I am crazy freaked out about jump starting a car. I’m always so worried about black and red, negative and positive, black touching red …. ahhhhhh. I just have heart palpitations through the whole process as I read the little instructions over and over just to make sure I have it all in the right order. Positive of dead car, positive of live car, negative of live car, negative of dead car …. Close eyes and start dead car. I used to run DC piggy back cables in my previous life and here I am scared of a little car battery!
It wasn’t even my car battery that was dead- I ran over to jump start someone else’s car. Even though I have a panic attack when jumping a car, it should have been a breeze, but then I remembered that my German-made bucket has the battery in the trunk. No worries, my husband had assured me there were positive and negative connections under the hood. He was right, but it took me 10 minutes and 2 manuals to prove him right.
So here is the lesson of the day:
1. Always have jumper cables in your trunk because sometimes a two-year old car battery will die without warning.
2. The order, according to the paperwork is: Red (positive of dead car), Red (positive of live car), black (negative of live car), black (negative of dead car). Start dead car.
3. Sometimes your husband is right when it comes to cars. (But I will deny this statement up and down if anyone asks).
4. Who thought putting a battery in the trunk was a good idea? I think it’s weird personally. O ya, that’s right. I called it weird.