Power Pack or Jump Leads?

[jaynana]

had a 'dead battery' experience, even the door wouldn't open and when opened manually even the interior lights wouldn't come up - totally belly up!;  minus jump leads in hand either, after just 10 days of parking at the south-end airport long-stay!

i had other mates with cars with me (who had traveled with me) - coudn't crank the X - lousy jump leads!

so AA came to the rescue, started the X in one shot; tested the alternator and battery and said nothin wrong, 10 mins of idling and the car could be re-started on its own from a total dead where even the doors wouldn't open!

so a parasitic drain test is in order. the dreaded hedgehog, or my gsm remote?? i'll have to find out.

parallel to that i think its time to 'waste' money on a power pack or an good set of jump leads..

pros and cons as i see it:

power pack would mean an oppty to waste more money lol, but also - another battery to look after? plus replace THAT  battery every so many years?

a good jump lead would last forever, but then i'd need to keep callin a mate to 'jump'.. 


comparing apples with oranges but what opinions pls..  this or this?.. or stick to AA  ?

[Sanj]

Check the terminals are tight first.

[X5Sport]

I had this a couple of times with my E53.  Nothing worse than coming back to a cold wet airport car park at oh my god it's early o'clock after a 12-hour flight and find the blasted car is dead!!

Fortunately all the Car Parks I used (off airport) seemed to have large batteries and leads on a trolley and always got us going.

What I tend to do now is put the car on the CTEK charger just before we go and it seems to work fine.  For my E53 a Bosch S5 sorted the problem out.  Never did find any parasitic draws.

Richard

[AW8]

I have the top RAC Breakdown cover plus I have a CTEK charger as well as keeping a set of Silverline 456956 Heavy Duty Jump Leads........ They are 600A,  3.6m Cable length & 5.65mm2. Supposedly guaranteed for life if buyers register online..............marketed as also  suitable for large agricultural & commercial vehicles.

I haven't had to use them for a while but they give great peace of mind......I bought them some while ago from amazon - great price at the time and maybe worth searching out.

[Steamyrotter]

[quote="AW8"]
3.6m Cable length & 5.65mm2. [/quote]

5.65mm2??  Are you sure?
That wouldn't start a toaster..
600A through that would make a nice glow and smell!!

I have a set of 6m long 50mm2 trirated leads.
And still have issues from the front jump points.

The biggy is to get appropriate connectors to get a good connection on the jump posts or even jump to the battery itself, but is a problem to get to as you know....


Oh and from research there are very few jump packs that would be able to start a fully dead X5!!

[jaynana]

[quote="Steamyrotter"]
I have a set of 6m long 50mm2 trirated leads.
[/quote]

50mm2?? do you jump start trains, ships etc?? lol

i was thinking of 25mm2 like this for instance.. i think it will crank up to about a 3.5L.. of course it depends on how much power is left in the battery.

sanj - terminals - good one.. although unlikely. must check.

[X5Sport]

Mine are the decent Halfords Professional 35mm^2 cables that they no longer sell unfortunately.  Very similar to the Draper ones and very flexible copper cored rather than cheapo alli ones.  They even came in a nice box.  Got em in a 50% off sale for about £40 many years back.

The M57TUD engine can draw a LOT on very cold mornings, hence the 800A plus CCA batteries we have to lug about with us  )

I couldn't find a jumper pack that would cope with a dead X5, but there are a couple about now.  I've learned to keep the batteries topped up - especially as both the X6 and Mini iDrives warn of 'Excess Battery Discharge' if you just leave a door open for too long!!

R

[pvr]

Is there something that you can plug in straight in the mains and jump from there?

My power pack battery does not hold its charge anymore and I would just like to plug something in the mains and use that instead rather than buying another portable unit.

[AW8]

[quote="Steamyrotter"] 5.65mm2??  Are you sure?
[/quote]

I just googled the product and multi references re 5.65mm2 . I am only going from info supplied by various retailers.............perhaps its a type error from the manufacturer  or supplier.  The only ones I have seen that are thicker/sturdier  & for large plant & HGV's . Mine are  marketed as 600 amp and weigh in at around 1.8kg with relatively chunky clips. Perhaps the cables are 5.62mm thickness ?

[quote="pvr"]
My power pack battery does not hold its charge anymore and I would just like to plug something in the mains and use that instead rather than buying another portable unit.
[/quote]


Are you physically able to recondition your jump pack with the ctek ?

[Lummox]

Not sure how to put a fancy link in but i have one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002 ... UTF8&psc=1
and this has no problems at all cold cranking the 4.8is or a TD disco, plus it has the added extra of the compressor and an inverter. It is chunky and robust and hasn't let me down yet.

[squeaky2]

[quote="pvr"]
Is there something that you can plug in straight in the mains and jump from there?

My power pack battery does not hold its charge anymore and I would just like to plug something in the mains and use that instead rather than buying another portable unit.
[/quote]

We've got something similar to this at work
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... ttery    .....needed it when we had the 7.5t as we hardly ever used it.


you could probably get away with something like this though
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... ne-starter

I just keep a set of heavy duty leads in the boot........even if you dont need them they are always useful for helping other people out

[X5Sport]

[quote="pvr"]
My power pack battery does not hold its charge anymore and I would just like to plug something in the mains and use that instead rather than buying another portable unit.
[/quote]

I thought they had a standard 12v battery inside, which you may be able to replace?

R

[pvr]

Not sure, it is about 10 years old now.

I don't use it for the cars though, but my lawn mower and other garden stuff often has a dead battery (and I am not running those on CTEKS during the winter ....).

[pvr]

[quote="squeaky2"]
[quote="pvr"]
Is there something that you can plug in straight in the mains and jump from there?

My power pack battery does not hold its charge anymore and I would just like to plug something in the mains and use that instead rather than buying another portable unit.
[/quote]

We've got something similar to this at work
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... ttery    .....needed it when we had the 7.5t as we hardly ever used it.


you could probably get away with something like this though
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... ne-starter

I just keep a set of heavy duty leads in the boot........even if you dont need them they are always useful for helping other people out
[/quote]

Thanks for that, I could not find that on Google but the last one looks like the one I would need indeed.

[jaynana]

[quote="Lummox"]
Not sure how to put a fancy link in but i have one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002 ... UTF8&psc=1
and this has no problems at all cold cranking the 4.8is or a TD disco, plus it has the added extra of the compressor and an inverter. It is chunky and robust and hasn't let me down yet.
[/quote]

Lummox, is the internal battery changeable.. once its end of life?