Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


richgamer

224 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user


#24828 4-Aug-2008 13:13
Send private message

Does anyone know if repco or any place in auckland that sell those car battery jump start/chargers that you plug into the cigarette lighter socket and it jump starts the flat battery of a car? i know they sell them overseas, but i just want to know if they sell them in new zealand.
 the one i'm talking about is the one where you charge the portable unit up from the wall, plug it into a car cigarette lighter socket, and it jump starts the car. an overseas one can be seen here:

http://www.vat19.com/dvds/auto-jumper-jumpstarts-car-without-cables.cfm


anyone know if repco or other places sell it in auckland?

Create new topic
sbiddle
30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
Trusted
Biddle Corp
Lifetime subscriber

  #154008 4-Aug-2008 13:38
Send private message

Looking at that it's not really jump starting the vehicle but giving it a small topup charge. It also says it won't coldstart a dead car bettery which is when most people require jump starting.

It looks like a cool device and it would be interesting to see how well they really do work, I certainly have my doubts.




johnr
19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user


  #154011 4-Aug-2008 13:42
Send private message

I would not do this!

pando
235 posts

Master Geek


  #154017 4-Aug-2008 14:04
Send private message

johnr: I would not do this!

 

+1

 

 




wellygary
8312 posts

Uber Geek


  #154019 4-Aug-2008 14:12
Send private message

I too would be very wary of sticking volts in the cigarette lighter, as you don't know what else may be on that circuit. (The lighter is a good feed of unswitched juice if you are wiring car stereos etc), So stuffing volts back up it may do nasty things to anything else leaching of that circuit.

I mean how hard is it to open the bonnet and put this battery across the car battery with a couple of crocodile clips, then all the volts flow the right way,

Soeaking of Batteries, Did anyone ever hear what happened to that "two cell" design of car battery where you could just flick a switch on the battery to draw of a couple of spare plates to get you started again, I know the company (Powerbeat) went down in a pile of flames, but I would have thought the IP would have surfaced again somewhere as it was a good idea.

Jonski
265 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #154694 6-Aug-2008 17:02
Send private message

richgamer: Does anyone know if repco or any place in auckland that sell those car battery jump start/chargers that you plug into the cigarette lighter socket and it jump starts the flat battery of a car? i know they sell them overseas, but i just want to know if they sell them in new zealand.
 the one i'm talking about is the one where you charge the portable unit up from the wall, plug it into a car cigarette lighter socket, and it jump starts the car. an overseas one can be seen here:

http://www.vat19.com/dvds/auto-jumper-jumpstarts-car-without-cables.cfm


anyone know if repco or other places sell it in auckland?


Meh. It's only good for a slightly dead battery. A fully dead battery (lights on overnight etc) requires at least a magnitude more power than you can send through the accessory socket. Often if your battery is holding only a little bit of charge, it's because the battery is in the process of dying and you need a new one anyway.

Wikipedia has this to say: This [cigarette lighter] method works through very slowly charging the battery, not through providing the current needed for cranking. Engine cranking should not be attempted as the starter motor current will exceed the fuse rating in a cigarette lighter outlet. Many vehicles made since 1990 switch off the cigarette lighter outlet when the engine is stopped, making the technique unusable.

Get a proper jump battery, it's not much more in price. Repco and Supercheap Auto have what you'd need.

Hmmm, same thread over at pcworld... http://forums.pcworld.co.nz/showthread.php?t=92269

Cheers
Jon




I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.