Do you know how to jump start a dead battery? Bringing your power cell back to life can be intimidating—especially if you have never done it before. But knowing how to jumpstart your ride can come in super handy when you are stuck with a dead or weak battery. No problem. Edmonds will show you just how simple jumping a car battery is.
Let’s jump right in.
How to jump a dead BATTERY WITH ANOTHER CAR
If your car battery has lost its charge, you will have to power it up. A simple way to do this is to boost the battery using another vehicle. So, ask a neighbour, friend, or family member, or flag down a passerby for some help, using their charged battery and some jumper cables. If you have an older vehicle or a weak battery, it’s a good idea to carry jumper cables with you.
Step 1:
Park both vehicles close enough to each other so the jumper cables can reach between them. Also, make sure both cars are turned off before you begin jumpstarting your battery.
Step 2:
Open the hood of both vehicles and find the positive (+) terminals, marked with red. Attach one end of the red cable to the positive terminal on the dead battery first. Then connect the other end of the red cable to the positive terminal of the functioning battery.
Step 3:
Connect the negative black (-) clamp to the black negative (-) terminal of the good battery. DO NOT connect the clamp of the negative cable to the terminal of the dead battery as this could cause sparking. Instead, clamp the remaining black cable to a grounding point—an unpainted bolt or a metal surface under the hood.
Step 4:
Start the engine of the working car first, allowing it to run for a few minutes with the cables connected. This will help to give a charge to the dead battery. Now crank your car’s ignition and once it starts, keep it running.
Step 5:
Remove the cables in the reverse order you connected them.
Step 6:
For optimal charging, jump in your car and go for a drive for at least 15-30 minutes so the battery has time to retain a charge.
How to jump a dead BATTERY WITH A PORTABLE JUMP STARTER
In a perfect world, help is only a text or phone call away. But there might come a time when you will have to know how to jumpstart a dead battery yourself when there is no other car around to give you a boost. The good news is that there is a handy option on the market that can save your bacon when your battery dies.
At Edmonds Batteries, we carry a variety of portable jump starters to boost your battery when it needs a charge.
A jump starter works pretty much the same way as the car-to-car method. Simply follow the same steps as described above, and you will be charged up and on your way in no time.
Whether you have a dead car battery, a dead marine battery, or a dead RV battery, knowing how to jump a dead battery can (and possibly will) come in handy at some point and isn’t as tough as you might think. The biggest hurdle is just knowing where to connect those cables.
For jump starters and booster packs galore, drop by one of our Edmonds Batteries locations today including Langley, Abbotsford, and Burnaby!