UKC

I wanted to get a battery charger and jump-start kit which would work for our 2 litre diesel van (X-LWB Boxer), and our 1.6 litre diesel car (Berlingo). 

A friend warned me to get something decent and make sure it would be compatible but I'm clueless as to what we need.

Can anyone recommend something which would be suitable?

I'm not aware of a combined battery charger and jump starter, they are usually separate items. I recently bought a jump starter from Amazon after the battery died in my car. I thought I'd better test it out, so I ran the (tiny and knackered) car battery down to 1V, then used the jump starter and the car powered up fine. I then took the still dead and very undersized car battery and put it in my 2.5l VW T5. Hooked up the jump starter and it started the van easily. So my verdict on the cheap Amazon device is very positive. There are lots on there, I can send you the exact model if you're interested?

What charger to get depends on what you need. Any basic charger will do for the occasional emergency, although get one with a decently high current so you don't have to wait so long. You can get specific maintenance chargers that you leave connected if that's something you'd want to do? You can also get special chargers that will recover a failing battery, but I've given up on stuff like that. If your battery starts to fail just buy a new one. It really isn't worth the hassle of dealing with a failing battery.

As Hooo says I think charger/jump starter are normally separate products.

I have a Noco GBX45 jump starter (https://toolstoredirect.co.uk/products/noco-gbx45), which has been great. Claims to do diesels up to 4L which I imagine is more than enough for most people.

When I've used it I've found it's not quite as smooth a start as normal, I seem to need to hold the key in the ignition position for a couple of seconds.

Successfully started my 2.0 Peugeot Boxer (diesel) when it was totally flat (had been flat for weeks) and it was <0°C. Still showed 3/4 charge afterwards.

It's pretty compact, would easily fit in a car glove box. As an aside - Lithium ion batteries are so great, the equivalent product in the past would have been huge.

My only complaint is the the leads coming off it are a bit short and don't quite span the distance between the jump start points under the bonnet in a boxer. The leads are long enough to span between the terminals of any car/van battery I've seen though, so it's fine.

It has a useful feature that there's an override button which turns off the safety checks, so you can use it on totally dead batteries (just be careful if you use the override that you've definitely got it hooked up correctly!). Don't know if other brands have similar, but worth checking if you'll need to use it on totally dead batteries.

The brand has various sizes available, I think I might have gone a bit too large for what I need. Downside of going too large is cost/a bit of extra bulk/weight. Upside is I know it'll start the van even in the worst case scenario and it will have charge spare after doing so.

There are cheaper options available (e.g. Halfords own brand, Amazon) but I decided to go with Noco because they seem to have a pretty good reputation and being stuck somewhere with a car/van that won't start can be quite sad.

Such things exists as mains powered units, eg

https://www.clarketooling.co.uk/product-category/clarke-garage-equipment/cl...

I suspect a battery powered portable jump start unit and a bog standard mains powered charger would be better value for money, more useful and take up less space - the units above are mostly for commercial workshops etc

I've got two, one for our Skoda 2l diesel and one for a boat.

The one in the car was cheap and small (not much larger than two packs of cards), but still started the car in alpine freezing conditions, no problem.

Every car should have one!

I just recently bought a NOCO GB40, but fortunately haven't had cause to test it yet. But they do seem to get good reviews and apparently hold their charge pretty well. My model was just over £100.

Thanks for the recommendations. I've ordered a Noco jump starter for the van as it seems useful to have available and also a battery charger. 

It's the second time our battery has gone completely flat after winter so I have a suspicion that something is drawing current from the starter battery when it is dormant. The tracker we have does this, but is suppose to be very light on energy usage. 

Is there a good way to measure the live usage of a battery?

I've a Bluetooth battery monitor.

Helpfully called "battery monitor" bm2

Dead easy to fit and use and not too expensive 

If jump starting with leads or a battery pack its really important on modern engines to follow the instructions to the letter. 

Easiest way to test batteries is to get a multimeter, costs about £23 . Check the voltage every two weeks or so in winter. If you are not using the vehicle, do something if the voltage gets less than say 12.2.  A battery in tip top condition should be around 12.6v . Dont check just after charging or you will get a higher result, wait a few hours.  Once you get a multimeter it can get quite an obsession , had mine two years, couldnt live without it now.

I forgot to put my summer car on the maintenance charger for the winter.  Checked on it today after this thread; 10.4 v and so far it’s taken 95 Ah.  Alas I fear the AGM may be fooked.

I use a CTEK trickle charger/battery maintainer on the Boxster when it doesn't get used for a while. Comes with screw terminals to attach some leads to the battery, clips, or a cigarette lighter adaptor. Most fancy car manufacturers sell the same chargers with Porsche/Ferrari/McLaren logos on them for triple the price. 

It has a recharge from flat mode too, but obviously takes time and isn't a jump starter. 

Just to add to the love for the Noco units, I've got one in my toolkit for work. Can't remember exactly what model but it was about £100 and at full charge it'll jumpstart a 100kVA generator from flat, so that's about a 4.5l engine. Wicked bits of kit.

I've got a multi meter (ironically it's locked in the back of the van whilst I can't get access due to the dead battery!!!) but have mainly used it for checking that the battery is dead, and helping work out wiring diagrams for the electrics by checking if different parts are connected. 

I will try to be a bit more proactive with it this year!

I've ordered one, thanks!

Hope it shows a pattern. Here's my 14 day chart for the vans leisure battery, the spikes are the solar panel kicking in.

I managed to get the battery working through the "repair" mode on the Noco Charger. And the BM2 monitor is working well too. I'll keep an eye on it and see how it goes over the next month, whether it keeps it's charge etc. 

Thanks for all of the advice. 

Nice one.  Which Noco charger was it you got? (my GB40 doesn't seem to have a 'repair mode', at least not that I could see - the instruction manual wasn't really much use)

The GB40 isn't a charger, it's a jump starter, so doesn't have the repair mode. I think repair mode on a charger typically does something different with the charging voltage/time held at a certain voltage when compared with the normal mode, but I'm not sure.

D'oh yes, fair point, thanks! 👍

I got this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0828HLDZC?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asi...