Bootstrapping With Jumper Cables and Other Cold-Weather Battery Lore

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This chart compares the percentage of 80 degrees Fahrenheit capacity with the temperature outside in degrees Fahrenheit. As we can see the colder it is outside the lower the percnetage of capacity and vice versa.
This chart compares the percentage of 80 degrees Fahrenheit capacity with the temperature outside in degrees Fahrenheit. As we can see the colder it is outside the lower the percnetage of capacity and vice versa.
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This chart shows the voltage of discharge over a certain amount of minutes.
This chart shows the voltage of discharge over a certain amount of minutes.
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In this illustration, we see someone helping another person jump their vehicle with jumper cables using the bootstrap method.
In this illustration, we see someone helping another person jump their vehicle with jumper cables using the bootstrap method.

The temperature was about 40 degrees below zero, and my car wouldn’t start. I cast a hopeful glance at a farmer getting into an old pickup parked next to me… he might well be, I thought, the sort of guy who would carry jumper cables.

But his vehicle also failed to start. The engine groaned for a few minutes, and then he simply quit trying. I watched as he climbed out, booster cables in hand, and I cranked down my window when he lifted the hood of his truck.

“If you get someone to boost you,” I asked, “can you start me, too?”

“Sure can,” he said, “but I won’t need a boost.”

He proceeded to clip one end of each cable to the appropriate battery terminal and then backed away from the truck, holding the free ends, one in each hand. For about ten seconds, he touched the clamps together. Then he jerked them apart… pulled the cables off the battery… hopped back into his truck… and pressed the starter button. The engine turned and caught easily.

  • Published on Nov 1, 1983
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