After seeing someone, somehow, boost start their car today without damaging their car, the other car, or anyone around, I have a couple questions about the best method to boost start a car.
First there is all the preliminary stuff: positioning cars, make sure they don't touch, making sure batteries are in good condition, right voltage, etc. That I'm fine with. My first question is regards to the order of connecting wires.
The most recommended order I see is:
1) bad (+) post 2) good (+) post 3) good (-) post 4) bad (-) on frame, away from battery.Since the idea of the last cable on the frame is to prevent sparks which could potentially ignite hydrogen gas from the dead battery, would it make more sense for the last connection to be on the car with the good battery? eg:
1) good (+) post 2) bad (+) post 3) bad (-) post 4) good (-) on frame, away from battery.The next thing is the order of starting cars. Commonly it is recommended to start the car with the good battery, wait a couple minutes, then start the car with the bad battery. Wouldn't this overstress the charging system in the good car? When the bad car is cranking it would put such a drain on the electrical system that I would worry about it overworking the alternator (it dimmed the daytime running lights of the helper car I saw today), plus when it does start, the voltage would suddenly change, possibly messing up the charging system some more. Plus the surge may damage the electronics in either car.
Wouldn't it be better to just start the car with the dead battery without starting the good car? So then you are just "borrowing" the battery to start. Depending on the situation, maybe starting the good car first for a few minutes, shutting it off, then trying the bad car. I know that this may mean less voltage to the starter in the "bad" car, but I would be more concerned about not damaging either car.