expensive pain.

If you want to test the pack's ability to start a car with a discharged
battery (which is what they are designed to do), then just leave the lights
on until the battery voltage is below the threshold for cranking.

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

Chris Whelan wrote:
Munch wrote:

[...]

Cheers Tim, I went on to buy this one because of your reply and it
arrived yesterday. Now I just need a mate with a 'basic' car that we
can disconnect the battery from and try it - I don't want to do that on
my own car as it'll lose all sorts of settings

Are you suggesting that you would disconnect the main vehicle battery, and
try to start and run from the jumper pack?

If so, I would strongly discourage that idea - it's not what these starter
packs are for, and could cause you all kinds of expensive pain.

Are you sure? Plenty of YouTube videos of folk doing precisely this with
this battery packs. They're quite capable of supplying enough amps to crank
a cold engine.


If you want to test the pack's ability to start a car with a discharged
battery (which is what they are designed to do), then just leave the lights
on until the battery voltage is below the threshold for cranking.

And then you risk damaging you vehicle battery...

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 24/11/16 08:49, Tim+ wrote:
Chris Whelan wrote:
Munch wrote:

[...]

Cheers Tim, I went on to buy this one because of your reply and it
arrived yesterday. Now I just need a mate with a 'basic' car that we
can disconnect the battery from and try it - I don't want to do that on
my own car as it'll lose all sorts of settings

Are you suggesting that you would disconnect the main vehicle battery, and
try to start and run from the jumper pack?

If so, I would strongly discourage that idea - it's not what these starter
packs are for, and could cause you all kinds of expensive pain.

Are you sure? Plenty of YouTube videos of folk doing precisely this with
this battery packs. They're quite capable of supplying enough amps to crank
a cold engine.

Until it starts and the alternator surges the voltage through the roof
without the damping effect of a lead battery.


If you want to test the pack's ability to start a car with a discharged
battery (which is what they are designed to do), then just leave the lights
on until the battery voltage is below the threshold for cranking.

And then you risk damaging you vehicle battery...

Once? No way.

Tim

On 11/18/2016 5:59 PM, Graham T wrote:
On 18/11/2016 17:04, Munch wrote:
Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands? Does that one look like a good one? Are they
worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

They are incorrectly described as a 'starter'. If you tried to use it as
such the wires would melt.


Don't believe that one has 51 Amp-hours for a minute. But they do work,
you just have to follow the instructions. Some of us in uk.d-i-y
understand the adiabatic equation.

On 24/11/2016 15:18, newshound wrote:
On 11/18/2016 5:59 PM, Graham T wrote:
On 18/11/2016 17:04, Munch wrote:
Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands? Does that one look like a good one? Are they
worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

They are incorrectly described as a 'starter'. If you tried to use it as
such the wires would melt.


Don't believe that one has 51 Amp-hours for a minute. But they do work,
you just have to follow the instructions. Some of us in uk.d-i-y
understand the adiabatic equation.

It probably is 51Ahr.
It will have a 3.7V 51Ahr battery in it probably at the 10hr rate.
That is not the same as a 51Ahr 12V car battery.

On 11/24/2016 3:34 PM, dennis@home wrote:
On 24/11/2016 15:18, newshound wrote:
On 11/18/2016 5:59 PM, Graham T wrote:
On 18/11/2016 17:04, Munch wrote:
Been toying with the idea of getting one of these battery pack jumper
thingies like this one on the Bay of Fleas: http://tinyurl.com/hzczdkp

Any preferred brands? Does that one look like a good one? Are they
worthwhile or just a 'toy' that doesn't work particularly well?

They are incorrectly described as a 'starter'. If you tried to use it as
such the wires would melt.


Don't believe that one has 51 Amp-hours for a minute. But they do work,
you just have to follow the instructions. Some of us in uk.d-i-y
understand the adiabatic equation.

It probably is 51Ahr.
It will have a 3.7V 51Ahr battery in it probably at the 10hr rate.
That is not the same as a 51Ahr 12V car battery.

On reflection, you could be right. Of course the figure is only
meaningful if you state explicitly the voltage at which these amps are
delivered.

My similar sized Floureon T3 only claims 18 amp-hours (no voltage stated).