How to Charge Your Car Battery With Another Car

Knowing how to charge your car battery with another car is a skill that will come in handy at some point.

When your vehicle doesn’t start, jumper cables can get it up and running in no time. However, there is some information you need to have to jump-start your car correctly.

Read on to learn how to use another vehicle to charge your car’s battery.

Why Does Your Car’s Battery Lose Charge?

Have you hopped into your car and turned the ignition, but there is no response? While there are several causes for this, the lack of response is primarily due to a dead battery.

Your vehicle’s battery could die due to various reasons, such as:

• Leaving on the headlights: You might forget to turn off your car’s headlights after you park, leaving them to drain your battery’s charge.
• Leaving on the music system: The audio system can also drain the charge of a working battery quite quickly.
• Charging electronic devices: Charging devices for too long while your car is in ignition mode could drain the battery.

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Charging Your Car Battery With Another Car

There are multiple ways to bring your car’s battery back to life, but charging it using another vehicle is one of the easiest options.

Besides a separate vehicle with a healthy, working battery, you will need jumper cables and rubber gloves to complete the job. Before beginning the jump start process, you will also need to check your dead battery’s condition. For instance, you should check for acid leakage and the presence of cracks on your battery’s body.

If everything is fine, you can proceed with the process by following these simple steps:

1. Park the vehicle with the working battery facing yours.
2. Open the hood and identify the batteries’ positive and negative terminals.
3. Take your jumper cables and connect the positive cable (ordinarily red) to the dead battery’s red positive terminal.
4. Connect the other end of the positive cable to the charged battery’s positive terminal.
5. Connect the jumper cable’s negative side to the charged battery’s negative terminal.
6. Next, connect the negative jumper cable’s opposite end to any metal surface on your vehicle, such as the chassis.
7. Start the car with the working battery, leaving the engine to run for about two to three minutes.
8. After, start the vehicle with the dead battery, keeping both cars idling for five to ten minutes.
9. Switch off both engines and remove the cables in the opposite order of connection.
10. Switch on your vehicle and let it idle for about five to ten minutes to allow it to build up a bit more charge.

You should note that it is impossible to fully charge your battery using this method, so it’s best to get a mechanic to inspect it once it’s up and running again.

Experiencing a dead battery happens to everyone eventually. Fortunately, knowing how to charge your car battery with another car provides the quick fix you need.

Simply follow the steps above, taking all necessary precautions to prevent potentially fatal accidents.