Car battery jump starter recommendations

[amateurSparky]

I want to buy one of those portable jump starters . But I want a nice powerful one. My dad has a Mercedes gla 200 1.3 litres and it has stop start function.

I was wondering can you recommend a decent jump-starter that is compatible with both my dad's car and my 1.2 litre Polo

 

[ericmark]

Two basic types, lithium and lead acid, the lithium often states only use for a few seconds, so likely with work with a petrol car when one has left the lights on, but not so sure with a diesel car. The problem is if damaged, how would you know? Don't want it bursting into flames, because you cranked the engine for too long.

The lead acid type will be heavy,

often they have extras, like air compressor, or a small inverter, with around a 12 Ah AGM battery inside them.

so one is paying a lot for the case, many simply don't tell you what is inside, this one

states it has a 10 Ah battery, it comes with

all required to recharge it from either the car or mains, around £63 where the far cheaper lithium jump starter one has to also get something to charge it with, USB outlet etc. There are reviews on jump starters and likely they are the best option, as a mechanic needs to jump start for an extended time, so his requirements are not the same as the normal motorist the car salesman likley uses them a lot, but you buy one and it lasts for years, so not really compairing them. Same with the normal motorist, we get one and it lasts 10 years, so can't really compare them.

I hope I never need one, but I do have a lithium type, never actually used, got when my 4 x 4 did not start in the snow when family needed rescueing, but also fitted new battery to 4 x 4, biggest thing I used them for was blowing up tyres, so no worry car will not start after using car battery. Or as I have now, cig lighter fuse blown due to using 12 volt pump.

So I would get lead acid type with tyre pump built in, as it gets used, so also means it gets charged.

 

[amateurSparky]

So any jump-starter that can start a. 1.3 litre engine will be fine for my dad's car?

 

[HERTS P&D]

I've got one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOCO-GBX75...mzn1.fos.0fa28f01-6fca-4422-af4e-d52d5ad71bfe

I've had it for 4 years and used it about 10-15 times and would of being stuck without it, even helping others in carparks with flat batteries.
The trick is to charge it every 3 months.

Andy

 

[Mottie]

I've got one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOCO-GBX75-UltraSafe-Powerbank-6-5-Liter/dp/B08WYKD6TY/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2R0TEQ3RMDGFD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ONUh_iG9h2m8ZP2b0-99pd9i_m9Ap4kxteR0YmyeZJnGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.xzwL0l_CzvzAhpOSrpT_aYEDuj9tj9egt1PHSBQ3TOA&dib_tag=se&keywords=GBX+75&qid=1755422907&sprefix=gbx+75,aps,125&sr=8-6&ufe=app_do:amzn1.fos.0fa28f01-6fca-4422-af4e-d52d5ad71bfe

I've had it for 4 years and used it about 10-15 times and would of being stuck without it, even helping others in carparks with flat batteries.
The trick is to charge it every 3 months.

Andy

F'ck me. That'd jump start a tank!

 

[Mottie]

So any jump-starter that can start a. 1.3 litre engine will be fine for my dad's car?

This'd be more than good enough for your needs.

Amazon.co.uk

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I was wondering can you recommend a decent jump-starter that is compatible with both my dad's car and my 1.2 litre Polo

Both are quite small cars/engines, so nothing powerful needed....

A pair of jump leads, would enable you to start one car, from the other one. A spare 12v battery, given a charge every few months, along with the jump leads, would start either car.

 

[just pumps]

I've got one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOCO-GBX75-UltraSafe-Powerbank-6-5-Liter/dp/B08WYKD6TY/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2R0TEQ3RMDGFD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ONUh_iG9h2m8ZP2b0-99pd9i_m9Ap4kxteR0YmyeZJnGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.xzwL0l_CzvzAhpOSrpT_aYEDuj9tj9egt1PHSBQ3TOA&dib_tag=se&keywords=GBX+75&qid=1755422907&sprefix=gbx+75,aps,125&sr=8-6&ufe=app_do:amzn1.fos.0fa28f01-6fca-4422-af4e-d52d5ad71bfe

I've had it for 4 years and used it about 10-15 times and would of being stuck without it, even helping others in carparks with flat batteries.
The trick is to charge it every 3 months.

Andy

Got the slightly less powerful model for around £40 on amazon during a sale, starts my diesel Vito from dead flat. Once charged it stays charged for months, never leave home without it and like Andy it has helped a few strangers out in car parks.

 

[accelerator]

Noco is one of the industry leaders. Their product info gives the capacity of engine they are suitable for. They have a large range of capacities.

NOCO | Jump Starters, Chargers, Batteries & Inflators

no.co

 

[Mottie]

and like Andy it has helped a few strangers out in car parks.

I bet he has.

 

[Belle427]

The Noco ones look really good and where i would put my money, thought about getting one with an inflator built in too but not sure when i would use it!

 

[Activ]

I bought one these from AliExpress last year to keep in the EV. It's been used 10x, 8x with T4 2.5l diesels. About £35 delivered, took about 14 days to arrive using their Pay On Delivery service. Seller comms were good and answered my questions.

 

[Mottie]

Just on a related note, I don’t think the hybrid car we are getting in September can’t be jump started like a traditional car but it can jump start itself! If it goes flat, you press a button on the dash and it allows you to draw power from the hybrid motor battery and start the engine. Amazing.

 

[ericmark]

I have just replaced the battery in this it must be around 20 year old and the pump no longer works, but worth doing as it has a 300 watt inverter built in to run 230 stuff, and a portable cig lighter socket is so handy. I note the battery is 20 Ah, not 12 Ah as in most sold today,

The jump start will work in both directions, so clipping onto an 80 Ah battery I have 100 Ah, so it should run a standard lamp for a long time. So more kept as a back-up should we get a power cut.

I do have a lithium jump start pack, got it to replace the unit shown, but never actually used it to jump start with, when the battery failed on the car, I got a new battery, Yes expensive at £170, but I want to be able to rely on the car, not messing around jump-starting it.

The problem with a lead acid battery is they take so long to charge. A lithium battery can normally be recharged in 1.5 hours, but a lead acid takes around 10 hours with a stage charger, and with fixed voltage around 24 hours, and 30 MPH average that is 720 miles driving to fully recharge.

If the battery has been left flat for some time, then it can take nearly 2 weeks to fully recharge it. With the stop/start car, the stop/start is auto disabled if the battery is not fully charged, and it was noted during Covid when car not used, putting the smart charger on the car, it would show fully charged, but stop/start did not work, but after a week on charge it did. Having the smart charger on an energy monitor, we could see when charging. What it did was raise voltage to 14.4 volts, then switch off, until the voltage hit 12.8 volts, then start charging again. And we could see the time between charging getting longer and longer until it was only switched on once every 24 hours.

So a jump start may get you home, but it then needs charging, as we don't drive for long enough to recharge the battery fully.