Battery Booster SOS

by Nick Drew | Fri 23 Jan 2015

Battery Booster SOS

It’s so often the familiar scenario in winter; you get in to the cab freezing cold and are desperate to get the machine going to warm up the interior, only to be greeted by that sickening sound of the starter motor barely turning and the realization hits you that the machine is not going to start.

As such it’s always a good idea to have a back-up plan in case of such eventualities and there is nothing better than keeping a booster pack in the back of the van to get you out of trouble. One company claims to be selling one of the most powerful booster packs in the world. Butts of Bawtry in Doncaster, South Yorkshire were keen to demonstrate the Ceteor SOS Booster range to Earthmovers and sent their Sales Manager, Oliver Newman to demonstrate them.

Ceteor is a Belgium company, which was established as far back as 1990, when it was initially importing Canadian booster packs. In 2000 the company started to design and manufacture its own in house jump starters, the Booster.com range. Today Ceteor is a world leader in the booster pack market, with in excess of 85% of its production being exported not only in Europe but as far away as South Africa, Australia, and the USA. For our test Oliver brought with him 2 models from a range of 40 portable and mobile units, the SOS Micro 12V-800CA and the SOS 12/24V-2400/1200CA. These units feature a 2 year warranty on the whole pack, including the batteries and a lifetime warranty on the “unbreakable” case, something that according to Oliver no other manufacturer offers.

Another unique feature is the curved and wide opening clamps with an LED lamp in the end of the negative lead, which facilitates ease of fitting in tight places (like under HGV bodywork) and even on the darkest of mornings, the LED function makes it easy to see the correct terminal.

The cables are double insulated to make them more robust and reliable and they don’t break or twist inside like some cheaper alternatives. The units feature an illuminated voltmeter, which clearly displays any voltage within the batteries accurately. This also doubles up as an alternator tester once the machine has been started. Another clever function is the Anti-polarity buzzer, which gives an audible warning of improper connection to the terminals – i.e. positive to negative and vice versa.

The units also feature a robust voltage selector, which doubles as a switch. When not connected, no power is running through the pack- connect to battery – no buzz from buzzer – signals its ok to select the voltage. Visible fuses make it very easy to check and to change if they have blown for any reason, without the need to take the whole pack apart. The units also have an inbuilt gas expulsion system to ensure gases are forced out of the pack and don’t build up inside. For the first test we connected the booster pack leads directly to the machines leads to simulate a flat battery start. For this task Oliver selected the Micro 12V-800CA. This unit is suitable for petrol or diesel engines and can be used to start diesel engines up 250hp with a partially flat battery and 150hp with a complete flat. On a mild winters morning in Devon, this was no problem and the machine fired up on the button.

For the next challenge on our ageing Case-International farm tractor/loader, Oliver deployed the SOS 12/24V-2400/1200CA unit, this as the numbering suggests is switchable from 12V to 24V depending on the vehicle in question. These units are capable of starting engines up to 1500hp in the most extreme temperatures ranging from -30^oto +60^o. These units are used by the military and have been known to start 1500hp 38L tanks without batteries. Our old tractor is in need of some new glow plugs, but it was no challenge for the SOS Booster pack and after a couple of cranks the old girl came to life.

Items like this are often overlooked in the media, but it was an interesting morning looking at them and the benefits they offer over some other makes. Like many things in life, everything has its place and a good heavy duty booster pack is a very useful tool in any plant operator or mechanics arsenal.

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