"Tell me, Timo, what is actually to be thought of the jumper cables for jump starting, which are offered again and again by discounters and are supposed to work via the cigarette lighter? In contrast to real jumper cables, their lines consist more or less of bell wire, so strangely undersized it looks."
Our answer: Not only does it look undersized, it is and has been from the start. This starts with the fact that the cigarette lighter socket is of course protected against the car battery – just like any other energy consumer in a car – usually with a 15A or 20A fuse. And that's a good thing, too, because the cigarette lighter socket is used less and less for the obligatory cigarette lighter, but for all sorts of gadgets, such as.B. Navigational equipment, cell phone charging cables and so on. Such expensive equipment, some of which requires no small amount of electricity, can break down in the event of a short circuit and also destroy the vehicle's electronics.
To start a cold motor really needs a lot of power. We are no longer talking about 20 amps, nor 50, but rather 80 amps and more. So we can already relegate one concept to the realm of fairy tales here: Such a cigarette lighter charger is No jumper cables, because in fact such currents of 80 amperes and more can by no means be transmitted via the sockets of cigarette lighters without causing fuses to go up in smoke.
Jumper cables are actually the ones used to give proper jump starts, i.E. The two thick red and black cables connected to full and empty battery respectively. With a jump start like this, the dead battery is actually bridged. The vehicle with the dead battery starts with the power of the battery from the donor vehicle.
The cigarette lighter cradle is therefore exactly Charging cable, with which you can try to charge a limp battery. And if you take a closer look at the operating instructions, you will notice that very quickly, because on the one hand, the donor vehicle must be running (of course, the cigarette lighter socket in many cars is not powered until the ignition is on) and on the other hand, the first attempt to start the vehicle with the dead battery should only be made after a few minutes (also clear, because in that time, a significant amount of current must first have flowed from the donor to the receiver battery).
Ergo: A jump-start like this only works if the conditions are relatively good:
– Empty battery not really completely empty, but rather weak. – It's not quite as cold, because when it's cold, weak batteries are quite a bit weaker again. – You have enough time for charging and also enough nerves in case you have to wait for charging again if the first start attempt fails and the battery is immediately empty again.
We are all drivers: The three requirements rarely come in a triple pack. That's why you'd better keep your hands off such toys. Rather invest a little more money in a proper jumper cable set. Goes faster in an emergency. Easy on the nerves.
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