Today The Car Spotter will be reviewing a piece of equipment used for restarting any car that has a flat battery, the Snap-on Portable Power 1700.
Unfortunately, through lack of driving and start-ups over winter my grandma’s car, an automatic Vauxhall Corsa, lost all charge in the battery.
It is more complicated to restart an automatic than a manual as you cannot jump start the car.
Fortunately, a good friend mechanic who owns a garage had just the tool for the job.
The Snap-on portable 12 volt power device is made for just such occasions and does exactly what it says in the title.
The Snap-on portable power battery pack delivers 1700 peak amps (hence the name) and is a small, compact device with an robust handle for easy transportation. The high quality 4-gauge copper cables and clamps ensured a great connection between the portable power device and the car battery.
The method was extremely easy to use the Snap-on Portable Power 1700:
- Connect the positive clamp to the positive car battery terminal
- Connect the negative clamp to the negative car battery terminal
- Switch the device on and watch the LED lights go from LOW to MED and HIGH and it’s finished, without the need for another car.
The PVC insulation provides flexibility and long life and the unit itself is very sturdy. It also has a 2-way socket adapter (cigarette lighter adapter) for trickle charge options and running and directly powering 12 volt accessories.
I was very fortunate to have a mechanic friend who let me borrow this brilliant and easy to use piece of kit, it isn’t really something the average person would need in their home garage but a brilliant piece of kit nonetheless. Perhaps a little on the industrial side for the usual car owner. Really easy to use and get the job done swiftly.
I had to return the Snap-on portable power 1700 the next morning because my friend had to go and collect a car that had no power. Definitely a useful tool for him in his everyday work too.
I hope you enjoyed the article about the Snap-on portable power 1700. Keep checking back for more product reviews, supercar information and celebrity car news in addition to other blogs regarding the automobile world.
Thanks for reading.
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Have you ever had a flat battery? How did you overcome the problem?
What is the price for that powerpack
Hello Reeves, I think they were over Ā£200 a few years ago, you’ll pick up a secondhand one now for about Ā£50-60. Hope this helps, The Car Spotter
where can i buy second hand – none on ebay, well just one.
Hi I know this old post but I have just bought one of these power packs secondhand but I see this post say you connect it to battery and switch unit but how do you switch it on once connected to car thanks
Hi Nigel,
There is a semi-instructional video here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0uIgzznpWs
This shows all connection points on how to charge a battery and also trickle charge via 12V cigarette lighter
Hope this helps
Kind regards,
The Car Spotter
I lost my charger how can I buy a nuw one plz
Hello friend,
Your best bet is likely eBay or similar auction sites, Amazon or get in touch with Snap-On directly to see if they can offer a replacement for the model?
Hope this helps
Have an excellent day
Thanks for providing this review but the information is a bit misleading. Firstly, this is a jump pack so just like jumpstarting from another car. The procedure is to connect to the car battery as described and then start the car. There is no on off button. The button on the unit is just to show you the state of charge of the unit. I have a couple of these jump pack and would highly recommend but it is just the same as jump starting from another car, except you don’t need another car š
Thanks for the heads up, John. I amended this accordingly š