Right Connection Of Battery Cables For Jumping Between Two Car Batteries

Last Updated on January 21, 2023 by Leepu Da Maxim

If you want to jump-start a car then you have to connect the positive terminal of the dead battery to the positive terminal of the working battery using a red cable and the negative terminal of the working battery to a metal part of the dead car’s engine or the negative terminal of the dead battery.

Key Takeaways

• If you want to jump-start a car then you have to create a circuit and allow the working battery to transfer power to the dead battery
• You must be very careful about the cable connection because an incorrect cable connection can cause an accident or damage to the vehicles
• The battery of the working vehicle must have sufficient voltage to provide power to the dead battery
• You must wear gloves while jump-starting a car to avoid any accident to yourself

Jump Two Automotive Batteries – Main Tips

Tips	Description
Appropriate Connection Cable	The most commonly used cable for these cases consists of a red cable and a black cable, for the positive and negative parts respectively.
Donor Battery Status	The donor battery must have sufficient voltage to provide power to the dead battery.
Dead Battery Condition	The dead battery must not be corroded, frozen, too dry, leaking, or cracked.
Safety Features	The use of gloves is recommended to perform this procedure
Battery Compatibility	Batteries must have a compatible voltage system such as 6 volts or 12 volts

How Do You Jump Two Car Batteries?

To jump a car, it is necessary to follow some basic steps if you want to get a good result. In principle, it is necessary to have jump cables, as well as another vehicle or some kind of portable auxiliary battery.

In either case, the procedure is usually the same. In many cases, any positive terminal is identified with the color red while a negative terminal has the color black.

Before being able to perform this procedure it is necessary to consider some precautions and basics. In particular, this is important to avoid possible damages and damage to any of the vehicles.

1. Do not jump dry batteries, frozen batteries, or damaged batteries with corrosion, leaks, and cracking

2. Never touch cylinders or clips together at the same time

3. Read the owner’s manual for each vehicle

4. Some vehicles are not compatible with this procedure due to the sensitivity of the built-in electrical circuits

Once you have considered each of these aspects you can perform the following steps. This procedure requires very little time once you know what to do.

In some cases, the car with the dead battery might not start due to other different malfunctions. So, if the car has not started after a few minutes you should think about replacing the battery or checking the problem.

1. Initial Preparation

First of all, it is crucial to check the compatibility of the different vehicles involved in this procedure. On the one hand, the vehicle used must have a battery that is suitable for this process.

For this purpose, check out the battery that produces the jump to know if it has sufficient voltage. Also, the voltage system must be adequate between the two batteries.

Once the compatibility of the batteries has been checked, the two cars must be parked close to each other. Of course, the vehicles must be parked with the engine off and the parking brake on. This avoids some inconveniences during this procedure 

2. Making The Connection

Once the vehicle is, turned off, parked properly, and with the parking brake on, people can continue making the connection. In this case, people must open the hood of both vehicles. Here, it is necessary to know the different alligator clips to be used for this battery-jumping procedure.

Generally, both the red wire and the red alligator clip correspond to the positive terminal. In the same sense, the black alligator clip together with the black wire corresponds to the negative terminal.

A dead battery cannot be revived if the terminals are connected the wrong way around. In the case of an old and colored cable, a multimeter can be used to know the positive and negative poles.

1. To begin with, the red cable must be connected to the red terminal or the positive terminal of the dead battery of the car that cannot work. 

2. As a second step, it is due to connect the red and positive clamp to the red or positive terminal of the second vehicle that has the battery in good condition.

3. As the third step of this stage, the black clamp must be connected to the negative terminal of the second vehicle that has the battery in good condition.

4. As the fourth step of this stage, the black clamp must be connected to a metallic part of the car with the dead battery. This metal part should not be exactly next to the battery.

The metal struts that run next to the open hood are an excellent place to connect the black clamp. This way, the second black clamp or negative clamp will be connected.

3. Start To Revive The Battery

Once the connection has been made successfully, it is possible to start the donor car with a good battery. The power supply to the dead battery can then be started. 

At this point, it is necessary to allow the car to run for several minutes to start noticing the results. Of course, the specific time may vary depending on the make and model of each vehicle. However, about 15 to 20 minutes may be more than enough time to be able to start the car with a dead battery.

A quick and efficient way to check that the procedure has worked is to try to turn on the interior light of the car with the dead battery. If the person can check that this car interior light is working without problems the power supplied could be sufficient.

To do this, it may be useful to leave for a few moments that the car interior light is in operation. So, when this light starts to flicker or has a weak operation the power supply might not be sufficient. When this car’s interior light is working properly, you can continue with this procedure.

Finally, you should simply turn on the car that originally had the dead battery. Of course, this is only a temporary solution that is used to be able to start a car. So, after performing this procedure it is recommended to check the condition of the new and high-efficiency battery.

However, the problem could also be found in some other components of the vehicle’s electrical system. Therefore, a general check of the vehicle’s electrical system is necessary to detect what the real problem is.

References:

https://www.autobatteries.com/en-us/jump-starting-and-charging/jump-starting-your-car-with-jumper-cables

https://resource-center.meineke.com/jump-start-car-battery-right-way/