Jump Starting your Car When the Battery is Flat

Jump Starting your Car When the Battery is Flat

Although car batteries are incredibly heavy duty and can last for many years without faltering; that doesn’t mean that they’re invincible. There are several things that can affect a car batteries’ performance, from excessively cold weather cooling the components, all the way to excessive use on the road. That’s where jump leads come in very handy and can make all the difference if you have a flat battery.

The first thing to remember is that with all batteries, car batteries will have both positive and negative connections. If you own a pair of jump leads (which is recommended for all vehicle owners), then you’ll want to know what your lead does. The lead itself will have two cables; one red and one black. The red lead will need to be attached to the positive terminal of the flat battery, whereas the black battery will need to be connected to the negative terminal.

Once connected, you’ll need to connect the other side of the red lead to the donor vehicle’s positive battery terminal and then connect the black lead to the donor’s negative terminal. The cables should run uninterrupted and you shouldn’t touch either lead while either vehicle is running. If you have to detach the lead at any point, only contact the rubber part of the lead and stay away from the metal clip end that is holding the leads in place on the battery terminals. For more on 4WD Batteries