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Car Need a Jump-Start? Call in Bear Grylls!

If Bear Grylls finds himself somewhere remote with a dead vehicle battery, he knows he’s not going to be able to call a 24-hour breakdown service for rescue. That’s why he always brings along a set of jumper cables in any vehicle he uses, and knows how to jump-start a vehicle from another one—including the correct order to attach the cables.

Image by Koonsiri Boonak/EyeEm

How to connect the jumper cables

Firstly, put both vehicles in neutral or park, and turn off the ignitions to both. Then attach one of the red jump lead clips to the positive terminal of the working battery—it will have a + sign or the letters ‘POS’ marked on it. Next, attach the other red clip to the positive terminal of the dead battery.

The next step is to attach a black clip to the negative terminal of the working battery—no surprise, it will have a – sign or the letters ‘NEG’ marked on it. Attach the other black clip to a “ground,” such as an exposed bolt-head or designated grounding point; look for a label with an earth symbol, or an exposed copper bolthead. Do not ground off anything near the fuel system, or a spark from the jump could cause a fire (or worse).

Image by Luka Jankovic

How to start the vehicle

Start the ignition of the vehicle with the good battery. Let it run for a few minutes. Then try to start the vehicle with the dead battery. If it starts, remove the cables in reverse order that you attached them.

Image by Kypros

“Don’t switch off your engine straight away,” says Bear. “Drive your vehicle around for at least 15 minutes to put some charge back in the battery.”

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  1. Eric Townsend

    A testimony to how ignorant the general car owner is when they don’t understand this and a “celebrity” articl3 needs to explain it.

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