How to start a car with a flat battery

Many drivers have experienced situations where the engine was impossible to start due to an empty battery. This often happens when it is icy cold outside or when you, for example, forgot to turn off the car stereo.

The problem of starting the vehicle can be solved by connecting your battery to another vehicle’s battery. To do this, you need a set of jump leads. In this article, we will teach you how to connect jump leads properly. Let’s go through the steps in the correct order.

SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

• Make sure that no children are near the place where the procedure is to be performed. They should be at a safe distance.
• Read the vehicle manual carefully. There are some models that cannot be started with jump leads.
• When performing the work, wear rubber gloves and goggles. Do not touch the terminals or the metal parts of the body with your bare hands, as these parts are live.

WHICH VEHICLES CANNOT BE STARTED WITH JUMP LEADS?

• Never try to start a car using jump leads if the other car has a rated voltage that is higher or lower than the one in your car. For example, if your vehicle is equipped with a 12 V battery, it must not be connected to a 24 V or 6 V battery to avoid overvoltages.
• It is not recommended to connect vehicles with petrol engines and vehicles with diesel engines as their batteries have different cold start amperes. Therefore, the process either becomes inefficient or risks damaging electronic devices.
• It is forbidden to start a car with jump leads if it has damaged cables, a leaking battery or some other defect. Therefore, you must seek professional help if your battery, for example, has run out due to long and unsuccessful start-up attempts.
• It is not recommended to connect the car to a vehicle with a battery that is not fully charged.

HOW DO I FIND OUT IF IT IS SAFE TO START THE CAR WITH JUMP LEADS?

Make sure your car is in good condition. How to use:

• Examine the engine compartment. The cables must not be covered with a thick layer of dirt and there must be no cracks or streaks on the battery.
• Inspect the generator cables. If they are cracked, it is unlikely that the voltage will reach the battery terminals. In that case, starting with jump leads via another battery will not do any good as the battery in the vehicle to be started with jump leads will discharge immediately.
• Try to turn on your headlights, sidelights and interior lights. If they are turned on and lit properly, it means that the battery is not the problem. Trying to start the car with jump leads will not help. If the devices listed above do not turn on and the car horn does not work either, the battery is empty. Sometimes dimly lit lights are a sign of low battery.
• If possible, measure the voltage at the battery terminals. If it is higher than 12.6 V, the battery is okay and you need to look for faults among other components and assemblies: the starter motor, the starter motor solenoid, the ignition switch and so on.
• Investigate if a strong fuel odor comes out of the hood. If this is the case, it is dangerous to start your car with jump leads as it can lead to a fire.

After that, make sure that the other car’s battery is fully charged. Turn on the headlights and interior lighting. The lamps should give off a strong light. If possible, measure the voltage at the battery terminals with a multimeter. It should be 12.6–12.9 V.

Find about how to choose your car battery?

16 STEPS TO START YOUR CAR WITH JUMP LEADS CORRECTLY

1. Park the vehicles opposite each other at a distance of approximately 45–50 cm so that the length of the cables is sufficient to connect them. Warning: under no circumstances should the vehicles touch each other
2. In cars with automatic transmission, put the gear in the “Park” position. In cars with manual transmission, select “Neutral”.
3. Be sure to turn off the engine in the car that will provide power.
4. Apply the parking brake in both vehicles.
5. Remove the keys from the ignition switches in both cars and open the doors of the car with an empty battery. Otherwise, the car’s anti-theft system can be activated and lock the doors when the voltage is transmitted.
6. Open the bonnet. Find the battery. Its exact location is specified in the vehicle manual.
7. Examine the battery. Find two terminals. The positive is usually the larger one and is marked with “POS” or “+” and the negative with “NEG” or “-“. The positive terminal is often red and the negative one black. When connecting the jump leads, it is very important not to confuse the terminals.
8. If necessary, clean the terminals of dirt and oxides with a cloth or wire brush.
9. Look at the set of jump leads. The kit should contain two cables. One of them is usually red and the other black. Note that the cables themselves can have different colors, but that the crocodile clips are almost always red and black. This color marking helps to avoid mistakes when connecting the cables.
10. Connect the cables in the following order:

• one red terminal — to the positive terminal of the empty battery
• the other red clamp — to the positive terminal of the donating car
• one black clamp — to the negative terminal of the battery in the donating car
• the other black clamp — to an unpainted metal part of the vehicle with a discharged battery. It can be a nut or bolt in the engine block.

Next Steps:

1. Make sure that the cables do not touch the moving parts of the motor.
2. Start the donating car’s engine and let it run for 10–20 minutes. Turn of the engine.
3. Try starting the engine in the car with the discharged battery. If you succeed, do not turn off the engine for 10–20 minutes. This time should be enough to recharge the battery a bit.
4. If the car does not start, repeat the procedure: start the engine in the donating car and let it run for a while, turn it off and start the other vehicle. Warning: do not switch on the starter motor of the car started with starter cables while the engine of the donating car is running: this may cause its generator to break down.
5. If the start was successful, disconnect the cables in reverse order:

• black clamp — from the unpainted part of the body
• black clamp — from the negative terminal of the donating car
• red clamp — from the positive terminal of the donating car
• red terminal — from the positive terminal of the battery that was empty.

Final important Step:

1. If you still have not been able to start the engine after repeated attempts, you should consult a workshop for assistance. Your battery may be completely empty and it will then be necessary to reset or replace it. There may also be a fault in another system in the car. In particular, the engine can not start if the following components are bad:

• fuses
• starter motor
• ignition lock

HOW DO I START A CAR AGAIN WITHOUT ANOTHER CAR?

To start a vehicle, you can use a portable starter — a starter aid . It is powered by lithium polymer batteries and thanks to that, despite its compact size, it can deliver relatively powerful starting current. You can buy this type of device if your vehicle is used, for example, in harsh conditions, especially in areas with cold winters.

The device should be connected directly to the battery terminals. When doing this, it is also very important to observe the polarity. For more detailed information on how to connect the jump leads correctly, read the jump start manual carefully.

Usually it is necessary to take the following steps:

1. Connect the red cable that comes with the device to the positive terminal of the battery.
2. Connect the black cable to the negative terminal of the empty battery.
3. Insert the connections on the other ends of the cables into the corresponding output on the portable starter unit.
4. Select the desired mode on the boot wizard and turn on the device.
5. Start the engine

WROOM WROOM WROMM ……. :-)

Conclusion

A discharged battery is a problem that even the most experienced drivers can encounter. Fortunately, it can be solved in a relatively simple way — with start-up help. All you need is a set of jump leads and another battery. By following all the tips above, you can easily start a car with a different battery even if you have not been a driver for a very long time.