Portable Power packs

The battery packs are very useful, but not to run a fridge. Also, the cigarette lighter charging is trickle charge and takes ages to charge the battery.

I use one to run a 12 volt flouro and an air blower for mattresses and things like that, but they are very small capacity. What they ARE good for is jump starting. Not much dearer than a good set of jumper leads and no risk of shorting the car that would have supplied the jump.

So a good purchase, but not something you can run your fridge on, for any length of time anyway.

Cheers,

Smocky.

F4, what it is is a 900A (peak) 400A starting power Jump Start Power Pack from Super Cheap. The battery is 17.5 amp-hrs. I did a test run, with a not fully charged unit to see how long it would run the fridge. [It ran flat while i was looking for my watch (joking)] Not sure how long I'd get out of a fully charged battery but would suspect only about an hour or so.

Thanks

Dunc

I have been working with all types of batteries for a long time, everyone has their own way of doing things. I dont like taking risks and i like using the correct tools for the job. With that in mind let me tell you how i do things and my recommendations.

1. Use a deep cycle rechargeable battery for small current but long running equipment. Fridge, lights etc..

2. 17 a/h will not be enough, i usually take around 150a/h when i go camping. (this means i actually dont charge them untill i get home for a short trip)

3. To recharge these batteries you should buy an inverter and run it off your lighter while the car is running. A days 4x4ing will usually charge them up keeping in mind you will use overnight less than can be charged off the car in a day. Get a high amp 12V charger and hook it to the inverter.

4. A car batt is a starting batt, good for high amp but crap for recharging and deep cycle. Dont use one for a fridge etc..

5. Super cheap will sell you deep cycles packed up to look nice, but the batts will be super cheap, i would get your money back. Use a good brand and they will last a long time. Email me and i can tell you where to get top quality batts for a cheap price like the ones i use. I currently have 800A/h of batts at home and can run the whole house off em when the power goes out. Really fun stuff.

Matt, my intension is to run the fridge off the car's battery via the car fag plug and use the Jump pack when I'm parked. As i've said purely a stop gap at this stage. But was hoping that it would work in series with the car battery using a double addaptor plug. I've got a 300amp inverter & it seems from the above replies that charging via the inverter will be quicker and give a better recharge than recharging via the cars battery whilst mobile. I suppose i'll have to play with it and see the results.

Have considered using a similar set up as Jimbo's done in his Jerry can as under bonnet space for a duel system is limited.

Thanks

Dunc.