I haven't seen these miracle jumper cables. I have used a tricle charger
that plugs into my cigarette lighter for battery maintenance, and that
works fine, but as Dan points out, this is low amperage.
Two points that may be worth mentioning: The 8-15 amp rating is for
continuous use. Starters don't (o.k. shouldn't) be run for long periods.
Also, unless your battery is completely dead, only a portion of the
required amperage is coming from the cables, there is still a lot of
current sourcing capability in a patially discharged battery, just not
enough to spin the starter often times.
That said, I still would be a little worried about taxing an LBC's older
wiring to this kind of load!
Regards,
Chris
At 09:33 AM 2/3/98 EST, DANMAS@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 2/3/98 1:35:22 AM Eastern Standard Time, Nory@webtv.net
>writes:
>
>> Along the same lines, I've seen jumper cables advertised that supposedly
>> plug into the cigarette lighters of both cars, so you don't open the
>> hood and get dirty. Anybody know anything about these?
>
>Nory,
>
>Typically, the underdash wires to the cigarette lighter are rated at 15 amp
>maximum, often less. In a typical LBC, they are rated at 8 amp. I don't
know
>the exact amount of current drawn by a starter (depends on the engine,
>naturally), but it is WAY in excess of 8 amp, even way in excess of 15 amp.
>On a big honkin' V8, they can pull over 100 amps!
>
>Has any one read the instructions that come with these? I wonder what
kind of
>"weasel words" the manufacturer uses to avoid liability?
>
>Dan Masters,
>Alcoa, TN
>
>'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
>'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
> http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/
>'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition, slated for a V8 soon!
>'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
>
>
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