Battery jump starter advice

Nerfherder

Nerfherder

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So I have always had car battery issues and I end up changing them almost every second year, it seems worse in winter.

I'm thinking of getting one of those battery pack jump starter kits, for a few reasons..

  1. We have a tandem parking bay so jumping with cables in our driveway is really hard.
  2. Both my wife and I have old cars and several times a year at least one of us needs a jump
  3. If I'm out and about I don't want to have to beg for someone to have to help with the jump start.

Does anyone have a recommendation ?

I'm thinking this looks good:

Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store

South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.
www.takealot.com www.takealot.com
 
Nerfherder said:
So I have always had car battery issues and I end up changing them almost every second year, it seems worse in winter.

I'm thinking of getting one of those battery pack jump starter kits, for a few reasons..

  1. We have a tandem parking bay so jumping with cables in our driveway is really hard.
  2. Both my wife and I have old cars and several times a year at least one of us needs a jump
  3. If I'm out and about I don't want to have to beg for someone to have to help with the jump start.

Does anyone have a recommendation ?

I'm thinking this looks good:

Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store

South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.
www.takealot.com www.takealot.com
Click to expand...
I have that exact one and has saved me twice already at the shop. Keep it in the boot

Do it
 
That model seems good. I have seen it being used by neighbor.

Most insurance companies have 2 free callouts per year per person with insurance and if I recall, home insurance companies provide 2 callouts as well.

Not sure if you are aware of this ?
 
I'd be looking into why your batteries die so fast. Do you have long periods of not using the cars?

Might be worth looking into a couple of ctek battery maintainers...
 
Sinbad said:
I'd be looking into why your batteries die so fast. Do you have long periods of not using the cars?

Might be worth looking into a couple of ctek battery maintainers...
Click to expand...
I think it's actually the tracker, the car only started giving issues after I had it installed.
Possibly I have two trackers installed as well. I moved from one system to the other and don't know if they ever removed the old one.

I did a proper investigation last time my battery died on me and they could not find anything wrong or draining it. Kept it over night at a an auto electrician.
Its a bit of a pain and might be the car, the wet weather definitely has something to do with it. I had the starter checked as well and its supposedly fine, the pattern in winter is that it fails to start first few times and then that drains the battery.
I give it a jump start and its dandy.

It was idle over the long weekend and wouldn't start on tuesday, so that's definitely the limit of its charge.
 
FiestaST said:
Seems pretty darn convincing basing it on this alone.

View attachment 1828557
Click to expand...
ya, I have lost faith in takealot reviews, this seems fine though.

I always see like 10 reviews saying the product is awesome and then one detailed review explaining how its not, so a lot of garbage reviews lately. I trust MBB users more.
 
Just get some decent and long jump leads, always ready to work and pretty much unbreakable.

I've never struggled to find someone to jump from when I've needed it, just as long as you have the jump leads yourself and know how to use them people are fine with it. The portable jump packs are great but li-ion batteries don't like languishing for extended periods unused and fully charged, you may find they'll only last a year or two before the battery bulges or otherwise gives up, jump leads never die.

Take the R1200 and have an extra long set of high quality jump leads made up at an auto electrician using welding cable, the pre-made ones you can buy retail are generally not very long and use total garbage undersized copper leads.
 
Last edited:
Nerfherder said:
So I have always had car battery issues and I end up changing them almost every second year, it seems worse in winter.

I'm thinking of getting one of those battery pack jump starter kits, for a few reasons..

  1. We have a tandem parking bay so jumping with cables in our driveway is really hard.
  2. Both my wife and I have old cars and several times a year at least one of us needs a jump
  3. If I'm out and about I don't want to have to beg for someone to have to help with the jump start.

Does anyone have a recommendation ?

I'm thinking this looks good:

Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store

South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.
www.takealot.com www.takealot.com
Click to expand...

Get the bigger one if you’re only buying 1. Will be a decent investment
 
Nerfherder said:
I think it's actually the tracker, the car only started giving issues after I had it installed.
Possibly I have two trackers installed as well. I moved from one system to the other and don't know if they ever removed the old one.
Click to expand...

I've got the top Netstar one (R199pm).

In addition to the usual app functions like viewing trips or live tracking, I can also see my car's battery voltage.
When I'm away for a week I can check the voltage and based on previous experiences, I know what value is good to go when I get back or if I need to charge it.
 
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