Jump starting an R170 with a booster pack

[Docmartin]

I've read that 'jump starting' an R170 from another vehicle can cause damage to the electronics? I'm thinking of buying a portable boost charger, which attaches to the battery terminals in much the same way, but without the necessity of another vehicle's connection. The latter's description, explains how a boosted charge is conveyed to the battery from the pack. As it seems the whole point is to rejuvenate said battery, it seemed that disconnecting this from the car and THEN connecting the booster would restore life to the cells, with the car safely isolated from overloads etc? Simply re-connecting the terminals, after say ten minutes from the booster should achieve sufficient power to restart the car? Would take a bit longer, but much safer it would seem?

Any thoughts or experience much appreciated.

This is the product start monkey 400

 

[Docmartin]

I've read that 'jump starting' an R170 from another vehicle can cause damage to the electronics? I'm thinking of buying a portable boost charger, which attaches to the battery terminals in much the same way, but without the necessity of another vehicle's connection. The latter's description, explains how a boosted charge is conveyed to the battery from the pack. As it seems the whole point is to rejuvenate said battery, it seemed that disconnecting this from the car and THEN connecting the booster would restore life to the cells, with the car safely isolated from overloads etc? Simply re-connecting the terminals, after say ten minutes from the booster should achieve sufficient power to restart the car? Would take a bit longer, but much safer it would seem?

Any thoughts or experience much appreciated.

This is the product start monkey 400

Guess that answers that one then!

 

[Chrishazle]

AFAIK, the problem jump starting an MB is that a sudden voltage spike can cause problems with the car's SAM/SAMs (signal aquisition modules), which are expensive to replace. I believe there are booster packs that start off at low current when first connected, then build up to higher current to get around this problem. I've also read that, if using another car, you should switch on main beam headlights on the "dead" car and switch off the engine of the "live" car, then connect the jump leads, wait a while before turning the headlights off and starting the engine of the "live" car.

The potential problem of disconnecting the battery of the "dead" car is that you loose things like radio coding.

I would think that using the spare +ve terminal under the bonnet, with neg connected to something like the top of the suspension, and using the "headlights on" method would be a lot easier (the battery on my S203 was hidden!!).

I'm no electrician so may be talking through my fundamental orifice! However, when I needed a new battery in my S203, we connected a spare battery to the spare +ve and the suspension, removed the old and fitted the new, then disconnected the spare, and I lost none of the presets.