Flat starter battery on the van

[Pudsey Bear]

I should drive it but Liz has been paying the road tax and she SORN'd it in November, I've just taxed it and it is staying taxed so I can drive it, £1 a day it's stupid not to considering the £60 saving will cost ME £100+

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Sooooo, I have just been down to the van to see if these boosters will fire it up, Simple enough to use but apart from briefly lighting the dash I get nothing, could it be that it is because the points under the bonnet are no good for using with a booster and need to be direct to the battery? they are both fully charged up, I'm at a loss for what to do next, I rang my garage and he said a good run and it'll be fine but that's not my experience with flat lead acid batteries.

 

[wildebus]

Sooooo, I have just been down to the van to see if these boosters will fire it up, Simple enough to use but apart from briefly lighting the dash I get nothing, could it be that it is because the points under the bonnet are no good for using with a booster and need to be direct to the battery? they are both fully charged up, I'm at a loss for what to do next, I rang my garage and he said a good run and it'll be fine but that's not my experience with flat lead acid batteries.

Different Boosters may be different, but with mine I found it would always go on the second connection.
connect, ignition on and leave switched on for a minute of so for the booster to do a bit of a power trans; then disconnect and repeat and then try and start.
I used to use the booster quite often on my VW LT for the first 6 months or so while I was converting it as the battery was knackered and I didn't want to replace it until the van was going to actually be in use.

The whole point of the points under the bonnet is to be able to jump start isn't it? so surely they should be good for a booster?

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Different Boosters may be different, but with mine I found it would always go on the second connection.
connect, ignition on and leave switched on for a minute of so for the booster to do a bit of a power trans; then disconnect and repeat and then try and start.
I used to use the booster quite often on my VW LT for the first 6 months or so while I was converting it as the battery was knackered and I didn't want to replace it until the van was going to actually be in use.

The whole point of the points under the bonnet is to be able to jump start isn't it? so surely they should be good for a booster?

Yup as I thought David, the Positive (red square) is easy to get too, but I could not see a decent earth point.

The earth point (black square) isn't on my van and the only other earth point was a tine 10mm nut so maybe not good enough, the clamps are very strong but I could only get a corner onto it, not a lot of options as the leads are designed to use on a battery where the posts are not so far apart, I was out there messing for ages and I had to give in as I was really cold and getting more and more anxious, still am actually as I need to be away Tuesday morning, so I rang my tame mechanic and he's going to come over on Tuesday mid morning and sort me out, then I'll go over to Alpha and see what can be done as I really don't want to buy yet another battery, my only concern is it will be charging all the way there 45 miles and they may just try to fob me off.

 

[wildebus]

I presume you don't have Home Start/Assist with a breakdown cover? could be very handy?

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Not sure actually, I need to check that one out, I can't move it if I don't due to where it's parked.

 

[Tezza33]

On my jump starter there is a boost button on the side, instructions are to connect the leads and check the green light, if it is flashing instead of a solid light you have to press the boost button and start the van within 30 seconds, so if it is longer than 30 seconds it will not work, as David said it doesn't always start on the first try, I usually try it once then switch off and try again, also I noticed that you posted it was in a difficult access position so you might need someone else to try starting it to be able to do it within 30 seconds

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Yes Terry, exactly the same on mine, and i followed the instructions to the letter, not hard, i th8nk its simply a connection problem.

Ill see if im up to getting at tge battery but its a real struggle for me.

 

[wildebus]

Yes Terry, exactly the same on mine, and i followed the instructions to the letter, not hard, i th8nk its simply a connection problem.

Ill see if im up to getting at tge battery but its a real struggle for me.

different problem to yours but same situation really ... When my Alternator stopped outputing anything, I couldn't be sure of getting to the garage without battery flattening, so I connected up my mains charger to the battery and left it connected, driving the van without the floor cover on.
If you - or someone else - can lift the battery cover out the way, then it could make everything a lot easier to deal with. You can drive without the cover in place, albeit a bit noisy.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

If i had a normal 12v charger, I could plug it into the inverter as i drive along.

 

[nabsim]

If it's like mine Kev (hopefully it isn't) if starter battery is less than 12.2V it won't start it with the booster. I just connect one of my mains charger to starter battery now and turn inverter on. If had batteries not good enough I use generator

 

[trevskoda]

Simple thing is that any lead acide battery let go down below 80% will be on its way out, any lower and left standing it will never regain any worthwhile charge, bin the fecker and buy a new unit & if not used for more than a week or two charge it or better still leave a smart charger on 24/7.
My solar through a votronic regulator keeps hab & starter battery well charged.

 

[wildebus]

If i had a normal 12v charger, I could plug it into the inverter as i drive along.

That is precisely what I did when I drove to the garage

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Perpetual motion discovered in Motorhome

 

[marchie]

Perpetual motion discovered in Motorhome

Yep; always up to our collective necks in the stuff as M/home Owners ...

As I recite each day at the Black Waste facility, 'Different day, different Sh*t' ...

Steve

 

[wildebus]

Perpetual motion discovered in Motorhome

I did remember to turn off the B2B


(As an aside, it is always useful to be able to have a way to easily disable a charger or device "on demand".
You never know when that might be necessary).

 

[Pudsey Bear]

I am hoping to try to get the floor up (despite mobility problems I am fiercely independent) to see for sure if it can or cannot be started with these boosters, if not then back they go as not fit for purpose.

And yes it does look like I am covered on my breakdown for home start.

 

[wildebus]

I am hoping to try to get the floor up (despite mobility problems I am fiercely independent) to see for sure if it can or cannot be started with these boosters, if not then back they go as not fit for purpose.

And yes it does look like I am covered on my breakdown for home start.

My suggestion to you would be get a home start visit and ask the guy who comes out to get the cover off.
I think they also carry a battery tester and could do a test on the battery while he is there.
One possible reason for the issue you have is the earth strap onto the battery. They use a lever to lock onto place and they can come loose. unlikely, but has been known and could explain why the booster didn't work?

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Liz came out to help me but I ended up doing it all myself with the moral support, can't be frail in front of the memsahib, I did get it all off and the same result, Dunno if you can see the clamp or not in this pic.

 

[wildebus]

get the home start boy in