Dumb question
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 356
Likes: 71
From: Central Ontario, Canada
Since I'm apparently stupid, why connect to the live battery first?
Maybe since I'm usually alone when I'm jumping a battery, I always connect the dead battery first, then ground then hot.
Never had an issue yet, but I generally don't need to jump start newer vehicles.
Maybe since I'm usually alone when I'm jumping a battery, I always connect the dead battery first, then ground then hot.
Never had an issue yet, but I generally don't need to jump start newer vehicles.
Ford Truck Lover
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,526
Likes: 754
From: Michigan
Yeah, also, this technique means you aren't leaving two hot ends to loosely bounce around and spark. I do it this way too never had a problem.
It's my first day
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,656
Likes: 1,740
From: Kamloops, BC
Originally Posted by Havyek
Since I'm apparently stupid, why connect to the live battery first?
Maybe since I'm usually alone when I'm jumping a battery, I always connect the dead battery first, then ground then hot.
Never had an issue yet, but I generally don't need to jump start newer vehicles.
Maybe since I'm usually alone when I'm jumping a battery, I always connect the dead battery first, then ground then hot.
Never had an issue yet, but I generally don't need to jump start newer vehicles.
Your question is vague but if Im understanding it right its because conventional electrical theory teaches us that electrons flow from negative out to positive. When jumping a car you connect the positive leads first and the negative from the good battery of the good car to chassis of the vehicle with the bad battery to prevent the bad battery from exploding and getting acid all over your face in the unlikely event that your battery is dead due to failure of its physical internal structure.
Is that what you were asking?
Feel free to look up modern conventional current and electron flow theories on google.
Last edited by Airborne_Ape; Oct 18, 2017 at 06:28 PM.
I happened on to some fellas trying to help a lady with a dead battery. It was in a parking lot and they couldn't get very close to her car. Her battery was hidden so they hooked the positive cable to the red post that some vehicles have for jumping purposes. They couldn't figure out where to connect the negative cable and had connected it to the metal drainage grate on the ground. He said it was metal and couldn't understand why they couldn't get the car to start. I showed them how to properly jump start a car and refrained from saying anything. Hard to believe, but true.
I, too, agree with the spark igniting issue but many times when I have happened on people not having any luck by hooking battery to battery, I move negative clamp to a ground and vehicle starts right up. It would seem that if they got past hooking to the battery without an explosion, it should have started.
I have seen 2 batteries explode from sparks, but not while jumping.
I, too, agree with the spark igniting issue but many times when I have happened on people not having any luck by hooking battery to battery, I move negative clamp to a ground and vehicle starts right up. It would seem that if they got past hooking to the battery without an explosion, it should have started.
I have seen 2 batteries explode from sparks, but not while jumping.