How to Jump a Car Battery
Have you ever woken up late for work, rushing out the door to find that your car wont start? It has happened to just about every one of us at one time or another. It’s not like changing out your wiper blades. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, be happy. Nevertheless, it will likely happen to you one day so keep reading and we will teach you guys on how to properly jump a car battery.
How do you think it is done? Just grab the cables and connect the wires to the batteries? Sadly no. It would be nice if it was that easy. You are more likely to destroy most of the electrical components in your car and maybe even cause it to catch fire. Obviously neither you nor we want that to happen.
That is why we made this article for you today. We do not want for you to have such issues in your own life.
JUMP THE CAR BATTERY
First, you must ensure that neither your car nor the car which is giving you a jump is an electric car. These do not give or take jumps properly. You have a better chance at damaging your vehicle then you are of doing anything good by giving it a jump.
Once you ensured that both vehicles are combustion engines, you need to ensure both vehicles are off and in either park or neutral. Putting on the parking brake wouldn’t hurt either. It is not needed, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
Here is a place most people either rush or do this next step improperly. You want to go slowly here and ensure that each cable is connected to the correct terminal in the correct order. First you connect the red clip to your dead batteries positive portion of the battery. It will be marked with a “POS” or a simple “+”.
The other driver then connects the red clip to his batteries terminal. Followed by the black clip to the negative terminal on his vehicle.
THE BLACK CLIP
Now this next step is where a lot of people mess up. Usually people attach their last black clip to the dead batteries negative terminal. This is a horrible thing to do as it greatly increases the likelihood of the dead battery exploding. We don’t know about you, but that would ruin our day. No, instead you want to attach this final black clip to a part of your car that is made of metal without paint.
With the cables connected you make one final inspection of your vehicles to ensure that the cable wires themselves are not in a position that they will tangle up with any of the moving parts once your vehicle starts. If they are in a good position then the working vehicle will be started.
At this time you need to give it at least two to five minutes for the car to be running before you attempt to start your own car. Now there are two possible things which could happen. Either it starts or it doesn’t. If it starts then great. All you need to do now is keep your car running and take it for a drive for the next fifteen to twenty minutes. This is to ensure your battery is taking the charge. Should your car not start the next time you try to start it again, likely that means your battery is not holding a charge and will need to be replaced. Sorry.
CONCLUSION
However, if your car does not start the first time, you need to check the cables first. Ensure the clips are attached correctly and in proper positions. We can not stress this enough but do it carefully. You do not want to cause any types of sparks near your battery in fear of you know explosions and death and all. If they are or are not then wait another two minutes and try again. If it once again does not start we have bad news, your battery is gone. Time to see about getting a replacement battery because yours is beyond help.
We hope this was helpful. Though it is a problem to have a dead battery by following these steps you will be able to get yourself a charge and on your way again soon.
Next, Read: Best Windshield Wipers Guide 2019
