Great and important video, Rob! Remember the good ol' days, when carrying a pair of jumper leads was enough to get that motor started with the help of someone else's battery? Well, with all the new electric cars around, you may just be out of luck as their 12V systems have been downsized, owners don't know where the access points are, and people are afraid of damaging their high-priced electrics & electronics. 😯 So an emergency power pack is the ticket. I've gotten a Gooloo 4000 a few years back and it started my Crafter twice already after the juice cube had gone flatter than day old coke. Amazon sent me 2 more units of different capacity to test recently, all with lights and tire inflator as well. We have one in every car now. 👍 One should make it a habit to check the charge level every 3 months or so, as they do self-discharge over time. Take care and remember: 38 days to christmas! 😁
Like the tyre inflator option. I’ve found most of the jumper pack cables are too short for the jumper points under the bonnet on Ducato and need to connect directly to the battery instead. I made up an extension cable so I can still use jumper points under the bonnet. Glad I did a test run before actually needing it, saving the faf of accessing the vehicle battery.
Those types of boosters have come a long way in just 4 years since I bought mine. It just jump starts and also an emergency power bank for the phone. One thing to check Rob, the instructions on mine state not to attach the negative clip to the battery terminal but to an earth point inside the engine bay. Apparently, it's to avoid damage to the ecu and some say must do and others say nay matter. So, I know no better either way and worth checking out with a trusted mechanic.
An important message from your trusted mechanic! 😁 The advice with the - terminal to a good metal connect on the engine dates back to the days, when we did not have the "maintanance free", sealed batteries. Back in those days, the caps of the batteries were frequently taken off to check and replenish the fluid level of the individual cells. The batteries back then would "gas out" during charging. This gas is explosive. So, one would start the engine of the supply vehicle, then connect the + terminals to both batteries, the - terminal also to the battery of the supply vehicle and then to a metal point on the dead vehicle's engine FARTHEST AWAY from the battery as even at that point you will see some arcing that could cause an explosion when in the vicinity of the battery. Once the vehicle has started, remove the connections in the reverse order. I am still in the habit of doing it that way, as I have seen a few batteries blown up that way - although the risk is somewhat lessened today.
Clever bit of kit. Always useful for the van. Hope you're Good Rob. All the Best to Archie and Yourself ❤
Great and important video, Rob!
Remember the good ol' days, when carrying a pair of jumper leads was enough to get that motor started with the help of someone else's battery?
Well, with all the new electric cars around, you may just be out of luck as their 12V systems have been downsized, owners don't know where the access points are, and people are afraid of damaging their high-priced electrics & electronics. 😯
So an emergency power pack is the ticket. I've gotten a Gooloo 4000 a few years back and it started my Crafter twice already after the juice cube had gone flatter than day old coke.
Amazon sent me 2 more units of different capacity to test recently, all with lights and tire inflator as well. We have one in every car now. 👍
One should make it a habit to check the charge level every 3 months or so, as they do self-discharge over time.
Take care and remember: 38 days to christmas! 😁
Really good review Great idea bro 👍
Like the tyre inflator option. I’ve found most of the jumper pack cables are too short for the jumper points under the bonnet on Ducato and need to connect directly to the battery instead. I made up an extension cable so I can still use jumper points under the bonnet. Glad I did a test run before actually needing it, saving the faf of accessing the vehicle battery.
Those types of boosters have come a long way in just 4 years since I bought mine. It just jump starts and also an emergency power bank for the phone. One thing to check Rob, the instructions on mine state not to attach the negative clip to the battery terminal but to an earth point inside the engine bay. Apparently, it's to avoid damage to the ecu and some say must do and others say nay matter. So, I know no better either way and worth checking out with a trusted mechanic.
An important message from your trusted mechanic! 😁
The advice with the - terminal to a good metal connect on the engine dates back to the days, when we did not have the "maintanance free", sealed batteries.
Back in those days, the caps of the batteries were frequently taken off to check and replenish the fluid level of the individual cells. The batteries back then would "gas out" during charging. This gas is explosive.
So, one would start the engine of the supply vehicle, then connect the + terminals to both batteries, the - terminal also to the battery of the supply vehicle and then to a metal point on the dead vehicle's engine FARTHEST AWAY from the battery as even at that point you will see some arcing that could cause an explosion when in the vicinity of the battery. Once the vehicle has started, remove the connections in the reverse order.
I am still in the habit of doing it that way, as I have seen a few batteries blown up that way - although the risk is somewhat lessened today.