Many individuals rely on their car to travel to and from work, in addition to traveling to and from other life commitments or leisure activities. A flat car battery is, therefore, a troubling occurrence that can prevent you from fulfilling your daily routine, resulting in a great deal of worry to remedy.
Many individuals may immediately seek to contact a maintenance garage or even go out and purchase a new car battery straight away. However, there may be an easy solution to quickly and efficiently solve your flat car battery problem, saving you money before calling the experts or purchasing a new car battery.
It may be possible to charge your car battery, restoring the car battery’s juices and enabling your vehicle to start moving and maneuvering once again. Before attempting to charge your car battery, first, check your car battery and ensure that the terminals are clean and that the battery possesses sufficient distilled water. It is only once your car battery is fully prepared that you may be able to charge the battery using a car battery charger.
Jumping Your Car Battery
To jump-start, your car battery, first ensures that the car is completely turned off, including all accessories such as the interior light. This is a really important step to remember so that you can prevent any potential issues arising, such as causing the battery to the arc. Access the battery and successfully remove the black cable, which is the negative cable with the negative sign located at the top of the battery.
You will see that the positive cable is located where the positive sign is found at the top of the battery, also. After you have removed the negative cable, mix a solution of water and baking soda and apply to a terminal cleaning brush, and effectively clean the battery terminals. A great deal of acid build-up may be found here, so ensure that your eyes are protected with an eye mask and that your lungs are protected with a mask.
Furthermore, ensure that you wash your hands after handling the battery terminals. Next, locate the caps present on your battery and remove to assess the level of water available. Add distilled water if one of the water levels appears low, although you must ensure that you do not overfill with water. You are now ready to attempt to charge your car battery.
Charging Your Car Battery
Car batteries and chargers will possess different user instructions, so ensure to follow your car battery and charger manuals. However, in general, you should make sure that the charger is turned off and hook the positive cable located on the charger to the positive terminal found on the car battery.
Similarly, hook the negative cable found on the charger to the negative terminal located on the battery. Turn on the charger and set for the slowest possible charge rate, setting a timer to ensure effective charging.
If using 400 to 500 cold-cranking amps and a 5-amp charger charging rate, your car battery will take around 12 hours to charge fully with an 11.85 voltage or below. A higher charger charging rate of 10-amps will result in a 6-hour charge. Be vigilant and assess whether your car battery is successfully charging; it may be that your car battery is beyond repair and that you require a new car battery.
