A problem that almost every car owner faces or already faces is that the battery is dead or low, and because of COVID, the car has been parked for several weeks, which may be more common. In addition to not starting the car for a long time, there are other reasons for the car battery to run out, such as keeping the headlights on without the engine running, extreme temperatures, or even a dead battery.
Starting a car with a dead battery is a fairly simple task, but there are a set of procedures for doing this and certain safety precautions that should always be followed. Remember, if your car battery runs out frequently, you need to check the electrical system. To start your car, you need a good set of jumper wires. Ideally, games should always be kept in your car. Remember to buy a heavy-duty suit to ensure safety. A good suit may be a bit expensive, but it is a good investment.
The jumper cable consists of two thick wires with alligator clips at both ends. Both cables are colour-coded; one is red and the other is black, indicating positive and negative poles, respectively. Next, you will need another car to provide critical power from the battery to the dead car. After preparing the jumper cable and the car with a good battery, you need to start safely by following the steps below:
Checking the Battery:
- Park the vehicle with the great battery on the brink of the one with the dead battery, park it in such how that the jumper cables can comfortably reach the 2 batteries.
- Ensure that the handbrake is working on both vehicles. If the vehicle may be a manual, leave the gearshift during a neutral position and if it’s an automatic, leave it within the ‘Park’ position.
- Ensure that all the accessories including the infotainment system, lights, and AC are turned off in both vehicles.
- Unplug anything that’s plugged into the 12V socket.
- Unwind the jumper cables and make sure that at any given time the cable clamps don’t touch one another when the cables are connected to the battery.
- Locate and identify the positive and negative terminals on each vehicle’s battery, which is additionally color-coded in red and black, red being positive, and black being negative. If you’ve got difficulty locating the battery and therefore the terminals on your car, ask the owner’s manual.
- Use the red cable and clamp it to the positive terminal of the dead battery, make sure that the terminal is clean before you set the clamp on which the clamp’s grip on the terminal is firm.
- Take the opposite end of the red cable and clamp it to the positive terminal of the great battery.
- Take the black cable and clamp it to the negative battery terminal of the great battery.
- This is a crucial step, to avoid any sparks and to be safe don’t attach the black cable to the negative terminal of the dead battery instead attach it to a bit of bare, ideally unpainted metal portion of the dead car under the hood. It might be a bolt protruding or maybe a metal plate or bracket.
- Make sure that the cable is far away from the equipment and any moving parts under the hood just like the belts, fans, etc.
- Now get into the vehicle with the great battery and switch it on and let it idle for a few minutes. this may start sending a charge to the dead battery and provides it some juice before you plan to jump-start the dead car.
- After a few minutes get into the vehicle with the dead battery and attempt a start. If it does, let both vehicles run and take away the cables within the reverse order of how you attached them, as detailed below.
- If the vehicle doesn’t start, cut the ignition on both the vehicles and check the cable connections again and make sure that the clamps are firmly placed on the terminals and therefore the metal part, and attempt again. In most likelihood it should work, if it doesn’t, you’ll need a replacement battery or there could be other electrical problem/s that will be got to be sorted by a knowledgeable mechanic.
Unplug the cable safely after starting the vehicle, please follow the steps below:
First, remove the black cable from the vehicle you jump-started then remove the opposite end of the cable from the car with the great battery.
Now remove the red cable from the vehicle with the great battery and eventually remove the opposite end of the red cable from the vehicle you jump-started.
Remember to be very careful while removing the cables, make sure the clamps don’t touch or foul with anything under the hood.
Avoid dead batteries.
Ensure the vehicle is run regularly; simply idling for a couple of minutes isn’t enough. Take the vehicle on a brief drive to permit the alternator to be ready to maintain the charge level of the battery.
Avoid using accessories or the other electrical that draw power from the car’s battery without the engine running.
If you propose to park your vehicle for an extended duration. Either, remove the cables connected to the automobile battery or use a trickle charger that can maintain the battery charge while the vehicle is parked and unused.
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