Top 4 Things to Know About Jumper Cable
If you are not sure about the performance of your car battery, then it is necessary to carry a jumper cable in your car each time when you are travelling somewhere. Jumper cables are two attached wires with four clamps. There are two positive clamps that are colored in red and two negative clamps that are colored in black.
Normally, many people may think that the jumper cables are available in one particular dimension. Well, this can be wrong because today different cars are designed in different ways that may require different jumper cables. It is important to know and understand that which type of jumper cables needs to be selected for your car.
Jumper cables need to be selected based on some of the important tips. Also apart from selecting jumper cables, it is also important to know the way is using the jumper cables as there can be different ways to use jumper cables in different cars.
The length of the wire
The first and foremost thing that you need to understand is that there can be jumper cables of various lengths available in the market. It depends upon you about which cable is best suited for you. There can be a jumper cable with a cable wire of about 12 gauges and also a cable wire that may measure a length of about 6 gauges.
There are different uses of these cables of different sizes. If you don’t want your car and the car with the good battery to position very closely, then it is ideal to get a jumper cable with longer distance such that of 12 gauges. But if you are concerned about the time that may take in charging up your car battery, then you will need a cable wire of about 6 gauges. Because it is quite of course that a small cable wire will take much lesser time in charging up your car battery than the longer one.
The Clamps
Apart from the length of the jumper cable, it is also important to check the quality of the clamps. Once you have attached the cables with both the cars, then it is recommended to stay away from the jumper cable and the jumper clamps. So, you should always have a jumper cable with clamps that are such that does not slip easily while connected. If somehow the clamps slip out, then it may produce sparks. Also if you try to correct the clamps by touching them, after they slip out, then you are going to hurt yourself only.
Hence, it is important to get clamps that are not much smooth in texture and will not slip out easily. Also it has to be seen that whether the clamps are covered properly with runner coating or not. This is for your safety purpose. Though it is strictly said that the jumper clamps should not be touched, but accidently you may somehow come across the clamps where you may hurt yourself. The rubber coating tends to decrease the risk of such accidents.
The Condision of The Jumper Cable
Only getting a good jumper cable is not enough. It is also important to take care of it so that it can stay up for quite a sometime and also so that you do not hurt yourself. Do not fold the jumper cable very tightly, as this can destroy the wire in between. An ideal way is to coil the cable lightly and keep it in a bag.
If somehow you discover a cut or tear in the wire, take action immediately. Either change the cable in case of a major damage or paste a black tape on the damaged portion is the tear is a small one. This will not only avoid the tear to increase in its diameter but will also prevent you from getting shocks due to the tear in the wire.
It is important to take this case very seriously, because often these small damages can cause a huge accident and trouble for the person who may touch the damaged area accidently. The person can get shock and also there can be sparks while the car is on charge.
Using the Jumper Cable
Today there are different techniques of using jumper cables for different cars. So, it is better to read the manuals of the car properly before starting the use of jumper cable. It is always better to follow the steps mentioned in the manuals for jump starting the dead car battery.
But of course there are some essential steps that you should take care of while jump-starting the car. Make sure that the two cars do not touch each other while they are standing in front of each other. Also make sure that both the cars are in parking brake mode.
The most important is the connecting of the jumper cables to both the cars. You need to first attach the red colored clamp or the positive clamp to the positive terminal of the active battery and then the other positive clamp to the dead battery. Again, you need to connect the black colored negative clamp to the negative terminal of the active battery and the second black colored clamp has to be attached to the screw that you find over the engine of the dead battery.
Now you need wait for some time and then after some time start the car with the dead battery. As the car starts, the jumper cables need to be removed. Again while removing the jumper cables; you need to follow the reverse method that is first you have to remove the negative clamps and then the positive clamps.
Conclusion
Many people may take jump starting a car battery as an easy task. This is only because they have not faced any accident till date. But if proper jump cables are not used and proper methods are not followed, then you will not only destroy the car but also will hurt yourself badly. So, it is important to know important things about the jumper cable surely before using them.
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