Tips On Using Jumper Cables

It is always advised to get your car checked with the mechanic every six months to know whether it has any problem or not that can be resolved to avoid future troubles. One of the important part due to which car owners can get stuck anywhere unexpectedly is the battery of the car.

Normally, a car battery has a life of about 6 years and hence after 6 years you need to check whether the battery is in proper condition or not. Maximum of the car owners carry jumper cables in their cars so that they can jump start the car battery if suddenly the car stops in between due to dead battery. But there are some important tips that one should take care of while jump starting the car battery.

Is it really a dead battery?

If your car suddenly stops, it is not necessary each time that it is due to dead battery. There can be many other reasons too. If a battery is dead, your car will not start at all. But if you can notice a crinkling sound on turning on the ignition, then it is something else and not a dead battery. In this case, do not try jump starting the car, it may have adverse effects.

Read the manuals carefully

Today there are different cars available with different models and techniques. Hence, there are chances that jump starting methods can also be different for different cars. This is the reason it is important to read the manuals provided carefully to know the exact method to jump start the battery of your car. If you will take a general way, then there can be two things. First, the car may not start and the second; you may hurt yourself as some adverse things may happen.

Car batteries with similar voltage

This is the most common mistake that people do these days extremely. When you are badly stuck at the middle of the road with a dead car battery, you often take help from anyone without even trying to know about the car battery of the helper. Of course, it is not possible to get exactly the same car battery that you are having at middle of somewhere, but you can always try to get so.

One should try to take help from an active battery that is of same volt as your dead car battery. This is because there are high chances that if you are getting your car battery jump started using a car battery that is of higher volt, there are high chances that some of the electrical parts of your car may get hampered. You may not realize this immediately but may after some days; you may come across various issues in your car electronics.

So, check the voltage of the car battery from which you are about to take help. Make sure that it is of the same volt that your car battery is. If not same, then it should not be higher than your car battery.

Positioning of the cars

To jump start the car battery, you need to position the cars in such a way that they stand facing each other. Make sure that the distance between the two cars is the least, but at the same time, both the cars should not touch each other. If the cars touch each there can be sparks and other accidents that may harm your car as well as you also.

The best thing is to keep a distance of about 18 meters and to keep both the cars at parking brakes.

Proper connecting and disconnecting of the jumper cables

Connecting and disconnecting the jumper cables can be risky if it is not done properly. Connecting the cables is important because it has to be done methodically in order to jump start the car battery at the earliest. Connect the red colored cable clamp to the positive circuit of the active battery as well as the dead battery. Now after the positive ends are connected, it is the time for the negative ends to get connected.

Now connect the black colored cable clamp to the negative circuit of the active battery. But here the second black colored clamp will be connected with the uncolored nail like bolt on the above of the engine of the dead car.

Now after sometime when you turn on the dead car, and it successfully turns on, the cables should be immediately removed. While removing the cables, care should be taken that the clamps has to be removed just in the descending way of how the clamps were connected to the circuits. First the black clamps needs to be removed from the car and then the red clamps. Hurrying while removing the clamps often may lead to accidents, sp such hurry needs to be avoided.

Taking care of the cable

It is also an essential thing to take care of the jumper cable that you are using to jump start the car battery. The cables need to be kept at a safe and comfortable place so that there is no tear in between. Before connecting it to the cars, check properly whether there is any tear or not. If you find any such tear, try to paste a black tape over it. Later on get a new cable from the mechanic to avoid accidents.

Precautions for yourself

Though you should be following the above mentioned tips but there are also some precautions that you need to take on personal grounds. Most importantly, make sure that no kids are there near the cables when the jump start is in process. Do not allow the clamps to touch each other any time. The best way is to keep the cable on the ground and then to connect the clamps one by one.

A safer way is to wear gloves while connecting the cables for jump start. This is because at times it may happen that you may encounter some sparks that may hurt you badly.