What happens if you switch the jumper cables

Typically, when a person jumpstarts a car, sparks can occur. This is so you can avoid sparks from occurring near the battery where flammable hydrogen gas may be present, resulting in a possible explosion.

Schedule battery maintenance today. Jumping for jumper cables every time you start your car? If your battery is always dying, check for these sneaky things that may be draining its juice. Blog Categories Blog Home. Tip 3: Professional Maintenance Failure is not an option. Tip 4: Keep It Cool Parking in cooler locations covered garages in hotter climates can help, but your best bet is to have your battery tested, at the very least, before summer.

Tip 6: Timely Up-Keep Always have a qualified professional maintain your electrical system and make sure to have quality replacement parts installed when existing electrical system parts fail.

Quick Tips: Jumping a Battery Tip 1: Never connect the black cable to the negative — terminal on your dead battery. Top Questions and Answers. How do I jumpstart a battery? But, the battery on our Hyundai Tucson died. No biggie, right? Just apply some jumper cables and crank it up, right?

That was precisely my thought. Sadly, that is when things started to go poorly. I say that because I got sloppy and did not pay attention. Apparently, this was the critical moment. I must not have been paying attention, and swapped the cables ends when I turned around. Then, I connected the leads to the battery on my Tucson in the wrong positions. I turned on the minivan. Once started use a meter to check the voltage at the battery.

It should be above If the voltage is dropping, you will need to replace the charging stator. Likewise, what happens if you connect negative first? If you connect the negative first , then the positive, if you happen to touch the wrench to something metal while it is touching the positive terminal, that's a short - because the chassis is already connected to the negative battery terminal. Connecting the negative jumper cables to both batteries, then connecting the positive jumper cables to both batteries, could cause a spark and then an explosion.

Jump -starting a stalled vehicle can be done safely if the correct procedures are followed. Otherwise, bad things can happen. Most lawn tractors possess one of two types of charging systems to help keep the battery up and running. One type of charging system is the belt-driven alternator, typically mounted on the engine.

As the belt turns the alternator, the alternator continually generates power to recharge the battery. Asked by: Liu Ochsenreither asked in category: General Last Updated: 14th February, What happens if you hook jumper cables up backwards?

When the jumper cables are incorrectly connected, the polarity of the electrical system on the vehicle with the dead battery will be reversed for a few seconds. This can irreparably damage many of the sensitive electronic components that are common on today's vehicles, such as on-board computers and electronic sensors.

Why don't you connect the negative when jumping a car? Caution: Don't attach the negative cable to the negative terminal of the weak battery when jumping a car battery! This common mistake could ignite hydrogen gas directly over the battery.

If your still not sure why your battery is dead, try reading this article. How to Solve any Problems Created. Tips When Jump Starting your Car. Jump Starting the Wrong Way: The Consequences Each car is a little different, but each has fuses that help protect the car. Damage to Components In the short video above, damage occurred to the fuse. Damage to Battery If a battery was connected momentarily the wrong way during a jump start, their will likely be a small amount of damage.

Damage to Jumper Cables Like the previous situation, incorrect contact with a jumper cable between two battery for a time will heat up your jumper cables. Damage to Alternator Sometimes a car has some components that might be on during a jump start. Steps to Take. Connect the - negative cable clamp to the donor battery - negative terminal. Connect the - negative cable clamp to the dead battery - negative terminal. OR to be extra safe Connect the - negative cable clamp to a ground on your car away from the battery.

If any gas from the battery is leaking, and a small spark occurs, an explosion could occur. Let the dead battery charge for minutes.

It depends on how drained it is. If it works keep it on and drive it for about 30 minutes to help recharge. If it doesn't work. You could try charging it a bit longer and try checking for good connections, as this may be why the battery is not charging. Another thing to try is using a different ground point. Disconnect the - negative cable clamp from the dead battery - negative terminal OR ground on your car.

You can place them on the ground making sure they don't touch. Disconnect the - negative cable clamp from the donor battery - negative terminal. Avoid charging vehicles or machinery that have larger batteries than you or that require more power. Regular cars and trucks should be fine most of the time.

Make sure the cables do not come in contact with any metal surfaces, with each other, or with your skin as you attach them and detach them.