Starting a car with a car battery charger...

[greektony]

Hi all, i know this should be going in the automotive section, but i need a response as soon as possible, and this seems the livelier forum!

Basically i left my lights on over night, so i now have a dead battery. There is no other car to jump start mine with though I have found a Halfords battery charger at home and i have connected it up to my car. Basically my question is, when i try and start my car can i leave the charger plugged in to the mains and connected to the car battery, as when i disconnect it it resets my alarm system and that seems to drain any charge that i have managed to build in the car battery.

A quick reply is helpful if anyone knows, as i need to get to work!!!!

[Howard]

If you've had the charger plugged in, it should have been enough to give the battery some juice to start the engine, the alternator will charge it as you drive

[Butcher]

You could try bump starting it if you can find someone to push it a bit.

Alternatively, call the AA.

[SilentDeath]

If theres not enough charge for the alarm there wont be nearly enough for the altenator to turn.

I think if you leave it connected it *will* damage the charger, unless its designed for it.

[Moby-Dick]

I'd advise against trying to start a car with a charge ( finding a flat battery on my Nissan this morning I had a silmilar conundrum , as I'de lent my jump leads out so only had the charger. Solution , remove the battery and leave it charging at home. They are usually only trickle chargers , not full on boosters so take a good few hours to charge up.

[Howard]

Yeah most chargers won't produce enough current

[greektony]

Problem solved. Left it connected for an hour, then disconnected it when the ignition was on so the dashboard lights came up (but not cranked all the way as if i was trying to start it). This meant that the alarm system didnt go off draining all the juice from the battery. He started first time I am determined that my next car beeps at me if i leave the lights on when i switch off the ignition!!!! Its hard to tell in daylight if they are on!

[Butuz]

Glad you sorted it.

Battery chargers won't provide enough amps to start a car - at best you'll break the charger, at worst it will catch fire and burn your whole neighbourhood down

Butuz

[SilentDeath]

Problem solved. Left it connected for an hour, then disconnected it when the ignition was on so the dashboard lights came up (but not cranked all the way as if i was trying to start it). This meant that the alarm system didnt go off draining all the juice from the battery. He started first time I am determined that my next car beeps at me if i leave the lights on when i switch off the ignition!!!! Its hard to tell in daylight if they are on!

Dont use them in daylight?

Had the same issue on my car too, where it wouldnt bleep with drivers door open. Cleaning the switch one the door fixed it (and the interior light).

[Butcher]

Don't use lights in daylight? What if it's foggy or raining?

[Rave]

You need one of those expensive 'booster' packs to sctually start a car from a charger- the RAC have them, which they used to revive my mum's Clio Diesel after I'd left the sidelights on all day. The battery was so flat that it wouldn't even light the glowplugs- so even bumping it down a steep hill loads of times wouldn't get it to fire. The booster pack sorted it in about 2 minutes.

I think the battery in the Clio must be more or less shot, because leaving the lights on for 10 miutes the other day drained it to the extent that the car wouldn't even turn over. Luckily it still had enough juice to glow up the plugs, and the engine was warm, so it did bumpstart on the second attempt.

[awm]

For people's reference from my experience with chargers some have a "Start Assist" mode, like those described by Rave. DO NOT leave it on assist mode when only charging though unless you like battery acid on your floor. I know someone who did this and luckily tha battey did not explode, but it leaked and was ruined (well it never was tried again, and presumed ruined).

[listy]

we had a boosterbox thing for starting car got from maplins for 30quid was good buy till my brother nabbed it

think was 29.9 got free postage @ 30quid mark so stuck in few led's to make order over

[brinnbry055]

START YOUR CAR , ALL THE METHODS!!!!! OF A FLAT BATTERY



Hello, im writing these tips out of the goodness of my sweet heart.
HOW TO JUMP START (using somone elses battery from thier car connected to your car battery)
firsty make sure the wires are connected properly red to positive and black to negative on both batteries, carfull not to touch the wires together as they will spark like crazy and may shock you. then the person helping you should start thier car and rev the engine on thier car to about 2 or 3 thousand revs pm, then whilst they remain high revs you must start your car. if the other persons battery is not much good then you may have to keep trying every 30 seconds whilst high reving continues. theres a very good chance this will work and has never let me down although i must admit on one occasion it took me several attempts!. then carefully diconnect all cables BUT do not turn your engine off!!!. keep it running for as long as you can or drive it without stalling it to your disired location. IF THIS DIDNT WORK MOVE ON TO THE NEXT STEP.

