Motorhomes/campervans, jump leads and jump starters

[Sixty-nine Chevy]

I was thinking of getting a pair of jump leads to keep in our campervan as much to help others as ourselves, but having read around there seems a lot of danger of blowing alternators and so on. A modern jump starter seems a safer alternative. Anyone with recent experience? Thanks.

 

[Prop]

Another vote for Trek-Pow...
One big advantage over the other popular one Noco is the fact you can totally remove the leads and use as a neat and small power bank

Just checked TrekPow only have USA & Canada shipping at the the moment.

 

[poppycamper]

Just checked TrekPow only have USA & Canada shipping at the the moment.

Ah.. I am same as Ianto... got mine last year from Amazon at a ridiculously good price..

 

[Paulypaul]

I have read somewhere that if you jump start to the battery, it is possible to get a power surge and cook the ECU. Being an old heavy diesel engineer, I know very little about electrics so perhaps someone could comment on if that's right or not?

That is correct. I was told by a fitter that when you jump start any vehicle, whether by a booster or jump leads, you should always make sure a circuit is open (sidelighs/interior lights on etc).

The reason for this is that if there is a surge it can toast the ecu but if there is an open circuit any surge will go straight to the open circuit.

I know from bitter experience that this is true, when a well intended person tried to help me out in the yard by attaching a booster pack to my truck, while I was otherwise occupied. The result was a toasted ecu and ptm which cost us £6750.

An expensive lesson, and if I'm jump starting anything I always make sure the door is open or sidelights on, cause its cheaper to replace a fuse!

 

[Ianto]

There are some on Ebay

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[gpat]

That is correct. I was told by a fitter that when you jump start any vehicle, whether by a booster or jump leads, you should always make sure a circuit is open (sidelighs/interior lights on etc).

The reason for this is that if there is a surge it can toast the ecu but if there is an open circuit any surge will go straight to the open circuit.

I know from bitter experience that this is true, when a well intended person tried to help me out in the yard by attaching a booster pack to my truck, while I was otherwise occupied. The result was a toasted ecu and ptm which cost us £6750.

An expensive lesson, and if I'm jump starting anything I always make sure the door is open or sidelights on, cause its cheaper to replace a fuse!

And always make a positive action when you connect the leads. Don't dither. Sparking can make it worse.

 

[Paulypaul]

I was also advised to connect the negative first.

 

[DerryW]

We've got one of these. Never had to use it ourselves, but have been able to help a couple of others out of a muddle. Nice and light and clean to use. I appreciate they're not cheap, but then I suppose a good set of jump leads are not cheap either.

 

[Sixty-nine Chevy]

Thanks all for the very useful responses.

 

[The Lord Squid]

I was also advised to connect the negative first.

I was told by my dad (so I've told my son the same) to connect positive first, and the RAC agree.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/car-maintenance/how-to-jump-start-a-car/

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[dash300]

I was told by my dad (so I've told my son the same) to connect positive first, and the RAC agree.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/car-maintenance/how-to-jump-start-a-car/

Ok! I was of the negative first school, never had a problem, so which is it?

 

[TheCaller]

The final connection you make is the one that will spark, so you want that to be away from the battery. On most vehicles, it's easier to find a chunk of metal to connect to away from the battery than it is to find a positive connection to clamp to that is away from the battery. So that suggests negative last.

On a Fiat van, with the positive connection point readily available under the bonnet & away from the battery, that particular argument doesn't apply.

A circuit is a circuit wherever you make or break it. Can anyone think of another reason other than avoiding sparks near the battery?

 

[poppycamper]

I have always been first pos last neg.... don't know why but didn't think it really matters... however maybe with all the gobbelly gook over vehicles now having more electronics than basic electrics it does. HOWEVER if so important would there not be yet another yellow sticker under bonnet saying WARNING "don't do this..dont do that". and say how to correctly connect jump leads.???
Or are we all just getting paranoid because somebody they know says somebody they knew told them so!!

 

[Clankie]

Thanks DASH300 I’ve just received my MSC 18Ah jump starter, nice piece of kit, let’s hope I don’t need to use it on my van. I read Ian’s request the other day for info.

 

[BrianS]

We've got one of these. Never had to use it ourselves, but have been able to help a couple of others out of a muddle. Nice and light and clean to use. I appreciate they're not cheap, but then I suppose a good set of jump leads are not cheap either.

On my brother's recommendation, I bought the cheaper version from Halfords, the GB20, which was £89.99 delivered to my door less 5.4% TopCashback = £85.13.
If anyone is thinking of buying one of these new lightweight totes-amazing battery boosters, check the length of the jump leads. They are invariably designed to go straight on the battery terminals and therefore might not reach the special jump start set up under Ducato bonnets (and probably other makes) - see photo.
I confess that up until recently I wasn't aware of the special positive terminal under its cover on the RHS of the bay (as you look at it). Should be clear enough in the photo I hope! It saves getting the cover off to access the battery in the cab area and, also, is apparently safer to use for jump starting in terms of protecting the van's ECU, etc.