Jump starting another car

[littlescrote]

I have been following this thread with interest and have been looking at emergency power packs. But before investing in one, from the pictures on websites it seems that the connecting leads are very short. Long enough, of course, to attach to the terminals of a battery but not long enough to connect to the 'jump start' connection terminals designated in the Outlander handbook. To those that have used one of these power packs, do you connect to the designated under-bonnet terminals using extension leads, or connect direct to the aux battery under the floor?

Connecting to the Aux battery under the floor requires you to take the floor up.

 

[NightPHEVer]

I have been following this thread with interest and have been looking at emergency power packs. But before investing in one, from the pictures on websites it seems that the connecting leads are very short. Long enough, of course, to attach to the terminals of a battery but not long enough to connect to the 'jump start' connection terminals designated in the Outlander handbook. To those that have used one of these power packs, do you connect to the designated under-bonnet terminals using extension leads, or connect direct to the aux battery under the floor?

Good point - the 'designated' earth point in the bonnet on a PHEV is a long way from the positive connection. You'll either need a long earth lead or to find an earth point closer to the positive connection. Usually the case that any clean, metal bracket will act as an earth point (as far as I know this shouldn't cause any problems). I've jump started a lot of cars and as long as the negative cable gets a good connection to earth it will work. I'll have to take a look in my PHEV and remind myself where there's a suitable earth point nearer the main fuse block where the positive lead connects.

But in answer to your question you connect the jump pack in the bonnet. If there's any juice at all left in the 12v there's no advantage to connecting it straight to the battery (as previously mentioned it's difficult to get to). However, if the 12v is totally flat and dead then a jump pack is unlikely to revive the system. I can't be 100% sure of this with the Mitsubishi PHEV as I've never actually needed to know, but with a Ford Kuga PHEV I have (many times - I worked in a Ford dealearship), and if the 12v is totally flat you have to disconnect the 12v terminals (KUGA 12v also in the boot under the floor) recharge the 12v with a charger and then reconnect it. There comes a point with all car 12v systems where the battery can be so completly dead a jump pack (even a proper Snap-on large lithium pack) will not work, and a battery charger won't recharge it. This normally only happens when the car has not been used for a long time though. Sometimes you can piggy-back the charger to a good 12v battery and connect the good battery to the dead battery as it's charging, but I wouldn't trust the dead battery for future use.