How to Jump Start a Car

Sometimes the car battery gets discharged due to over usage of some electrical accessories like lights or it gets discharged due to alternator problems. This battery discharge can leave you stranded as the car ignition is not possible without a charge in the car battery.

There is a very minute risk of an explosion involved in this technique, due to the Hydrogen gas emitted by a dead battery that has been that way for a long time. However, following the correct procedure can eliminate this risk.

How to Jump Start a Car Safely
Before one can treat a malady, one needs to make the right diagnosis and confirm the malady. So, first ensure that the car battery is actually dead. To check that, try switching on the headlights. If you find them to be dim, then chances are that there is a battery problem. The best way to check whether a car battery is really dead, is to use a voltmeter or a digital multimeter. Connect the leads of the voltmeter to battery output terminals and check if you get any voltage readings. If the voltage reading is substantially lower than twelve volts and close to zero, you have an almost dead or completely dead battery. Wear safety goggles and gloves during the procedure.

Check dashboard lights in the car and if they flicker; it's possible that you have a problem with the car ignition switch. If neither of the dashboard lights flicker, nor does the car start, then you have a dead battery and you can go ahead with jumping the car battery. Some things that are essential for a car to be jump started are jumper cables and another car's battery, from which you can transfer just enough charge, so that the car gets started.

Firstly, see if you can arrange a car for jump starting the dead battery. Park that car, as close to your car as possible (while making sure that they do not come in contact). Park it in such a way that the car batteries could be connected to each other, by the jumper cables.

Kill the engine of the other car and open hoods of both cars. Locate the batteries of the car. Take hold of the jumper cables. Next we go for connecting the terminals of both car batteries. It is absolutely important that you first connect the positive terminals and then connect negative terminals, as I instruct in the next section. Following this order of connection along with placing of terminals, can eliminate the risk of explosion.

Locate the positive and negative terminals of both batteries. Connect the positive terminal of 'boosting' battery with positive terminal of dead battery. Next one needs to ground the negative terminal of boosting battery. Connect one end of jumper cable to negative of the boosting battery and connect other end with any exposed metal part of the car with dead battery. This grounding point should be as far away from the dead battery as possible, as there can be sparking on grounding the jumper cable. If you take this small precaution, you can safely go ahead with jump starting the car.

Next start the other car with boosting battery and put the engine in idle. Let the boosting car be that way for as long as the dead battery is charged enough. After some time, enough charge will be transferred to the dead battery, rejuvenating it just enough, so that you are able to start the car. Once it starts, do not kill the engine. Disconnect jumper cables and turn off other car. Now you can get the car with the dead battery to be transported to a location where it can be charged properly. Handling a car is no child's play and you need a lot of expertise up your sleeve to deal with the various car problems that arise!