Flat Battery-Booster Pack
 

I don't often recommend products but as we all dread the A8 flat battery syndrome, which I experienced a few times on the S8 because of door handles keeping the car awake.

The most recent flat battery pushed the wife over the edge and I purchased a booster battery hoping it would get her out of a jam should she need it.

So I bought this fully expecting it to be a POS.

Today i was working to rectify the battery drains on the car and in doing so managed to flatten the battery :o So I broke out the booster expecting it to confirm my doubts about its ability to start a large engine.

To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement, if you want piece of mind then buy one and throw it in the boot you might just be glad you did.

See it in action here

+++

Wow. Pretty impressed that tiny thing can start a V10! I might have to invest in one of those +++

I was already subscribed to your YT channel, and watched this yesterday I think. Those 10 cylinders when it fires up, sound immense! I wondered why I was subscribed, and now I know!

That's very impressive+++

This is a cracking piece of kit.
I'll be getting one for sure.

I saw your post a couple of days ago Del and thought "that's very impressive, I must get one"

Two days later it pops up on my Instagram newsfeed as a "sponsored advert" but the exact same bit of kit and price..........coincidence, or clever marketing using information previously posted on social media?

Did you click on the link to Amazon above? Assuming so it will be a targeted advert based upon a tracking cookie.....

I did indeed Paul, I find it clever that because of that click its appeared on my Instagram and Facebook timelines which I access on my phone only, while also having different names on both. I assume it links my name to all three forums as it accesses my information behind the user names?

Probably straightforward stuff to those of you who understand that type of trickery but pretty cool to an IT illiterate like me :)

Good bit of kit compared to old lead acid battery boosters but remember that it is just that - a booster. I don;t think it will start car on it's own if battery is totally flat. Those cables look very thin and I don't think they can carry 800A without significant voltage drop and heat. I have a lot thicker jumper cables that will not carry enough current to start 4.2 if battery is flat but they are a lot longer as well so that's a factor. It does say peak current 800A but does not say for what amount of time, is t it 1 second or 0.0001s? DC output it only says 15A. As it is lithium battery the voltage will be 14.4-14.8V so even with flat car battery it will be pushing some juice in car battery so if it does not start straight away if you leave it connected for 10-15min it will get some charge in car battery and then you should be able to start combining power of both.

It would be interesting if anybody could try it with totally flat car battery or car battery removed all together.

I completely agree with yours suspicions too.

800amp is a lot of juice, and to put it through cables those size is not sustainable.

The unit has the box with the green led mid cable and i suspect it current limits for safety but I could be wrong.

If the main battery is completely flat you have to override the little box with button on the side.

There is another type of jumper that uses capacitors to start the car intead of a battery, its quite a clever piece of kit that boosts the voltage to charger the capacitor bank enough to give you start power.

I have seen a video of it start a car entirely on its own once charged which is impressive.

Also came across this which was interesting

I have a different type but I can confirm that it will start a V8 with a completely flat battery. Over the winter my battery went flat. and I mean flat, not even enough power to light a bulb, I threw on my booster pack, turned the key and it started first time.

I have started my V8 4 times with it, my kid has used it on his friends car several times and it has only now went to half charge from its initial charge over a year ago.

A worthwhile investment.

+1

+2

I have two of these (one in the S8 and one in the missus XC90 V8).
They are nothing short of brilliant.

I've jumped the S8 several times, jumped FIL's 4.5L Patrol, jumped two different 4.0L Falcon's with dead batteries...
I bought my sister one after a battery mishap, and I've sold several others on the concept after demonstrations.
On top of that, they were also used extensively over a 3-4 day period when we had power lines down after a severe wind storm - each one was good for a day simultaneously charging a phone and a tablet to keep the little daughter happy watching teletubbies! I simply alternated charging them at work!

Their CCA capacity is a little overstated. The cables are only 5mm, so can handle about 200-300A max. So claims of 800CCAs is a nonsense. They are still powerful enough for V8's (and clearly V10's) though!

S8: https://www.kincrome.com.au/starter-...wer-kit-400cca
XC90: http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/33168639588...26&_mwBanner=1

The Kincrome one seems to last a little longer (maybe), so the Saoko one off eBay may exaggerate it's capacity slightly - it's still an excellent device!

Good to know they can start the car on their own, I might just buy one. I guess because the cables are short there is not much voltage drop( my jumper cables are 5 or 6 feet long and even if they are thicker there is too much drop to start car with totally flat battery, I think they were 'rated' up to 2000cc engines) and because they starting time is short they do not heat enough to burn or melt insulation. You can look at them kind of like fuse, fuses are also thin and short but still can handle a lot of current.

As far as the box in the middle of cable I guess that is no voltage until connected to battery and reverse voltage protection box to prevent accidental short circuit and wrong connection. So there is no power to crocodile clips until they are connected with correct polarity, override button is for totally flat or missing battery.

I also like the idea of powering laptop on some of them.

It's funny you should mention heat and fuses.
One of the Falcon's I jumped with the Sauko one is old and difficult to start and has a parasitic power drain to boot - FIL cranked it for about 10 secs straight, at which point it finally started just as one of the wires popped out of the voltage protection device, having melted the solder!

(Cheap to replaced from Ebay or Aliexpress etc - about £5)

Not a bad unit, got laptop cables, and a compressor

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/30185...8210941&crdt=0

Ah well - just over 12 months old and my Guluman power pack is in the bin.
Used it a few times and it worked a treat, but went to charge it up and noticed the unit was no longer flat but bowed out - and will no longer charge.

Was good when I needed it - will look around for a replacement now.

:(

I recently bought a cheap one for £20 for use not as a jump starter but as a power source to power electric seat adjustment for 8's seats in the house. I was surprised how small and light it was. It was advertised as 30000mAh but I thought no way it can be more than 5000mAh So I ran couple of charge/discharge tests using 21W automotive bulb as drain at around 12.5V and 1.7A. It lasted 60-65 minutes meaning it only has 1700-1840 mAh or around 6% of advertised capacity.

Latest technology for jump starting is capacitor packs.
They're about the same size and look of the LiPo jump packs, maybe slightly bigger.

What these do though is actually use your own battery's latent charge to charge the capacitor pack.
Depending how low the battery is, it takes 3-5 mins or so to charge the capacitors.
Once charged, the capacitors can then release that energy as a high amperage discharge which is sufficient to start your engine.

Works on anything but a completely flat battery (0 volts), does not require charging, and can be pretty much be stored indefinitely in the car and forgotten about.

Looks like that will be my next purchase then - thanks+++

I would like to try one of these

http://www.maxwell.com/products/esm/esm-ultra-31-1800

Its designed for a 2 battery system on a truck, so you can run the main battery flat, but still have starting current available in the 2nd 'battery'.
'Hotel loads' are running lots of auxiliary systems (stereos, heaters, computers, lights etc).

Easier to just buy a capacitor jump starter IMO.

P.S. I reckon there could be a market for a hybrid battery which includes a capacitor backup within the same case as the lead acid battery as protection for accidental or parasitic discharges.