Charging a battery or jumpstarting a car

One thing that I do frequently is end up charging a car battery or jump starting someone's car. Frequently this is because someone let a vehicle sit for a long time (probably a month or more), or they left the lights on. Every once and a while it is because of an actual failed battery. I also charge up my wife's car every few weeks since she only drives about 2 miles a day so her battery never gets fully charged unless I do it and I charge the car battery when changing oil. When it comes to charging a vehicle's batter there are right and wrong ways of doing it which I will discuss below. As a side note if you have a limited use vehicle I highly suggest getting one of those solar trickle chargers that sell for about $20 just plug it into the 12V outlet (cigarette lighter) and put in on the dash. I use one in my Bronco II and that thing will sit for a month consistently and still starts without issue.

Jump starting a car:
I suggest carrying around a good set of jumper cables. Good ones have real heavy clamps and are at least 6 gauge wire 4 gauge wire is better (lower gauge is thicker wire).

1. Move the running vehicle so that it's battery is as close to dead battery in the other vehicle as possible
2. Leave the vehicle with the good battery running
3. Make sure all accessories (lights, radio, etc.) are off in the vehicle with the dead battery
4. connect the red cable to the red (+) terminal on the vehicle with the dead battery
5. Connect the other end of the red cable to the red (+) terminal on the running vehicle
6. Connect the black cable to the black (-) terminal on the vehicle with the dead battery
7. Connect the other end of the black cable to the black (-) terminal on the running vehicle
8. Do not attempt to start the vehicle with the dead battery yet, it probably won't start and if you do try it will only take longer.
9. Go sit in the running vehicle for a few minutes. I suggest bringing the engine up to a faster idle (1500 RPM) so it will charge the dead battery faster. To do this just lightly press on the gas pedal, you will hear the engine speed up some
10. After 5 or so minutes have someone else go and try to start the vehicle with the dead batter. Keep the running vehicle at the faster idle.
11. If the vehicle with the dead battery started continue to step15
12. If the vehicle with the dead battery turned over (tried to start) but didn't start go to step 9
13. If the vehicle with the dead battery didn't turn over go to step 9 but let it charge for 10 minutes
14. If you get here and have tried starting the other vehicle and it won't start the battery is probably totally dead so go get a new one, or the starter is the problem and go get a new one. Continue to step 15 and disconnect the jumper cables.
15. Disconnect the black cable from the car that has been running the whole time
16. Disconnect the black cable from the car that got the jump
17. Disconnect the red cable from the car that has been running the whole time
18. Disconnect the red cable from the car that got the jump
19. If the car that got the jump is now running have them take it for a drive for at least 30 minutes to get the battery charged back up. Highway driving is better as that is at a constant speed and will charge the battery quicker and will put less of a load on the battery. You can end now
20. If the char that got the jump isn't running check the battery and starter. (This will be discussed in another post later)

Using a battery charger (also applies to connecting battery boosters)

1. Do NOT have the battery charger plugged into the wall
2. Connect the red cable to the red terminal (+) on the battery
3. Connect the black cable to the black terminal (-) on the battery
4. Plug in the battery charger
5. Select the type of charging. Some chargers don't give you an option, these are trickle chargers. The various options are below
1. Trickle charge (1-2 amps)  This is the best way to charge a char battery, use it if getting the vehicle started can wait several hours (overnight)
2. Quick charge (5-20 amps) This is used to quickly charge a battery, expect to let it charge for several minutes (10-30 depending on battery size and output of charger)
3. Start (50-200 amps) This is used to start a vehicle. You should still let charger charge the battery for a few minutes (5 is probably plenty). This is really hard on batteries
6. Let the vehicle charge
7. Unplug your charger
8. Disconnect the black cable from your battery
9. Disconnect the red cable from your battery

When I charge a battery when changing oil I use the trickle charge setting on my charger. My charger is a 2/10/50 amp charger. I also use the trickle (2 amp) setting when charging my wife's car overnight.