Gadgetory

okay first off this is gonna be our dead car over here this is gonna be our donor car you got to pull them close enough within a few feet so the cables can reach from one to the other now where are they reaching used to be always had a battery in the front like on this Subaru there it is this BMW puts the battery in the back for weight distribution as a result they give you remote terminals one for positive and one for negative here the battery is not here but these are representatives of it's hot and cold terminals now let's get going now you need some jumper cables the crews laughing at me because I use these little thin ones they work all the time so don't buy the macho thing where you got to have cables that big around I jump big-block Ford's with these all the time here's how you do it to keep from inadvertently welding your car to the other one this is very important start with one end take the red clip and that goes to the red terminal on the donor battery take the other red and that goes to the dead Cars red terminal now go back to your donor car hook up your black to the black stud on its battery and then on the dead car go find a body ground not the battery ground this is for safety reasons because there's a possibility on some cars you're gonna cause some of the hydrogen gas coming off the battery to explode many cars like this to have a remote battery you have this remote terminal like I mentioned now our circuits closed notice the ground is what made the circuit energized not the positives that's what we closed last now you're gonna go start your donor car then just start the dead car there you go now if using one of these battery jump boxes that are kind of handy it's a very similar process you start off with it turned off and you go to the positive with its positive and then you go negative to close the circuit then you turn it on and then go start this car disconnecting off negative positive out they get the former dead car running you want to make sure it's running for a while fifteen to thirty minutes of driving would be good that gives the alternator the ability to give that battery a pretty good charge then you're gonna turn off and see if it starts again if it doesn't that means you've got a bum battery a crapped out alternator or possibly a bad voltage regulator time to do some repairs odds are you're gonna be fun by the way before you're done make sure you put the covers back on any of these positive terminals or battery studs because you don't want that stuff shorting out with whatever may be in here now you may have noticed that jumper box is pretty bulky weighs about 18 pounds so check out our recent roundup of compact jumper batteries while they are all pretty tidy I would recommend getting one that has a higher number of ass to make sure it can turn over any size engine hold the button down and bam we got a flashlight this new breed costs between 100 and 200 bucks they can recharge off your car's 12-volt outlet during normal time and can also be used to charge your mobile devices on the go during those vast majority of days when you don't need a jumpstart plus they fit in a glove box or a console which my jumper box won't do