Jumpstarting the vehicle sure is helpful but taking proper care and getting regular maintenance is essential. If you get your vehicle properly checked and maintained regularly, it’s least possible that you will have any battery issues. Nonetheless, if your vehicle is old, it is inevitable not to get any problems in your vehicle.

The battery of the vehicle serves many important secondary operations in it besides providing the spark. The main function of the battery in the vehicle is to provide the power for igniting the fuel in the combustion chamber. This combustion of the fuel enables the vehicle to function properly. If the battery is not functioning properly, the vehicle would not even start.

If the battery of your vehicle is old and rusty and doesn’t work properly, you might face difficulty in starting the vehicle. let’s suppose, you have a very important meeting today, to which you have been looking forward to for months. One day you get up in the morning, have your breakfast, and get to your car earlier than usual. But when you try to start your car, it won’t start and by this time you have missed all the buses to your destination. In such situations, the most useful way to make things work is to jumpstart your vehicle

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WHAT IS JUMPSTARTING THE VEHICLE?

Jumpstart is a technique to start your vehicle when the battery of the vehicle is dead. The jump-starting of the vehicle is also known as the boost in certain places. Jump starting or boosting a vehicle is a technique to start the vehicle using power from other sources besides the battery. The vehicle’s battery, the main power source of the vehicle, is connected to external sources, mainly. 

When the battery of the vehicle is connected to external sources, enough power is provided to crank the vehicle. This cracking of the engine helps the engine and hence the vehicle to start functioning. After the vehicle has started, the auxiliary system of the vehicle starts producing the back power for the battery.

Once this power has been provided to the battery, the battery has enough power to sustain the working of the vehicle. The vehicle now functions properly and also charges the battery, then the power cables can be removed now.

THINGS REQUIRED TO JUMPSTART THE VEHICLE

Jump-starting the vehicle is not an easy task. This can also be dangerous if you are not an expert So, it is advised that consult a professional before doing it alone. If you are trying to jump-start your vehicle yourself, you must make sure that you have all the equipment necessary to jump-start the vehicle. The equipment that is required to jump-start the vehicle are as follows:

Jumper cables

The jumper cables are also known as the booster cables or jump leads. They are a couple of well-insulated wires which have terminals on both ends. Both the ends have two terminals each to connect to the batteries. These wires transfer the electrical power from one battery to another to jump-start the vehicle. The terminals of the same polarity are connected to transfer the charges to the right terminals to jump-start the vehicle.

Portable Boosters

The portable boosters sense the polarity of both of the batteries before the transfer of the electrical power. This helps to protect the shortage of the circuit because of connecting the reverse polarity. This is required to provide the charge to the other battery which is completely discharged. It transfers the electrical power to the discharged battery to start the engine.

Safety Precautions

There are certain safety precautions that you must take into account before trying to jump-start the vehicle. The safety precautions are as follows:

• Checking the Damage

Looking for the damage in either of the batteries, or any other power source and the jump leads is essential. The reason why you should always look for the damages is that a damaged battery can damage the other battery too. In this way, if you only have a discharged battery, you can damage it which could cost you more.

• Metal objects

If you are wearing any kind of metal object or any conductive material such as rings or watches, you should remove them first. If you are wearing any such objects, you are prone to electric shock as these things attract electric current.

If you are unsure of yourself while jump-starting a vehicle or you are doing it for the first time, it is better to get assistance. Many car repair and maintenance firms would be more than happy to assist you.

These preventive guidelines are very essential to follow no matter how experienced you are. If you get even one thing wrong, it can cause you injuries and even cost you your life. You must follow the guidelines provided very carefully, or you can also ask professionals for help if you are not experienced.

Steps to follow to Jumpstart your vehicle properly

Your car can shut down anytime and put you in serious trouble. If the battery of your car is flat, the best option to fix the issue is to jumpstart your vehicle. The situation will become worse if you are unaware of the proper method to jumpstart your vehicle. Therefore, you need to know how to jumpstart properly to save your time, effort, and money. The process to jumpstart the vehicle appears to be easy, but it needs to be done carefully. Following ways will help you jumpstart the car safely and efficiently. 

