Car jump starting..earth point?

[Arctic]

Check out emergency starting in the owners hand book and it will give you the official way to use the booster cables, pages 168-169.

It states do not connect a booster cable to the negative (-) terminal of the discharged battery.

First make sure the donor car is parked adjacent to discharge car battery side by side if possible cars not to be touching.

Make sure ALL electrical equipment of BOTH cars are turned off you can then follow the instructions below.

1 Connect the RED booster cable between the positive (+) terminals of both batteries.

2 Connect the BLACK booster cable from the negative (-) terminal of the donor battery to a good earth point, an engine mounting or other unpainted surface on the discharged car, keeping it at least 0.5 m from the battery and well away from fuel and brake lines.

3 Check the cables are clear of moving parts of both engines, then start the donor car allowing it to idle for a few minutes (5) maybe.

4 Now start the engine of the discharged battery car ( DO NOT crank the engine for more than 15 seconds.

5 Once both engines are running normally, allow them to idle for two minutes before switching off the engine of the donor car and disconnecting the booster cables. DO NOT switch on any electrical on the previously disabled car, until the booster cables have been removed.

6 Disconnecting the booster cables must be the exact reversal of the procedure used to connect them, ie disconnect the BLACK cable from the earth point on the disabled car FIRST.


That is the official emergency staring procedure in the owners book.

PS Andy beat me to it, he must type faster than me

[macafee2]

please do not take the guides here on how to jump start as correct for all cars.
If memory serves me right, older cars, some if not all were positive earth, not sure what year it switched to negative earth

macafee2

[Mike Noc]

Originally Posted by AndyN01

So.....

The last connection made is TO THE EARTHING POINT which is NOT what is says in No.8

Yes, I'm being pedantic (and it probably doesn't really matter) but it's a "How to" from a well established motoring organisation. I'd expect it to be absolutely spot on and completely "idiot proof" particularly as it's published on the internet.

Andy.


PS I have emailed them. I'll be interested in their reply

It does matter Andy, but only as a safety measure.

Better to connect the positive first and the negative second, because if you drop one of the cables onto the car, or touch them against any conducting chassis or engine part nothing happens.

Connect the negative first, and then make a mistake with the positive and sparks will quite literally fly.

Exactly the same when disconnecting - safer to start with the negative cable.

Originally Posted by macafee2

please do not take the guides here on how to jump start as correct for all cars.
If memory serves me right, older cars, some if not all were positive earth, not sure what year it switched to negative earth

macafee2

And, strange as it may sound Ian, I have worked on a vehicle that was both.

You would definitely have to connect directly to the battery terminals to jump start it.





.

[MSS]

Here's a good video from Bosch on jump stating a car.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnijnVX-L2c

[bendrick]

Doesn't this rule out the use of the compact starter packs as recently discussed on here because they all seem to have very short leads that would only reach the battery terminals?

The only bare metal connection anyhere remotely near the battery that I can see on my CDT is the smallish top nuts on the suspension strut which I do not know if they even connect to the bare metal of the chassis anyway.


I have used the much larger starter packs on my car and connected to the spots that Steve Arctic has identified but the larger powerpacks have much longer leads which reach over the other side of the engine.

[tourer]

Originally Posted by bendrick

Doesn't this rule out the use of the compact starter packs as recently discussed on here because they all seem to have very short leads that would only reach the battery terminals?

The only bare metal connection anyhere remotely near the battery that I can see on my CDT is the smallish top nuts on the suspension strut which I do not know if they even connect to the bare metal of the chassis anyway.


I have used the much larger starter packs on my car and connected to the spots that Steve Arctic has identified but the larger powerpacks have much longer leads which reach over the other side of the engine.

I read the spec of one that said words to the effect of "spark free connection".
I assume you don't switch it on until the connection is made.

[BigRuss]

I've really lost count of the many instrument packs I've had to sort out after people have "jump started" their cars the usual one is the 999999 issue due to a voltage spike.

Then the instrument pack needs stripping, eeprom reprogrammed, reassembled and then configured correctly on T4.

My advice take it or leave it, is unless it's really absolutely necessary is to avoid using a battery or booster to start a car take the battery off and charge it

Often it doesn't take too long to get enough charge in it for it to start a car.



Russ

[bendrick]

Originally Posted by BigRuss

I've really lost count of the many instrument packs I've had to sort out after people have "jump started" their cars the usual one is the 999999 issue due to a voltage spike.

Then the instrument pack needs stripping, eeprom reprogrammed, reassembled and then configured correctly on T4.

My advice take it or leave it, is unless it's really absolutely necessary is to avoid using a battery or booster to start a car take the battery off and charge it

Often it doesn't take too long to get enough charge in it for it to start a car.



Russ

I appreciate the advice which will certainly help in certain home breakdowns however it doesn't help if you're stuck miles from home. Either yourself or a breakdown company are going to have to jump start it somehow which presumably is why people wish to carry a starter pack in case they get stranded at some point.

I have seen some of the packs claim to have anti spike technology ( I think NOCO claims that it has anti spike protection and anti spark technology on the clamps)

[BigRuss]

The last couple I had were caused by AA/RAC

Russ

[tourer]

Originally Posted by BigRuss

I've really lost count of the many instrument packs I've had to sort out after people have "jump started" their cars the usual one is the 999999 issue due to a voltage spike.

Then the instrument pack needs stripping, eeprom reprogrammed, reassembled and then configured correctly on T4.

My advice take it or leave it, is unless it's really absolutely necessary is to avoid using a battery or booster to start a car take the battery off and charge it

Often it doesn't take too long to get enough charge in it for it to start a car.



Russ

Hi Russ.
Really value your input and opinion.
Is there ever a danger of damage caused by a spike when you reconnect the freshly charged battery that has just been removed for charging purposes?
I usually seem to get a bit of flashing when connecting the earth lead after first connecting the pos lead.