Jumpstarting A Stalled Car with Battery Cables

Remember how I made a very long pair of jumper cables a while back? (read about it here) Well, I finally got to use them a couple of weeks ago. My car's battery died down and instead of bringing it to the service center for recharging - I've decided its time to put my jumper cables to the test!

My cable is 7 meters long - much longer than the ones you see in auto shops because it its designed to be used with my VW beetle (you'll see why it has to be that long later on).

The car with the dead battery :(

Voxy ready to save the day! :)

Connect the positive cable/clamp to the stalled car's positive battery terminal...

... and the other end to the donor car's (Voxy) positive battery terminal.

Next connect the negative cable/clamp to the donor car's ground/negative battery terminal...

... and the other end to the stalled car's body ground - make sure that it is a good grounding point - it could be an unpainted part in the engine block, tranny case, etc. IMPORTANT: Never connect it directly to the stalled car's battery. A direct battery to battery series won't start it up. I  came across someone who was having difficulty jump starting his car. When I asked him to try connecting the negative cable to a good body ground and his car started without a hitch! :)

Now you see why I needed an extra long set of jumper cables. It makes jumpstarting with my beetle hassle free :) NOTE: Never allow the two cable's clamps touch each other/never let the positive cable touch both car's body to prevent arcing, sparks and possible damage to both cars.

Start up the donor car and let it idle for a couple of minutes - rev the engine a couple of times (around 10-20 seconds per rev) - this somehow charges the dead battery. Make sure all accesories in both cars are turned off (i.e. radio, A/C, lights, etc) to avoid unecessary power load/drain. Watch the video to see how my lancer started right up :)

Start up the stalled car. Once it's running, disconnect the jumper cables in the reverse order you've connected them - leave the car running for around 20-30 minutes to charge the dead  battery - revving it once a while :) The car should start easily after this not unless you have a bad battery or a faulty alternator :)

Yes! You Can Jump Start a Stalled Car :)