Basics of jump-starting your car battery

Jump-starting a car needs some expertise or at least a basic knowledge about battery functioning. A successful jump-start involves afew easy steps. But these steps have to be followed in the correct order so that it doesn't damage the battery. Being the country's leading battery manufacturer, Exide can guide you on how to jump-start your vehicle, and can even do it wherever you are and whenever you need. All you need to do is make a call to their Exide Batmobile Doorstep Service at 1800 103 5454. Besides this essential jump-start car battery service, this Emergency Doorstep Service can also help you with any other battery related problems if you get stuck on the way. However, if you are confident enough to shoulder the task on your own, here are some pointers to keep in mind:

What to do while jump-starting your car

Knowing about car batteries is essential when you are about to jump-start it for a quick revival. A car battery has two nodes on top of it, known as terminals. While one of them is the positive terminal, usually marked as 'Pos.' or '+', the other one is the negative, marked as 'Neg.' or '-'. Both terminals complete the electric circuit and must be connected for the energy flow required to revive a discharged or dead battery.

Besides knowing about these, you would need jumper cables and a power source for the jump-start effect. Jumper cables are thick insulated cables that have dual clips on both ends (total 4) to connect with the battery terminals. The clips or the cables are usually colour-coded to indicate positive and negative polarity.

The power source can either be a battery in another vehicle or a jumpbox (a portable battery meant just for this purpose). The main purpose of such a source is to provide the extra electric charge required by the starter motor in your car for powering it. For a car in running condition, this is usually drawn from the battery; but once dead or discharged, the battery fails to provide the power required and thus necessitates the jump start service for car battery.

What not to do while jump-starting your car

All vehicles might not support jump-starting and hence you need to double-check on the car manual before you decide to revive the battery in this way. Otherwise, forceful jump-starting might damage the electrical circuit of a car.

Dry, frozen or corroded batteries must never be subjected to jump-starting. Also, you must never connect the positive and negative terminals of the jumper cable together. One needs to be careful to keep them separate when attempting a battery revival through a jump-start.