Recommend a decent portable car battery starter

[roadrash]

But what do you do when you see no sign of issues with the battery, drive a good distance, park the car, and when you come back to it, the engine won't start? If everyone knew when their battery was going to die, there would be no need for these emergency services memberships or jump starters. Buying a new battery is what you end up having to do AFTER you needed the starter. They aren't mutually exclusive.

But what do you do when you see no sign of issues with the battery





i really cant see why you asked me that, i wasnt replying to someone who sees no issue with the battery , i was replying to accy not everyone as in your reply,
heres a thought if a person knows the battery is on its last legs , as accy describes ( again im not talking about everyone) why not replace the battery instead of buying a jump start pack and then a battery.

 

[MntnMan62]

But what do you do when you see no sign of issues with the battery





i really cant see why you asked me that, i wasnt replying to someone who sees no issue with the battery , i was replying to accy not everyone as in your reply,
heres a thought if a person knows the battery is on its last legs , as accy describes ( again im not talking about everyone) why not replace the battery instead of buying a jump start pack and then a battery.

Well, I've seen batteries go long before their warranty period on numerous occassions. Also, a car can fail to start due to a battery not maintaining a charge that results from some other issue and not from a bad battery. A failed alternator will ultimately result in a dead battery. Once the bad alternator is replaced, that battery can function just fine for the rest of it's normal expected lifespan. I don't see how buying a new battery takes the place of a jump start pack.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Didn't we have a 784 page thread from Accy last year on whether he should replace his battery, morphing what one to get, where to buy one, then how to fit it and whether to do it himself or take it to a garage?

FFS Accy, forget all about the bloody thing, carry a set of jump leads and hitch your skirt up to get someone to stop if it dies (Which it probably won't).

 

[roadrash]

Well, I've seen batteries go long before their warranty period on numerous occassions. Also, a car can fail to start due to a battery not maintaining a charge that results from some other issue and not from a bad battery. A failed alternator will ultimately result in a dead battery. Once the bad alternator is replaced, that battery can function just fine for the rest of it's normal expected lifespan. I don't see how buying a new battery takes the place of a jump start pack.

well...actually ,i cant be arsed....

 

[MntnMan62]

well...actually ,i cant be arsed....

Who's saying you're arsed?

 

[roadrash]

 

[MntnMan62]

 

[roadrash]

yanks eh,,...... must be something in the water lately

 

[Sharky]

If you are worried now about a flat battery, how are you going to cope with electric cars which have a range less than you could cycle in a day.

 

[MntnMan62]

yanks eh,,...... must be something in the water lately

Nah. Just a bit of translation issues.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Didn't we have a 784 page thread from Accy last year on whether he should replace his battery

I could've sworn it was more that that.🤔

 

[DRM]

You need to take the car to a garage, it sounds like the battery is dying a long slow death, but the garage will check the alternator, battery, and earth from the engine to chassis, you are not doing that many miles in it, and being a diesel the glow plugs will kick the crap out of the battery before you even get moving, plus cold weather will highlight any drop in capacity of the battery, as I and others have said it sounds like you need a new battery, not a jump starter, because the battery will fail, and you will forget to charge the jump pack, then you will be stuffed, I think the car needs a good run out for starters, never mind staying local, if you just give it a good run without stopping and getting out you should be ok.

 

[Nibor]

I have this one but haven’t had to use it in anger yet

 

[Pale Rider]

Seems to me modern batteries last longer but fail quicker.

When I worked in the motor trade in the 1970s, owners would routinely keep a failing battery going for the warmer months before replacing it as winter approached.

My last battery fail was about a year ago.

I managed to recharge it once, but after that it was dead as a dodo.

I replaced it using a non-member service offered by the RAC.

Good job - the patrolman checked the charging system first, even though we were both 99% sure the battery had failed.

I opted for a 'premium' replacement, and paid about fifty quid more than the cost at a factors.

Well worth the extra to me to save getting lifts/taxis to and from the factor, having to do the job myself, and I have no means to check the charging system.

I've had batteries in relatively modern cars which routinely lasted the five or six years I generally keep the car.

The battery on my 2002 Focus diesel was still going strong when I sold the car after about seven years.

 

[gbb]

If it were mine, id take it to Halfords (or similar) and get it tested. That's the very first thing to do , anything else is guesswork or a potential waste of money.
Sure they're going to try to sell you a battery but if you're suspicious of their intentions, surely their machine must produce a printout of the test results so you can be sure their claims are genuine.

Modern cars can really suffer with low batteries, it causes all sorts of potential problems with the ECU, producing error codes.
It can potentially really mess up an ECU.
It also might be as simple as a poor or corroded connection, particually at the battery terminals, earth points or starter motor connection. Most of those should be relatively easy to visually inspect with the bonnet up.

Short irregular runs in a car, especially a diesel, can really hammer the battery, its getting more drained than it is charged. A good 10 to 20 mile run can boost it up again, anything less is a waste of time charge wise.

Do you wait for the glow plug indicator to go out before starting the car ? Failing to do so puts even more stress on the battery by virtue of extra cold cranking to get it going.