About this deal
It won't charge a flat battery, but it'll help to keep the battery charged on a vehicle you don't use much. Find someone with a car who’s happy to help. Their car must have a fully charged battery with the same voltage as yours (usually 12 volts). 1. Line up both cars On average, batteries last between 5 and 7 years but you should only consider changing a car battery when it's showing signs of deterioration. Keep both engines off and wait for 3 minutes, then start the working car’s engine and let it run for 1 minute.
The best jump starter cables - Parkers
If your car won't start at home, it could be because of a flat battery, failed starter motor or a faulty alternator – all things we can help with. Will the AA come to my house?
The best car jump starter shortlist:
Does the jump starter need to multi-start 12v diesel engines including cars, vans and 4×4’s? Supplied to the AA and RAC, the MR26 is a well proven professional 12v jump starter capable of starting up to 8 litre petrol and 4 litre diesel engines. You can buy home breakdown cover any time, but it'll cost you you more if you add it when you need to claim. How many call-outs can I make in a year? For your safety, and our peace of mind, we’d always prefer you to give us a call and leave the jump starting to our trained mechanics.
The seven best car jump starters 2023 - Parkers
If you have breakdown cover with us, we'll come out to test your battery to see if it needs a charge or if you need a new one. You can find out more about breakdown cover with our guide. In 2018, a flat battery was the second-biggest reason why our Members broke down, and we were called out to more than 300,000 of them.* We prefer models with built-in safety features and alerts, to warn against wrongful connection, dead shorts, and a low charge on the car battery, when being used as a jump starter. Such alerts may just save you damaging your jump starter and your car’s delicate electronics.
5. Start your car
A jump start is a handy way to start a car with a flat battery. But jump leads can cause damage to both cars and people if they’re not used properly. If you've got a flat battery, we won’t just jump-start you and send you on your way. As well as charging or replacing your battery, we'll try to find out why it went flat in the first place. Most batteries will last somewhere between 5 and 7 years. However, our mechanics see cases where the battery has failed after only 2 or 3 years because of how the car was driven. Plus, modern cars have lots more power-hungry electronics than older cars used to. Think of built-in sat navs, infotainment systems, seat heaters and USB plugs. All of them put strain on the battery.
AA Power Station - Car Jump Starter Tyre Inflator AA1678 AA Power Station - Car Jump Starter Tyre Inflator AA1678
We fix 9 out of 10 breakdowns at home, and if we can't fix your vehicle, we'll sort out the recovery of your vehicle as usual. I've broken down at home with no cover, what now? Maximum capacity – Engine sizes have been shrinking in recent times, and unless you’re running a huge land yacht of a car, you won’t need a hugely powerful jump starter. You can halve the battery's lifetime by not fully charging it regularly. This costs you money and risks your car having a breakdown.Portable jump starters have a built-in battery, meaning they can be used on the go whenever you need them. The only downside is that you must charge them after use, which can take several hours.