Does jumping a car hurt the battery?

[adk]

Does jumping someone else's car (ie being the electricity donor) hurt your car's electrical system at all? To be specific, does jumping somebody else's car with my 06 LX hurt my car?

[IceWindius]

Originally Posted by adk

Does jumping someone else's car (ie being the electricity donor) hurt your car's electrical system at all? To be specific, does jumping somebody else's car with my 06 LX hurt my car?

If done properly, no.

If done incorrectly, absofarkinlutely.

[oj88]

I don't think so. Unless there's something horribly wrong with the electrical system of the car receiving the jump, there shouldn't be a problem. Just remember to keep the donor car's engine running at high idle when cranking up the receiving car.

Probably the only thing that might hurt your car is when the receiving car has a big engine. Our tiny batteries might not be able to supply the necessary cranking amps and your car's alternator will attempt to fill up the deficiency causing an overload.

Sorry if it sounds too Star Trekky... but I do keep a spare Energon cube in the trunk for such an occasion. j/k

[K20z3 Civic Si [PHONG]]

Its fine for you but its bad for them. IIRC, one of my instructors at school (UTI) said jumping a battery should be your last resort because it sends high voltage to the computers and it will fry up stuff.

[mO 64 StAnG 06]

Originally Posted by K20z3 Civic Si [PHONG]

Its fine for you but its bad for them. IIRC, one of my instructors at school (UTI) said jumping a battery should be your last resort because it sends high voltage to the computers and it will fry up stuff.

Wait, I don't get it.

Im not intelligent whatsoever on electrical work, but how could jumping a battery with another battery that both produce the exact same amount of volts destroy the other car due to voltage spike?

[holtzy08si]

depends on how high you jump it acouple feet would be ok but any higher than that and you would probably do some dammage. JK ; )

look in your owners manual. theres a section in there on how to properly do a jump start.

[oj88]

Originally Posted by K20z3 Civic Si [PHONG]

Its fine for you but its bad for them. IIRC, one of my instructors at school (UTI) said jumping a battery should be your last resort because it sends high voltage to the computers and it will fry up stuff.

Urban legend, IMHO.

Your instructor may have had that thought when he saw some arcing as the jumper cables were being connected. This happens because the receiving car obviously have a dead battery and connecting the cables caused a significant amount of current to flow from the donor car to the other, charging the weaker battery. This is normal and is usually safe as long as their are no electrical problems or shorted battery plates in the receiver's car.

You can't fry the ECU by using booster cables if done correctly. The batteries on both cars acts like a giant capacitor, absorbing most of the surges (if there were any to begin with).

[06civictx]

well i had a jump about 4-5 months ago and my car is still running good

[K20z3 Civic Si [PHONG]]

Originally Posted by oj88

You can't fry the ECU by using booster cables if done correctly.

Im not talking about the ecu it self. I mean the smaller computers and circuits. I dont really remember what the instructor said. This was like 4 months ago. Haha

[Tracer]

Originally Posted by adk

Does jumping someone else's car (ie being the electricity donor) hurt your car's electrical system at all? To be specific, does jumping somebody else's car with my 06 LX hurt my car?

In a word, no. But it helps when you bring your engine rpm's up to around 3000 or so as your alternator will be producing more current for the starter in the car you are boosting and causing less of a drain on your system. Even better if you leave it like that for a few minutes before the car needing a boost cranks over its engine.

[EXcoupe]

Originally Posted by Tracer

In a word, no. But it helps when you bring your engine rpm's up to around 3000 or so as your alternator will be producing more current for the starter in the car you are boosting and causing less of a drain on your system. Even better if you leave it like that for a few minutes before the car needing a boost cranks over its engine.

This is correct, run the RPM's up some to help put some charge back into the dead battery before trying to start the car. The risk is to the alternator in the boosting (donor) car. The amp draw of starter on the dead car can fry the alternator on the boosting car, especially is the live car is small and the dead car is larger (ie...Civic trying to boost a Crown Vic). The safest method is charge-up the dead battery for a few minutes, then to turn-off the boosting car before actually trying to start the dead car.

[asndragonboii]

Originally Posted by K20z3 Civic Si [PHONG]

Its fine for you but its bad for them. IIRC, one of my instructors at school (UTI) said jumping a battery should be your last resort because it sends high voltage to the computers and it will fry up stuff.

LOL. Figures. UTI instructors arent exactly the most qualified people to teach automotive stuff

Long time ago (decades), the "frying computers" was true. Jumping wasnt recommonded by any manufacturer. Now, it's in the manual to tell people how to do it.

[hdnvalley]

Just make sure you hook positive to positive and negative to negative. Touch the wrong terminals for an instant and you can "FRY" the entire electrical/electronic system.

[gregk]

Originally Posted by hdnvalley

Just make sure you hook positive to positive and negative to negative. Touch the wrong terminals for an instant and you can "FRY" the entire electrical/electronic system.

i did that in high school and cooked my friends car's alternator (it didn't die right away). I didn't realize it until much later and felt really bad about it. i think i even offered to pay for it.

i always hate jumping people/getting jumped. i try to use one of those handheld jumper batteries whenever i can instead.

[ArmyofOne]

fine for me... Optima Redtop baby, 1000CA/800CCA here i go...!

Originally Posted by hdnvalley

Just make sure you hook positive to positive and negative to negative. Touch the wrong terminals for an instant and you can "FRY" the entire electrical/electronic system.

and no, it will blow your main fuse first...trust me, my buddy did it on his car, $6.99 and a trip to autozone later, he was back on the road.

[gregk]

i think that i remember reading somewhere that recent cars are more resistant to major damage from improper jumping than old ones.

[duerrs]

Originally Posted by K20z3 Civic Si [PHONG]

I dont really remember what the instructor said. This was like 4 months ago. Haha

i'm glad to see you were paying attention......lol, i'm only kidding man

[volvo9]

Originally Posted by oj88

Urban legend, IMHO.

Your instructor may have had that thought when he saw some arcing as the jumper cables were being connected. This happens because the receiving car obviously have a dead battery and connecting the cables caused a significant amount of current to flow from the donor car to the other, charging the weaker battery. This is normal and is usually safe as long as their are no electrical problems or shorted battery plates in the receiver's car.

Yeah, I've jumped hundreds of cars working at dealers and have never had anything break because of it.

[NASAMike]

Yes. It could blow up... Just trying to get my replys up so I can post in the for sale area

[wrecked]

^^ lol

but anyway, another thing about UTI, a 20 something year old guy that graduated from there, started working at the dealer that i work at asked me a few months back how to put coolant in a car... HOW do you graduate from a technical school and not know that??