Lithium Jump Starter Warning

[Ian Key]

After reading about the MG4 sometimes having a flat 12v battery I purchased a lithium jump starter to keep in the glove box just in case. I didn't want to pay for one of the big names but neither did I want a questionable Chinese knock off so I went for a Ring branded one from Amazon that was on offer.

Three months ago I fully charged it up and put it in the glove box. Yesterday when I checked if it was still charged up I found it had totally discharged and wouldn't even light any of the LED state of charge indicators. Five hours charging later and still no sign of life so I emailed Ring expressing my disappointment. Give them their due they replied a couple of hours later saying I need to charge it more often and "If the cell voltage falls below 2.5V the internal electronics will prevent the batteries being charged." So basically it was bricked and I'd have to return it to Amazon. Amazon are now giving me a full refund and collecting the brick.

Moral of this tale. Check the charge your lithium jump starter regularly and I'm going to buy a NOCO replacement.

 

[Alb]

What did the instructions say?
The device I just bought recommends top-up charging every 3 months which is no big deal really.

 

[DBedford]

Interesting.
I have just purchased a Grepro, once we have our ZS EV I’ll report on any issues.

 

[GaryMG4]

It sounds as though it is a LiPo battery rather than LiFe. I've had a Lidl one for around 3 years and charged it twice, I had to use it this morning when our 'tip' car wouldn't start due to a semi flat battery, its started the ice up in a jiffy. Similarly my telescope power pack is LiFe and it holds its charge all summer when the telescope isn't in use much without needing a top up.

 

[5teep]

Possible a bad battery or perhaps there's some circuitry running all the time on it that over time drains it. Always a bad idea to completely drain a lithium battery so it's good advice to check it regularly.

 

[m4rmite]

Noco user manual.
Over time, an unused product will discharge and must be recharged before use.

I have a Noco gb40 and it will drain over a few months, so i charge it every month or so.

 

[Rolfe]

I think that's fair enough. If I hadn't used a jump starter for a while I wouldn't be surprised if I had to recharge it from the mains before I could use it. What Ian has experienced is much more serious though - after only three months the thing was completely bricked and couldn't be recharged.

In my view that is not acceptable for an appliance that's designed to be kept for emergency use.

 

[Ian Key]

What did the instructions say?
The device I just bought recommends top-up charging every 3 months which is no big deal really.

The manual says to charge it after use and every 6 months.

Possible a bad battery or perhaps there's some circuitry running all the time on it that over time drains it. Always a bad idea to completely drain a lithium battery so it's good advice to check it regularly.

I think it was possibly a bad batch of chargers as there seem to be other's on the Amazon website with a similar problem and one person who had the larger capacity one had it recalled due to a fire risk.

Give Amazon their due the "brick" was collected the following morning by Royal Mail and my account was credited 2 hours later.