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Archive for May, 2011

12 Safety Tips when Jumpstarting a Car

[ 0 ] May 4, 2011

You are ready to jumpstart your car with the flat battery, but wait a minute! Safety comes first, read the followings first before causing permanent damages to yourself, your car and others.

Safety measures when jumpstarting your vehicle, the do’s and dont’s:

  • Wear eye protection and distant your self from the battery compartment when jumpstarting. There are possiblities of explosion and acid splash that may cause serious burns and injuries.
  • Ensure that the two vehicles do not touch under any circumstances.
  • Ensure you can safely do the jumpstart procedures. If you’re on the road side, check all potential hazards of incoming traffics. Install the safety triangle facing the direction of vehicles coming your way. Always make sure you’re safely out of any vehicle’s way.
  • Check the DIN strenght of your jumper cable is suitable to your car’s electrical system. DIN 72 553 is the normal length and diameter of the cable, the clamping force and isolation of the pole terminals. Other known standard is ISO 6722. Never use worn out or leaking cable. Ensure on heavy duty and well insulated cables.
  • Have your vehicle fully back up, pull the hand brake and free your gear.
  • Turn off the ignition on both vehicles before connecting the cables.
  • Extinguish cigars, cigarettes and other ignition sources or flames. Remember that explosive mixtures containing hydrogen are still present in the battery cells.
  • Avoid loading or troubleshoot a frozen battery.
  • Ensure both the donor battery and the flat battery has the same voltage, which usually is 12v.
  • Only do the jumpstart if you are sure that the battery is drained of it power. Never jumpstart a broken or defective battery, this could result to an explosion or even causing damage to the donor car and/or battery. Important! Check for sign of damages, leaks, rust or cracks on your battery.
  • Only do the jumpstart if you understood all the risk involved. If not, just call in your mechanic or have your vehicle towed to the garage.
  • Refer to the manual maintenance of the vehicle / equipment to determine any other specific requirements.

Make sure the exposed cables do not touch the chassis or bodywork of vehicles to avoid sparks that could cause an explosion. Most quality jump cables have the clamps coated with plastic so there is less chance for this to happen.

* When disconnecting cables, be careful not to touch the running cooling fans or any other moving parts in the engine bay.

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How to Jumpstart a Car

[ 0 ] May 1, 2011

Have you ever come out bright and early to start your car, and when you turn on the ignition; all you hear is this sound of pathetic annoying buzzer in the dashboard. You’ll soon realized that you accidentally left some of the lights in your car overnight and it consumed the entire life of the battery. The battery is now completely flat. You are now caught with a vehicle that has a flat battery and you have no spare batteries available.

This could happen to anyone. A car with a flat battery is a big problem, especially if you are in a rush to get to other places to perform your responsibility.

There are five ways how you can get out of this predicament;
1. Immediately call a taxi as an alternative means of transport if you’re in real hurry.
2. If you drive a manual transmission car, call up your closest buddies and have them push your car to force start it.
3. If you have a portable car jump starter, you can jumpstart the battery/vehicle yourself.
4. Call and wait for your emergency roadside breakdown assistance that is sometimes provided by your car insurance policy or if you are subscribed to an auto club.
5. If you have a set of jumper cables with you, you could try to jumpstart using live battery from other vehicle.

Jumpstart Your Vehicle

If you found another car that has a charged battery, then you can bring your own car battery life. If you must use jumper cables and then here is the right way to do it. It is pretty simple and safe if you follow these instructions:

1. Position the two cars close to each other so the cable can reach both batteries.

2. Then connect the car battery jumper cables in this order;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • A. Connect positive (+) red cable to the (+) positive terminal of the flat battery.
  • B. Connect the other end of the positive (+) red cable to the (+) positive terminal of the donor the car.
  • C. Connect (-) negative black cable to the (-) negative terminal on the donor car.
  • D. Connect the other end of the (-) negative black cable to the unpainted metal on the engine block or chassis of flat battery car. It is intentional not to have direct connection to the (-) negative terminal of the flat battery to avoid sparking an explosion from escaped hydrogen gas from the cells!

If the battery terminals are dirty and corroded, they must first be cleaned so that the clamps on the jump cables will get a good clean connection. Read here on an easy way how to keep your battery clean.

WARNING:

First, read the 12 Safety Tips when Jumpstarting a Car.

To connect and disconnect the jumper cables, be very careful in handling the connection clips.

Make sure the exposed cables do not touch the chassis or bodywork of vehicles to avoid sparks that could cause an explosion. Most quality jump cables have the clamps coated with plastic so there is less chance for this to happen.

3. You are now ready to begin jumpstarting the other car’s engine. Turn off all electrical devices on the donor car (heating, lighting, aircond, radio, etc.), so that the battery is fully dedicated to launch the flat battery. Start the car and let it idle for at least a minute with all the cables intact before you try to jumpstart. Revving the engine will produce more currents and help to charge the other battery.

4. Now try to start the flat battery vehicle by turning the engine ignition on. You should now be able to start the vehicle.

5. When the engine has started and is running, remove the jump cables. Do this in reverse order:

  • A. Disconnect negative (-) black wire on the terminal on the chassis or engine block of (flat) battery car.
  • B. Disconnect negative (-) black cable on the (-) negative terminal on the donor car.
  • C. Disconnect positive (+) red cable on (+) positive terminal on the donor car.
  • D. Disconnect positive (+) red cable on (+) the positive terminal of the battery.

When disconnecting cables, be careful not to touch the running cooling fans or any other moving parts in the engine bay.

Let your flat battery car idles a while so that it can start recharging the battery. If the flat battery does not start the car after following the above procedures, then the battery could possible be damaged and defect from the inside. Either way, make sure you consult your mechanic what is wrong with your vehicle and whether or not to replace your battery.

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