• Make sure that the procedure is safe

The utmost requirement to jumpstart your vehicle is to keep the process safe and sound. Modern cars have computer systems and electronic components installed in them. This certainly makes them significantly sensitive. There is a risk that other systems of the car might damage while jumpstarting your vehicle. Thus, before jumpstarting the car check the owner’s manual to see if it is safe to jumpstart the vehicle or not. Furthermore, switch off all the electrical load in the car to protect them from a sudden jerk of power. 

• Turn off the vehicles

Jumpstarting the car is very dangerous if you keep the donor’s vehicle started. The chances that the vehicle damage will drastically increase in such a condition. To avoid this situation, turn off the engine of the donor car. Although 12v is not high power, it is enough to spark a fire. Also, Park both the cars on the ground.

• Keep both vehicles close 

The next step to jumpstart the car while parking is to keep the vehicles close. Many people failed to judge the distance between the donor vehicle and the dead vehicle. While parking the vehicles, keep in mind the length of the jump leads and then decide what should be the distance between both vehicles. The sag in the jump lead ensures the effective starting of the car. It is suggested to keep the vehicles close enough that the leads comfortably reach from one end to another. In case your jump leads are very small, park the car’s nose to nose. 

• Ensure that the donor battery is 12v

The donor battery should be 12V to make the jumpstart effective and efficient.

• Connect the terminals correctly

Once both vehicles, the donor and the one that needs to start, are turned off and close enough we have to connect their terminals. In this condition, it is perfectly safe to connect their terminals without causing any damage to your vehicle. Before connecting the terminals make sure you are connecting them in the correct order.

There are two terminals of the battery. One is black (negative) and the other is red (positive). Although you can connect these terminals randomly the right way is to connect the positive terminal to the battery that is not working. Then connecting this positive terminal to the donor battery. 

Now, to connect the other terminal of the clamp the strategy is a little different. Connect the black terminal to the donor battery in a similar way as you did with the positive terminals. But connect the other end of the negative terminal with the ground instead of the dead battery. Make sure that the part from which you are connecting the second end is metallic or conducting to jumpstart it properly.

• Ignite the running vehicle

You need to ignite the running or donor vehicle to complete this process effectively. For this to be done properly, one needs to check twice that the claps are tight and secure. After you ensure this, you will have to make sure that they are connected properly. Ignite the vehicle once this is done. Then you have to make the engine run for some time. This usually takes a few minutes. Lastly, you will ignite the stalled vehicle.

• Ignite the stalled vehicle

When the engine has been started and running for some time, you should try igniting the recipient vehicle. It is quite probable that it will ignite. In case it doesn’t, check the connections again to ensure that they are tight enough. Once you have checked the connections, wait a little while. Try igniting the vehicle again after a few minutes. The batteries which are either old or are cold might take a little longer. The period may extend up to 5 to 10 minutes. Increasing speed or pressing the accelerator will assist to start the vehicle.

• Disconnecting the cables

Always start by disconnecting the connected cables in exactly the opposite order. The connected cables had to be taken out oppositely. This follows by disconnecting the attached black ground from the stalled vehicle and then removing the black clamp from the battery of the donor’s vehicle.

Then you have to disconnect the red clamp which is on the donor’s car which is followed by removing the red clamp from the stalled vehicle. One has to be careful with the clamps. The clamps should not be touching each other at any time when connected otherwise it might spark.

• Run the vehicle for some time

When the recipient’s vehicle starts, the engine should be kept running. As the battery will not be fully charged and will need more time. The best practice one can adopt is to keep the engine running a little while so that the battery can be completely charged. Once this is done, you can take the vehicle out in traffic.

• Check the battery

 It is wise to go to a mechanic and let him check your vehicle’s battery if the battery fails for some reason. There are multiple reasons by which a battery can fail. It can be out of charge or for some other reason. 

Conclusion

Jump starting or boosting the vehicle in an hour of need is very helpful and can also prove to be a game-changer for you. But it is important to note that jump-starting the vehicle is not vehicle friendly at all. The vehicle can get damaged. It has also many health risks associated with it. It is advised that the vehicle should be properly checked and maintained from time to time to encounter fewer problems. You should consult experts if you need to get the vehicle jump started anyways.