Car Battery- Jump starting

ClearlyClear

Hey everyone,

Having one of those days, car wont start for the second time in just over a month.

Last time my brother jump started it (After a lot of effort)

This time I have made the move to Dublin so no where near home.

Attempted it this morning myself off a neighbours car, but too be honest didnt really know what I was doing.

Anyways, anyone recommend a mobile mechanic who could come to me to jump start the car.

Secondly good place to get a car battery replaced

Both need to be able to be done after office hours and near too drumcondra

Supergurrier

Motor factors

Where you in the country ?

Cee-Jay-Cee

No.1 you don't need a mobile mechanic.
No. 2 Go to Halfords or any motor factors and get a new battery. Many places will fit it for you also.

ClearlyClear

Problem is how do I get the car started ...when I tried to jump it didn't work ...this may have been cause I did it wrong

mickdw

It is very unwise to attempt to jump off another persons car if you didnt know what you are doing. You could have done alot of damage to that generous persons car.

arleitiss

jump starting when neither of parties (you or donor car owner) doesn't know what they are doing is bad, I experienced it myself.
I was once jump started from one guy I know, but he's elder so I respected his opinion and knowledge (assumed he knows more, so I didn't say anything), he did his ways and ended up frying up his starter, and some other electrical components on his Peugeot.

DaithiMC

In answer to your question. Making sure you put the leads on to the correct poles, i.e., + to +, - to -, with the donor car running, you may have to wait a few minutes to get a reasonable charge on your battery before it will turn over, usually 2-4 minutes in my experience. When you get it started, leave it ticking over for a good 5 minutes before driving to build up some residual charge. As was pointed out, get it started and get to Halford's for a replacement battery. Your insurance may include a roadside rescue element, call them to ask.

11wingnut

consort motor factors on the drumcondra road near the richmond road

randy hickey

DaithiMC wrote: »

In answer to your question. Making sure you put the leads on to the correct poles, i.e., + to +, - to -, with the donor car running, you may have to wait a few minutes to get a reasonable charge on your battery before it will turn over, usually 2-4 minutes in my experience. When you get it started, leave it ticking over for a good 5 minutes before driving to build up some residual charge. As was pointed out, get it started and get to Halford's for a replacement battery. Your insurance may include a roadside rescue element, call them to ask.

This is actually not the correct procedure for jump starting a car.
You can get away with it, but you run the risk of a battery blowing up in your face, so why not just do it right?

Also, the donor car's engine should be turned off before connecting jumper cables.

A picture tells a thousand words:



I'm not pointing this out to be arsey -it's just that you can do awful damage to both the cars AND yourself if you're not careful.

Cerco

randy hickey wrote: »

This is actually not the correct procedure for jump starting a car.
You can get away with it, but you run the risk of a battery blowing up in your face, so why not just do it right?

Also, the donor car's engine should be turned off before connecting jumper cables.

A picture tells a thousand words:



I'm not pointing this out to be arsey -it's just that you can do awful damage to both the cars AND yourself if you're not careful.

Nice picture but you should warn to check both cars have negative chassis.

coylemj

randy hickey wrote: »

This is actually not the correct procedure for jump starting a car.
You can get away with it, but you run the risk of a battery blowing up in your face, so why not just do it right?

Also, the donor car's engine should be turned off before connecting jumper cables.

If you connect the batteries together while the donor car's engine is stoped, it will immediately start to charge the dead battery because while they're connected in parallel, current will flow from the stronger battery to the weaker one. Then when you go to start the donor car motor, it will have a dual load of turning the starter and charging the dead battery at the same time. If it's not in tip top condition, you could end up with two dead batteries.

Why would you go to the bother of connecting to the engine block when it's much easier to connect the jumper cable clips to both negative terminals and why connect only one engine block i.e. why not connect both engine blocks together? Any metallic part of the chassis or engine will do for the negative connection - provided the circuit has a negative earth as has been pointed out.

coylemj

coylemj wrote: »

If you connect the batteries together while the donor car's engine is stoped, it will immediately start to charge the dead battery because while they're connected in parallel, current will flow from the stronger battery to the weaker one. Then when you go to start the donor car motor, it will have a dual load of turning the starter and charging the dead battery at the same time. If it's not in tip top condition, you could end up with two dead batteries.

