In this article, we will discuss how to charge a car battery easily?. Charging a dead car battery may seem a very difficult task but it’s not. With a little know how you can easily do this easily and safely.
Frequent short journeys, with constant stopping and starting, force your battery to work very hard, especially during winter season. As during this season heater, headlights, wipers, and heated windows are used most of the time. All these actions require more current from the battery than the alternator can store back. The battery is left with less power which is not sufficient to crank the motor. Thus, you need to charge a car battery.
A problem of dead battery can be resolved easily if you have a battery charger. It is relatively inexpensive, you can easily buy it from an automobile store or you can order it online.
Below we have listed steps to help you charge a car battery easily and safely. Follow the instructions carefully to get best result.
Steps to Charge a Car Battery
1.) Things to Know Before You Charge a Car Battery
Before you start to get into how to charge a car battery, you should know how to prepare to charge the battery. It is very easy to get a shock from the battery if it has some juice left in it. If you need to remove the battery from your car to charge it, make sure you have the right tools for the job. Some batteries may be easily accessible; however, removing some batteries can be tough, depending on the make and model of your vehicle.
2.) Jump a Car Battery
Steps to Follow:
- Now, to charge a car battery, make sure all the accessories are off and the lights, including the interior light, are not on. This is important as if any light is on, it could cause the battery to arc while you are working on it.
- Once you locate the battery, detach the negative or ground cable first. You can locate it with the black cable (unless it is not replaced with the wrong colors). If you see on the top of the battery, you will find the ground cable having a negative (-) sign and the power or positive cable having a plus (+) sign.
- Now clean the battery terminals using a terminal cleaning brush and a combination of baking soda and water. This will help neutralize the battery acid. In case the battery terminals have a lot of accumulated acid, make sure you wear eye protection and a mask so that the airborne corrosion doesn’t enter your eyes, nose or mouth. And, avoid touching your face until you’ve washed your hands.
- In case the battery has removable caps, take the caps off carefully and check the level of the water in it. In case any of the cells looks low, simply add distilled water (only). Make sure that you don’t overfill the battery. However, most of the batteries today are “maintenance-free” so you will not be able to open them.
3.) Hooking the Battery Charger to Charge a Car Battery
Steps to Follow:
- Be sure the charger is off.
- Now, hook up the positive cable of the charger to the positive terminal of the battery.
- Next, hook up the negative cable of the charger to the negative terminal of the battery.
- Then, set the charger to the slowest charge setting.
- Switch on the charger and set a timer.
- Remember! When you remove the charger, switch it off first. Then, remove the positive joint first and then the negative cable.
4.) Duration to Charge a Car Battery
Steps to Follow:
- In case the battery voltage is lower than 11.85 and your charger is putting out a 5-amp of charge rate, it will take around twelve 12 hours to fully charge a car battery.
- However, the same battery will take around 6 hours to get fully charged if the charge rate is 10 amp.
NOTE: If there is a bad cell, the battery will not hold a charge. In such case, you will need to change your car’s battery.