HOW TO START CAR WITH BATTERY CHARGER. (connecting the battery with a car charger).
this will be the slowest method and probably make you inpatiant becouse its not an immediate sollution although you CAN be lucky.
firstly connect the charger to the battery and plug it in ,most of them buzz when theyre working but not all of them . make sure that all electrics are off including the door lights !. depending on the make of the charger and how good it is will determine the waiting time. believe me i am writing this from experience of owning the most f***ed up cars ever!. so do respect what i am saying! .NOW as an estimate on an avarage charger you will be waiting about 10 miniutes per two or three revs on the starter motor. not enough! unless your lucky 20 minutes of the battery charger charging it will probably give you about 7 revs witch may be enough! 30 minuites will give you about 10 revs this should do the trick unless your car is very stuborn and its a big engine over 2.0 litre, in this case i would give it about 40 minuites.remeMBER that everytime you try to start it you loose all the charge that you have gained abd if it doesnt start your back to the start im afraid!. and have to repeate the process ANOTHER TIP is when strying to start the engine only slightly depress the accelorater pedal .
and if you have to repeate these steps DO NOT use any throttle UNLESS the engine starts and remember dont stall it!!!. if this hasnt worked for you sadly you only have a last resort .read on

HOW TO BUMP START A CAR (this will drain you not your battery!, pushing the car to start)

ok, if your resorting to this i feel for you but dont worry your in good hands..
firstly i will just say if your car battery is completely flat this method can still work so long as your alternator works ok.
you dont need to know the technicalities of it all so dont get worried.
firstly if you have friends with you this really helps or if your not too shy to ask for help to push the car , that will help to and if your lucky enough to be parked on a hill or an open car park with no obstructions then this will help. sadly you have no hope if your parked in with a car infront and behind you unless you manage to get it out of the space and onto the road.
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS make sure that you have somwere to park the car if this fails ! as it often fails on first attempt and you wont be popular if you block the road!.
METHOD . get the car ignition on make sure you have switched the immobiliser off as you normaly would to start it. now straigten the steering wheel as this will make it easier to push, now if your being pushed keep your foot on the clutch and in first gear NOT SECOND unless you want to crash into somthing . now get them to push you as fast as they can , make sure handbrakes off , when your going faster than you can walk minimum 5mph you can try it but the faster your going the better the chances of starting are YOU MUST take your foot of the clutch fast and at the same time push on the accelarater peddle and give it plenty of throttle . if it worked you need to keep the throttle high and rev high but you also need to slow down so while keeping your foot on the peddle use your left foot to put the clutch down right peedle on the gas and finaly use YOUR ARM TO pull up the handbrake to stop you. in uetral and rev for about 30 seconds high 2 or 3 thousand revs and DO NOT LET IT IDLE untill your satisfied it will not stall.
ON YOUR OWN.
this is where the pain begins!!!!. if your lucky and on a hill ,let gravity pull you down and repaet the above steps but make sure you do it properly!!!! you will kick yourself if you dont becouse at the bottom of a hill comes another hill but this time , its game over!!!. so make sure you build up enough speed anything over 10 mph will do it if you can get it to 15 or 20mph its your lucky day.
but lets say your alone on a normal road level no one around!.
ok realease your handbrake make sure the steering wheel is dead straight put your ignition on and use immobilser if you have one. now DONT PUSH IT FROM BEHIND unless you have no other choice .
push from your door with it open one arm on the door handle the other arm on the car frame and also moving the steering wheel if needed. im not joking when i say YOU will need all the energy youve got !! and you will have the biggest smile on your face if you get it going. I NEVER give up . this happens to me all the time with all my 14 different cars and is possible with determination.
so while running with the car dont let it get too fast you cant hop in the car , id say about jogging speed , now when you get it act fast ! as you will loose speed the moment you get in so this is what you do, foot fully depressed clutch peddle ,put in first gear put throttle on while realeasing the clutch peddle fast . if it didnt work try again but MAKE SURE theres somwhere down the road to park if all fails. A BIG TIP YOU CAN DO IT IN REVERSE TOO BUT BE EXTRA CAREFULL NOT TO FALL BACKWARDS AND GET RUN OVER ,if theres a slight decline in the road you could try a 3 point turn while pushing it to get it pointing the other way instead. if ater 3 attempts you couldnt do it you will be out of breath and gagging for air, your legs will be like jelly unless your fit . so give yourself 5 miniutes to get ready for another go . when i say you have to try with all your might i mean YOU HAVE TO REALLY PUT YOUR HEART AND SOUL INTO IT AND IT WILL WORK.
.if your car gets going do not stall it and keep revs high for 30 seconds at least. NOW