Why would you go to the bother of connecting to the engine block when it's much easier to connect the jumper cable clips to both negative terminals and why connect only one engine block i.e. why not connect both engine blocks together? Any metallic part of the chassis or engine will do for the negative connection - provided the circuit has a negative earth as has been pointed out.

The point is that modern charging systems are quite powerful and cars full or electical components. if the helper car's engine is running the alternator would be be charging at full whack compensate for the dead battery and the starter running. When the second car starts a voltage spike can occur as it simultaneously start to charge and the load of its starter finishes.

The point of attaching the last cable far from the battery is to avoid the sparks that will be generated upon completion of the circuit to ignite hydrogen gas that the other battery may be releasing. A dud battery can be on a verge of self destruction if the car was previously jumpstarted and is a very good source of hydrogen. Having your skin covered with sulphuric acid is not fun so connecting somewhere far away is a good idea.

coylemj

samih wrote: »

The point is that modern charging systems are quite powerful and cars full or electical components. if the helper car's engine is running the alternator would be be charging at full whack compensate for the dead battery and the starter running. When the second car starts a voltage spike can occur as it simultaneously start to charge and the load of its starter finishes.

I'm not sure I get your point, if there is any. Are you saying the donor car's engine should or should not be running when you connect up the jump cables?

samih wrote: »

The point of attaching the last cable far from the battery is to avoid the sparks that will be generated upon completion of the circuit to ignite hydrogen gas that the other battery may be releasing. A dud battery can be on a verge of self destruction if the car was previously jumpstarted and is a very good source of hydrogen. Having your skin covered with sulphuric acid is not fun so connecting somewhere far away is a good idea.

That's a valid point when it comes to safety. However I would hold the contrarian view which says that in groping around in the engine bay looking for a suitable metallic clamping point to make the circuit, you're more likely to short the circuit than if you simply go for the negative terminal. The crocodile clips on jump leads are usually curved and designed to clamp on to the round terminals on a car battery so I prefer to exercise appropriate caution but use the terminals on both batteries. Less messing about means you get the job done quicker so there's less chance of a cock-up.

coylemj

coylemj wrote: »

I'm not sure I get your point, if there is any. Are you saying the donor car's engine should or should not be running when you connect up the jump cables?

To be safe no two engines should be running simultaneously. This may of course result a flat battery in the donor vehicle if the other does not start but if so is life. To reduce the risk of this happening you could connect with the helper running, let it charge the battery for a while but then switch off the helper before attempting to start the flat car.

coylemj wrote: »

I would hold the contrarian view which says that in groping around in the engine bay looking for a suitable metallic clamping point to make the circuit, you're more likely to short the circuit than if you simply go for the negative terminal

The idea is that with negative connection made last you can't easily short the circuit (unless you actually connect the helpers negative to a positive point in the helpee). There is also another "positive" by connecting directly on the engine block as this ensures grounding point is close to the starter motor, i.e. less resistance than if it was connected to the battery side of the ground lead. But the main point is to stop the sparking that results when connecting to a flat car to occurring at the battery terminal where there may be hydrogen around.

slystallone

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/86784532#Comment_86784532

What could happen if you jump start a dead battery only using the 2 positive cables and no black. I ask as in the donor car, the negative terminal is right in under the body work so can't get the clips onto it.

greasepalm

A cable is only a cable but needs to be placed on correct end + to + on other car

If you have 2 black or 2 red cables seems odd but use your eyes in what you connect them to.

Only very older cars Morris Minor had a + earth

Yes some cars can be a bugger to hook up to as batteries hidden away and CHECK if its onto the bodywork meaning its - an earth or Positive + with a cable running to battery.

Most cars with battery hidden have connection points for boosting from jump packs . BEWARE OF MODERN CARS NOT SUITABLE FOR JUMP STARTING AS SURGE SPIKES MAY BLOW YOUR ECU . Need special jump leads fitted with anti surge.

Yes sometimes connected earth cable to engine of dead car. Start your good car and increase the revs to put some juice into bad car and after a few minutes start dead car. Remove each cable separately and do not let the red + touch the metal body work or black negative cable.

Watch out for cars with auto lock features.

Ezeoul

Ten year old thread?

Times have moved on. Buy a battery booster.

greasepalm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121464914#Comment_121464914

Well new question was asked and answered today as it was a valid question.

greasepalm

Found this handy photo.

dead battery.jpg