subject: How To Use Jump Leads [print this page] Owning a pair of jump leads and keeping them to hand when driving can be incredibly useful. If the battery of your car goes flat you will need to re-charge it, which is where jump leads can come into play. With them, you will be able to connect your car battery to that of another vehicles and give it enough charge to get it straight to a qualified mechanic. If you know that your car battery has a tendency to discharge you should always get it looked at.
Using jump leads can be somewhat tricky if you have never done it before, in which case you should leave it up to someone with more experience than you, or have someone supervise you while you do it. Also, always follow safety procedure never allow any metal objects to brush against the battery posts and dont ever have a naked flame near either of the car batteries. Doing either of these things could result in an explosion, as car batteries release flammable gases that even the smallest spark could alight.
When you are ready to connect your vehicle with another of the same voltage, turn both engines off and put the handbrake of each on. You should have one red and one black jump lead; use the red one to connect the positive terminals in each car. You will then need to connect the black lead to the negative terminal in the donor car and attach the other end to an earthling point within your cars engine or chassis. It is vital that you do not attach it anywhere near the battery or the fuel system, as this could cause an explosion.
Once you have done this you will need to give the voltages a few minutes to equalise before you turn the engines back on. After around three minutes you can start the engine on the donor car, and then your own. Allow them to idle for at least ten minutes.
After this, you can take the jump leads off both cars. Never do this with the engines running, and always remove them in reverse to the order you put them on. Once you have removed them you can start your car and see if it has worked. If your car wont start you will need to have your car towed to a garage so that a mechanic can investigate the problem further.
