How do I use booster cables?
My parents have always told me to leave booster cables in my car in case I need it. But I never figured out how to use them. Last week my friend needed a boost, and we just couldn't figure it out.
I know I need to put positive to positive and negative to negative. But is there a specific order? What risks are involved? I always hear about electric shock but I don't know what exactly causes it; I think the fear of electric shock is what prevented me from helping me boost my friend's car.
Edit: As a follow up to /u/MePLUR, I'd like to add a bit more questions to this post.
Once the car with the dead battery has successfully started, how do I take the cables off? Does it matter what order? Do the cars need to be turned off before I take them off? Also do I need to keep it running with the cables attached to fully recharge, or does the battery get completely recharged right after it ignites?
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It's actually not positive to positive and negative to negative. The reason why you don't connect negative to negative is so that any sparks that may form won't be near the battery.
Okay, so just a recap (For Dummies wording was confusing referring batteries to "your" and "their"):
1. Make sure cars are parked and ignition is turned off. 2. Attach a red cable to the positive terminal on the dead battery. 3. Attach the other red cable to the positive terminal on the charged battery. 4. Attach the black cable from the same side to the negative terminal on the charged battery. 5. Attach the other black cable to an unpainted metal surface (away from the battery) of the car with the dead battery. 6. Start the ignition of the car with the dead battery.
I have some follow up questions. Is there a reason that the black cable for the car with the dead battery is supposed to be attached to an unpainted metal surface? Why can't it go on the negative terminal? Also, the article makes no mention of the removal of the cables. Does it matter at all? I can just take them off in whatever order I like?
This link goes into a little more detail. I picked the Dummies one because it had a picture showing how everything should be hooked up.
Answered in my initial post. There may be sparks when connecting the cable. If you connect it to the negative terminal as opposed to an unpainted metal surface, the sparks may ignite a hydrogen explosion from a charging battery (if the battery is giving off hydrogen gas ... unlikely, but it can happen).
The Halfords article recommends reming the cables in reverse to the way you attached them.
Oh sorry, I misunderstood your first post. That makes a lot of sense; thanks for helping me out!
A nice tidbit of info from that article you linked that might be helpful for others coming across this post:
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No worries. Glad I could help. I actually have the Halfords article saved on Evernote :)