IMPORTANT ........ YOUR CAR MAY NOT START AGAIN IF YOU TURN IT OFF GO TO WORK OR SHOPS ETC, SO PLAN YOU NEXT BUMP START!!!!!!!. PARK ON THE BIGGEST HILL POINING DOWN IT AND TRY NOT TO GET PARKED IN AROUND THE AREA YOU NEED TO GO. IF THERES A LOOSE ROAD SIGN OR TRAFFIC CONE TO PUT INFRONT OF YOU THEN GIVE YOURSELF AT LEAST HALF A CARS LENGTH. THEN YOU WILL START IT FINE .

ALSO IMPORTANT....... IF YOU TAKE ANY OF MY ADVICE ITS UPTO YOU , IM NOT TELLING YOU TO DO ANY OF WHAT I HAVE SAID BUT I AM TELLING YOU HOW I DO IT AND IM NOT EXPECTING YOU TO DO THE SAME AS SOME OF IT COULD BE DANGEROUS ALTHOUGH I HAVE NEVER HURT MYSELF DOING ANY OF THESE THINGS. DONT BLAME ME IF IT DOESNT WORK BLAME THE BATTERY!!!!!

NOW YOUR NOT GOING TO WANT TO DO THIS ALL YOUR LIFE SO WHEN YOU HAVE SOME MONEY BUY A NEW BATTERY, BETWEEN £30 AND £70 THE MORE EXPENSIVE THE BETTER NORMALLY , DEPENDS HOW LONG YOU WANT THE CAR FOR. IF YOUR BROKE GET A CHEAP BATTERY CHARGER £20 ABOUT AND CHARGE THE BATTER OVER NIGHT EVERY 2 OR 3 DAYS IF YOU ARE EVEN MORE BROKE GET A CHEAP BATTER FROM A BREAKER YARD £10 OR £12 AND IF YOU HAVE NO MONEY ,
BORROW A BATTERY CHARGER AND CHARGE AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE AVOID NIGHT DRIVING AND ELECTRICAL THINGS OFF IN YOUR CAR. AND IF YOU HAVE NO ONE TO BORROW OFF, PARK YOUR CAR ON A HILL EVERY TIME YOU NEED TO START IT. AND DO NOT STALL IT , WHEN YOU NEED PERTROL USE A PETROL CAN WILE YOU LEAVE THE ENGINE ON AT THE PETROL STATION AND LOCK THE CAR IF YOU CAN IF NOT THE RISK IS UPTO YOU BUT THE WONT GET FAR.

HOPE ALL THIS HELPED , I WROTE THIS OUT OF ANGER OF CONSTANTLY BEING BROKE AND HAVING TO PUT UP WITH SH** CARS ALL THE TIME.
BRINN.

ONE LAST THING , IT DOESNT DAMAGE A BATTERY CHARGER TO KEEP IT CHARGING THE BATTERY WHILST STARTING THE CAR SO KEEP IT CONNECTED UNTILL IT STARTS .

[wombar]

Great post Brinn, I've been there before trying to bump start a car late at night after he left his side lights on. Trouble is, my drive is gravel and on a slight incline uphill, which means you need 3 people minimum to even move my golf.

[Blitzen]

When i had a gaffed battery on a banger i used to have i always used to BUMP START in 2nd Gear and worked a treat.
Why should that be done now?