Lighter to Lighter Jump Leads?

[swindorski46]

I've forgotten to plug in my trickle charger and now my baterry has gone flat, I can still get in but it won't start.

My problem is that the terminals on my battery are the wrong way around (a different story) so it's a load of faff and nastiness to jump it from another car.

For circa £19 I've seen jump leads that simply plug from one car cigarette lighter to another, wait 10 minutes and hey presto everything works.

Does any body have any opinions/experience of these and are they likely to/do they work on a Cerbera?

Ta!

[zumbruk]

First off, these are *not* jump leads. If you tried to jump-start a car through the cigarette lighter at best you'd blow the fuse (assuming it has one), at worst you'd get an amusing fire...

What these do is attempt to charge the flat battery from the good one sufficiently that there's enough charge for one more attempt.

Frankly, it sounds very much a desperate last-ditch attempt, and if the leads cost more than about 75p, then they're a ripoff.

[RAW-SEWedge]

You might consider fitting One of these long term. You need a couple of straps too. One to the chassis and one to the back of the starter motor. Mount this on the chassis near the front of the car and it gives you a very accessable point to connect a jump start or battery conditioner.

I have one on mine just behind the fans and it's very useful.



Doubt the cig' lighter thing will help you much. Unfortunatly it sounds like you are going to have to get the battery out and charge it.

[T88CAN]

I had a set of these bought for me a few years ago when my Chim had battery drain problems, don`t waste your money, they were useless on a RV8, I bought a power pack instead, really cheap from MAKRO at the time, always worked a treat

[swindorski46]

T88CAN said:

I had a set of these bought for me a few years ago when my Chim had battery drain problems, don`t waste your money, they were useless on a RV8, I bought a power pack instead, really cheap from MAKRO at the time, always worked a treat

I'm assuming from that that they don't work then?

[Roobarb]

RAW-SEWedge said:

You might consider fitting [url]One of these long term. You need a couple of straps too. One to the chassis and one to the back of the starter motor. Mount this on the chassis near the front of the car and it gives you a very accessable point to connect a jump start or battery conditioner. I have one on mine just behind the fans and it's very useful. Doubt the cig' lighter thing will help you much. Unfortunatly it sounds like you are going to have to get the battery out and charge it.

Incredible - but fitting an engine to purely charge a battery is a little over the top don't you think ?
Lighter to Lighter jump leads are quite good for fires and no good for starting anything bigger than a two stroke - even if its a cat.

[Ballistic Banana]

I have used the condition to slowely recharge the battery (throught the cigar charger)and bring it back to healthy again in the past. Left it over night and it fired up ok.
Some say this is better than the boost chargers you get and dont damage the batteries as much. hey its a Battery conditioner so should do as it says on teh tin.

BB

[snorky]

no Roobarb, look to the right at the nice little red and black leads plugged into the ( Leven ) jump lead connector....

[Tripps]

Ballistic Banana said:

I have used the condition to slowely recharge the battery (throught the cigar charger)and bring it back to healthy again in the past. Left it over night and it fired up ok. Some say this is better than the boost chargers you get and dont damage the batteries as much. hey its a Battery conditioner so should do as it says on teh tin.

Is this a posher form of cigar to cigar lead then, I bought one at Halfwits for £15/20 just in case, but its just a cable with lighter sockets at both ends, not even an inline fuse unless contained in the sockets...

I had the same thought for TVR charging in an emergency though, as parked nose forward in the garage it'll be a battery out job if it ever runs out of juice.

[Ballistic Banana]

Tripps said:

Ballistic Banana said: I have used the condition to slowely recharge the battery (throught the cigar charger)and bring it back to healthy again in the past. Left it over night and it fired up ok. Some say this is better than the boost chargers you get and dont damage the batteries as much. hey its a Battery conditioner so should do as it says on teh tin. Is this a posher form of cigar to cigar lead then, I bought one at Halfwits for £15/20 just in case, but its just a cable with lighter sockets at both ends, not even an inline fuse unless contained in the sockets... I had the same thought for TVR charging in an emergency though, as parked nose forward in the garage it'll be a battery out job if it ever runs out of juice.

Cigar is shorter to write

What I was suggesting was to use a optimate/accumulate plugged into your GIGAR lighter to bring the battery slowely and safetly back up to its proper levels.

BB

[barreti]

Ballistic Banana said:

What I was suggesting was to use a optimate/accumulate plugged into your GIGAR lighter to bring the battery slowely and safetly back up to its proper levels. BB

Oddly enough I am doing exactly this right now. Although with a direct connection rather than through the Cigar lighter - but that's neither here nor there.
After working on the car with the doors open (interior lights on) and then realigning the high beam lights for the last few days I've flattened the battery to the level where the dash lights come on but the starter just clicks when I turn the key.
It's been on the Accumate since last night and I'll leave it until tomorrow before I try to start it.
It HAS worked once before though.

Great minds think alike eh Simon

[budd]

RAW-SEwedge
What amp rating Anderson plug did you use?

[munky]

I've got the Leven connecter under the bonnet and it is excellent combined with a rechargeable battery pack (think mine is Gunson). Simply charge the thing every 3months, then when you have a flat battery simply take the thing outside, plug it in, start the car, put the booster in the car (not the boot) in case you stall it 50 yards down the road, and drive off. Just be careful which order you attach cables in when using it in petrol stations, else a really unamusing fire could result..

[swindorski46]

Lighter to Lighter leads are, as a matter of fact, absolute toilet.

I decided to ignore everybodies (good) advice and buy some anyway, on the logic that they wouldn't sell them if they didn't work and they can always go back if they don't. Half an hour of having the car wired to my wifes Mundane-o achieved the square root of F all. Not a drop, nothing.

Said pieces of poo are going back to Halfrauds sharpish.

I ended up it jumping of my mini.

[stickshaker4185]

There is a set of Leven leads on eBay.

Here you go http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7946016430&ssPageName=ADME:B:LC:UK:1

[GreenV8S]

On mine, the ciggy lighter socket is only live when the ignition is on. It's a toss up whether the little lighter socket would actually take enough current to meet the current drain from the ignition let alone charge the battery too.