Hey,

My spec c hawk eye runs it's battery flat if I don't use it enough. I got a dbpower 500a peak jump starter because it said it can start up to 3l petrol engines but as you can probably guess by me posting this, it didn't work.

I am trying to work out if the pack just isn't powerful enough, if it was a dodgy unit or if there was something else stopping it. The immobiliser deactivated so I don't think that was stopping it.

Does anyone have any thoughts/experience with whether it should have worked or if I need more power?

Thanks

 

Was it cranking the engine?

If yes, but it didn't start, could be another problem, but could also be that the car battery is knackered. Get it tested, might have dropped a cell.
Could be starting probs if battery is OK.

If it didn't even crank, it's not powerful enough.

 

Try a jump start from another car , leave it as in the other car running for 5 to 10 mins then crank yours , even a dead battery should still start , i personally think jump starters are not a good idea they are not very gentle to the electrics as a friend found out as it killed the auto gearbox ecu , a new battery is a good idea , if you are not sure on current drain when it’s sitting still you can carefully put a car buld between neg terminal of the battery and the negative battery lead it will light the bulb but should not be too bright if its too bright its drawing too much current

 

Buy a decent battery. I had the same issue with my blob draining the battery if I didnt use the car for 10-14 days so changed to a Bosch battery and it will go for weeks and not drain.

 

These mini li-ion jump packs are very variable in quality.

The beauty of stuff from China via eBay/aliexpress.

I've got one (the black with red X model). And used it on all sorts with mixed success, so I've noted a few things;

It will only crank an engine for about 2 seconds before cutting off. So if you have a car that doesn't start within one second, it's touch and go. IIRC sigma and Toad alarm/immobilisers will play funny beggers if the voltage drops below 10v when cranking.

It will start most cars with a almost dead battery (I.e enough power to turn the engine, but not enough to spin it fast enough to fire). It will struggle to start cars that just go "click" without it. It will flatly refuse to start cold diesels with totally a dead battery.

Diesels with Bosch EDC common rail sometimes have reduced or no fueling map below 150rpm at warmer temperature, so they can struggle when warm. Common rails also need 100bar at the rail in order to start, so a diesel slow at building pressure will not fire up either.

As such BMW X5 3.0d and Range Rover sport TDV8 just laugh at it; the vehicle electrics and glow plugs trip it off before it has chance to turn the engine over.

However it will start my jaguar V12 with no battery connected !!! So they do provide a fair bit of initial juice, but that engine needs to turn half a turn to fire on three cylinders, and once they've fired it spins it over quicker so the load on the starter is reduced massively then the other nine catch pretty quick.

Based on that I'd say a real world peak of 100amps for 1second and about 30amps over 5 seconds if it doesn't trip the safety cut out.

 

Thanks for all the comments. I changed the battery a year ago so hopefully it isn't that. But I don't know if it's the best quality one, I think it is meant to be a performance one but can't remember off the top of my head. It has to be one of the mini ones though.

The engine didn't crank at all. I do have a toad immobiliser and the car didn't seem totally happy lol.

I was thinking maybe I should relocate the battery to the boot so I can get a full sized, good quality one, is that easy enough to do?

 

No. It's a ball-ache and expensive.

Get a decent battery for yours, Yousa or Bosch. Have the present one tested before buying and check, or have checked, the alternator after buying.

 

I just run 2 spec c batteries, one always charged up at the ready! Last swapped 2 days ago!

 

Question, what would stop you fitting a "full sized" battery in the standard position should you wish to do so??

Only differences I can see are...

1) The battery - smaller 40B19L instead of the standard 65D23L
2) The battery posts are different sizes JIS instead of DIN but in the same position
3) Battery plastic tray (19) is smaller - to fit smaller battery
4) Battery plastic sleeve (11) is smaller - ditto
5) Battery clamp (6) is smaller - ditto
6) The battery harness (9) has the smaller clamps to suit JIS terminals


The actual metalwork the battery sits on is the same for all model versions.

All the above "different items" you should be able to get for an STi from a breaker.



http://opposedforces.com/parts/impre...ery_equipment/

 

I think your idea might have to be the route I take, when I google 65D23L there's only a limited number of websites selling them that come up, is there a different "keyword" to search to use sites like eurocarparts etc? Eurocarparts website suggest a "005" or "027" battery? What CCA does an STI need?

 

If you are going the standard size battery route, then IMO, one of the best is a YUASA 5000 Silver series (12v 65Ah 550cca) ref: YBX5005 (HSB005)

https://www.thebatteryshop.co.uk/yua...005-8558-p.asp

 

Ok, great. Thanks for the advice!

 

Yuasa for me.