Bongo Fury

Starts in a millionth of a second now rather than 2 seconds!

That's actually very interesting. With diesels, I've long held that a tired or inadequate battery will fail to provide an energetic glow to the glow plugs as well as having to crank the engine, so that a downward spiral is created. Just a theory but...

Brilliant.

mikeonb4c wrote:

Starts in a millionth of a second now rather than 2 seconds!

That's actually very interesting. With diesels, I've long held that a tired or inadequate battery will fail to provide an energetic glow to the glow plugs as well as having to crank the engine, so that a downward spiral is created. Just a theory but...

Can't help you Mike as have a V6. They do need less charge than a diesel for starting but I'm sure the extra ampage will not go amiss.

Out of interest, is it possible to start a flat battery using jump leads from the leisure battery? I have a 100+ Numax.

Can't see why not.

Starter and leisure batteries have different characteristis but as a 'Get you Home' it should work.

Probably only need the red lead as both will be earthed.

Glenda wrote:

mikeonb4c wrote:

Starts in a millionth of a second now rather than 2 seconds!

That's actually very interesting. With diesels, I've long held that a tired or inadequate battery will fail to provide an energetic glow to the glow plugs as well as having to crank the engine, so that a downward spiral is created. Just a theory but...

Can't help you Mike as have a V6. They do need less charge than a diesel for starting but I'm sure the extra ampage will not go amiss.

Out of interest, is it possible to start a flat battery using jump leads from the leisure battery? I have a 100+ Numax.

Can't remember if its higher up on this post but I did talk about that. My view is that it might be OK to risk a healthy LB giving a charge boost to a flat SB using jump leads, for a couple of minutes, and then disconnecting jump leads ad seeing if the SB will start the car. But I wouldn't expose the average LB to the cranking current of a big motor: it probably wouldn't turn it over or else it would hurt itself badly in the attempt. Purists will probably say you shouldn't even expose an LB to the current load of trying to provided unregulated charge to an SB and maybe they're right. But I did it twice with a quality LB (Energy Bull 135Ah) and it doesn't seem to have suffered. Maybe Geoff or one of the leccies might be able to advise on how to limit load on an LB being asked to quick charge a flat SB.

Its possible that you might not even have to use a lead, if the SCR is controlled from the Ignition then just turning the Ignition on will allow the LB to charge the SB if its flat, leave it switched on for 10-20 minutes and then turn the Ignition key to starter, it will disconnect the LB during starting until the key is released, then it will charge both batteries once running. If however you have a Voltage Sensitive Relay (very common) then you will need the jumper lead to do the job instead.

g8dhe wrote:Its possible that you might not even have to use a lead, if the SCR is controlled from the Ignition then just turning the Ignition on will allow the LB to charge the SB if its flat, leave it switched on for 10-20 minutes and then turn the Ignition key to starter, it will disconnect the LB during starting until the key is released, then it will charge both batteries once running. If however you have a Voltage Sensitive Relay (very common) then you will need the jumper lead to do the job instead.

Thanks everyone I have the VSR (Willinton kit) I think. Will get some leads.
Reason I asked is that I have had an embarassing incident that only time has allowed me to share. Left lights on overnight in Iceland after heavy rain stopped further travel. 60 miles from anywhere on a Sunday morning flat battery. No leads. So I cut my CTEK charger and used the wires to link the 2 batteries. Walked to the door to start it and the wife screamed. The red cable was sparking and melting. I ran back and pulled them off. All was ok. Rang Brittania Breakdown and 3 hours later we were back on the road.

What did I do wrong? Cables too weak and wrong set up I should think. I probably guessed black to red and vice versa. How lucky was I?
Next time just red to red, yes? just as well I don't offer much advice on here.

Red to red, and make sure the clamp doesnt touch anything else as you hook up and disconnect.

Idealy wear safety glasses, too.

Glenda wrote:

g8dhe wrote:Its possible that you might not even have to use a lead, if the SCR is controlled from the Ignition then just turning the Ignition on will allow the LB to charge the SB if its flat, leave it switched on for 10-20 minutes and then turn the Ignition key to starter, it will disconnect the LB during starting until the key is released, then it will charge both batteries once running. If however you have a Voltage Sensitive Relay (very common) then you will need the jumper lead to do the job instead.

Thanks everyone I have the VSR (Willinton kit) I think. Will get some leads.
Reason I asked is that I have had an embarassing incident that only time has allowed me to share. Left lights on overnight in Iceland after heavy rain stopped further travel. 60 miles from anywhere on a Sunday morning flat battery. No leads. So I cut my CTEK charger and used the wires to link the 2 batteries. Walked to the door to start it and the wife screamed. The red cable was sparking and melting. I ran back and pulled them off. All was ok. Rang Brittania Breakdown and 3 hours later we were back on the road.

What did I do wrong? Cables too weak and wrong set up I should think. I probably guessed black to red and vice versa. How lucky was I?
Next time just red to red, yes? just as well I don't offer much advice on here.

It was after i left my lights on that the lb/jump lead combo saved me an rac callout. You want jump leads on board in any case, and they will handle any high current while lb direct charges sb. Mine live coiled up in a plastic bag underneath the bonnet above lb and header tank but obviously not so the lead can touch the lb terminals!

Glenda wrote:What did I do wrong? Cables too weak and wrong set up I should think. I probably guessed black to red and vice versa. How lucky was I?
Next time just red to red, yes? just as well I don't offer much advice on here.

I would imagine the CTEK charger probably puts out 4 or 5 Amps when charging so the wiring won't be rated much higher than that. When connecting a flat battery to a charged one you could be drawing 10x that amount so its no great surprise they melted. Carry a set of decent jump leads with you and then you have all bases covered.