How to Jump a Car Battery

Before jumping your car’s battery, you’ll need your friend to park their vehicle near yours in a safe area. Ensure their car battery is easily accessible and close enough to your model’s battery to connect the two with cables.

Then, turn off both vehicles, make sure all electric systems are shut down, and open the hoods.

Step 2: Connect the Jumper Cables to the Battery Terminals

The terminals you’ll need to connect to are located on the battery. One is positive (+) and has a red cap, and the other is negative (-).

The jumper cables will have two sets of clamps, two red and two black. The red clamp should attach to the positive side of the battery while the back hooks up with the negative. When connecting the cables to the terminals, follow these steps precisely:

1. Attach the red clamp on the jumper cables to the dead battery's positive terminal.
2. Next, the other red clamp should be connected to the positive terminal on the booster battery.
3. Connect the black clamp and attach it to the booster battery's negative terminal.
4. Finally, the last black clamp on the cables should be clamped to an unpainted part of the dead battery. If your battery has a bolt marked with a negative symbol, attach it to this.

When the clamps are connected, have your pal start their car, and then you will start yours. If nothing happens right away, wait a few minutes for the battery to gain a charge, and try again while elevating the idling speed of the working vehicle.

Step 4: Disconnect the Jumper Cables

When both vehicles are idling, carefully remove the jumper cables from the battery. Simply reverse the steps of how they were attached and make sure to keep the metal clamps from touching each other. Then, close the hoods.

For your battery to retain a charge, you will need to drive it for at least 20 minutes. Then, when you are done driving, park your vehicle in a safe area just in case it needs to be jumped again.