Clarke JS5IN1

I have JS5IN1 (jump starter) which hasn't seen the light of day for some time. The battery is flat, the worklight come son quite brightly but otherwise nothing. I have attempted to charge it using it's own charger plug with little result, the compressor will run for a short time but that's it.

I have a "smart" battery charger the instructions of which suggest it might be able to revitalise a flat battery. Can I connect this directly to the JS5IN1 across it's jump cables without doing any damage? Taking the battery out to charge it would probably be a better option but none of my screwdrivers will fit the screws I assume hold the case together.

There is a lot of varied expertise in this group so any thoughts?

Thanks.

Reply to
Me
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I have a similar one which I've charged using my Lidl car charger. But like many chargers, it won't even connect to a very flat battery. And any type of lead acid battery isn't going to recover fully after being left flat for a while. It may work well enough for the compressor, but unlikely to ever jump start again. If its own charger does show it to being charged, I doubt you'll do much better with another.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

+1

Had something similar many years ago, the battery gave out after not very much use even though I was religious in keeping it charged.

If you take it apart it will be a standard sized battery but IMHO you would be better off just to buy a lithium one if your main purpose is jump starting (search "jump start" in Amazon or eBay).

Never found the torch, pump, or inverter in these "all in 1" units up to all that much.

Reply to
newshound

Yes unfortunately normal lead acid batteries do not like no use. I'd have a look and see if you can first source a screwdriver then a battery! Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Me formulated the question :

I think once it gets to that stage, it's knackered. As others have said, if it won't charge from its own charger....

Always found those sort too big anyway and no use for the compressor, so I went for one of these instead

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Absolutely brilliant - started a mate's 4.3 litre Lexus LS430 no problem at all, and the car had stood unused for 6 months.

Reply to
Pete Zahut

This battery is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! It's kicked the bucket, shuffled off the mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-BATTERY!!

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

Or, as the rappers would express it, "THIS IS AN EX EX-BATTERY!!" :-)

Reply to
Johnny B Good

I've got an ages old one from Lidl. Before Lidl stores were common in the SE. The compressor part gets used regularly. I'm surprised the battery has lasted this long. Over 10 years.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

+1

I have one similar in the van which started a diesel tractor in almost the same state, a smaller one which now lives in the car, and a "spare" indoors (which came out a couple of times in the winter to start a neighbour).

Some of them have adaptors to run laptops too, but (as I just found out this morning) they didn't include a plug for the vet's HP.

Reply to
newshound

Going slightly OT, pulled an apparently dead 105 AH leisure battery out of a caravan yesterday (hadn't been used for months and the charging circuit claimed it was dead when on mains hookup).

Gave it best part of a pint of demin water and stuck it on charge on a traditional charger, this morning all the cells are bubbling nicely and it's showing over 14 volts immediately after disconnection. Will stick it on a smart charger for a few days but I'm quite hopeful.

Reply to
newshound

I get given and collect myself many batteries in various states of charge and whilst some appear the be ok (in that they show a reasonable terminal voltage pre charging, come up to full charge and cut-off / test as 'ok' etc) most have a much reduced capacity, both as seen on my instant capacity tester and a monitored discharge (down to ~50% DOD etc).

So, typically a car (SLI) battery that was generally good in the summer but failed in the winter may be down to 20Ah from it's 60Ah when new.

If it's not too big and comes with a built in handle I might keep it to use as a portable jump-start battery and if not it goes down the scrappy (I try to take them in reasonably sized batches as it minimises the 'loss' from stuff being sub 1kg increments). ;-)

If a battery looks 'tired' (dirty, writing worn off, damaged terminals, bulging case etc) I'm happy to weigh it in. It's when they look brand new (like the 2 x 12V x 17Ah GEL batteries I recently took out of Dads old mobility scooter) but are completely shot it pains me a little (such a waste etc).

Looking upon these things as 'consumables' helps (a bit [1]). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[1] During my role as a 'Field Tech' I have visited many industrial premises and often got the chance of a quick 'personal tour' (don't ask you don't get etc). ;-)

One process that was probably the most 'messy' and potentially fairly dangerous (for all sorts of reasons) was one of the big lead acid manufacturers (running various EV's I was particularly interested).

I was fairly used to the smell of hydrogen (my own EV's and wet LA in general etc) but it was all the hot machinery (lead casting) other chemistry and acid knocking about that made one want to look but keep it all at a safe distance (especially from my eyes and suit)! ;-)

Reply to
T i m

Sadly, voltage is no real check for a lead acid. You need to measure its capacity in amp.hrs. No real point in keeping a thumping great 100 amp.hr battery if it's well down.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I thought the only way to estimate the charge in a lead acid cell was to test it Specific gravity or similar with a hydrometer, well this is what I was told at school when given the job of charging their lead acid cells for physicas experiments.

Reply to
whisky-dave

Similar to my experience, but such things are often recoverable enough to use for electric fencers and lighting.

Went round a hard chrome plating and grinding plant the other day. A fine collection of near antique planetary grinders, the baths looked fairly evil. Apparently they fabricate their own "custom" electrodes from lead bars about 10 mm square. They melt down old electrodes and re-cast them, but I didn't see them doing that.

Reply to
newshound

SG is an indicator of the state of charge, not necessarily so reliable in an old battery which may have been abused.

Reply to
newshound

Lots are 'sealed' these days. Luckily you can get an electronic tester which gives a direct read out of amp.hrs. Not cheap, but a decent battery place should have one.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Voltage tells you if you have one or more bad cells. Also, it will indicate self-discharge.

Depending on what you do with it, as Tim says they may still be useable even if the capacity is down. The owner of this one tells me that in fact he hardly uses the battery (probably why it has been neglected) because he almost goes straight on to mains at sites.

I will do a bit of a capacity check once it has had a good charge.

Reply to
newshound

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