Dead batteries happen to almost everyone. Some people might need to jumpstart their car so that it can start. Let us talk about recharging your car battery after a jump start.
So how long do you have to recharge your car battery after jump start? The amount of time recharging your car battery a jump start will depend on the type of battery charger. The amount of time will vary with every car battery.
Dead batteries are not inevitable. Dead batteries happen to almost anyone anywhere. You may have accidentally left your headlights on overnight or maybe for a couple of hours.
This will drain your battery. The other cause can be a car battery that has not been well maintained. This can also be because you have not driven your car for a long time.
Letting your car sit for an extended period can cause your battery’s power to drain. With that, you need to know what to do when your car battery dies. One option that you can do is to do a jump start.
You must be knowledgeable about jumpstarting a car. Jumpstarting a car is not just about jumpstarting a car; there are other things that you should know. So let us get started.
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How Long Does It Take to Charge a Car Battery After a Jump?
If you charge your car battery after a jump start, it will take some time. This is most especially if your car is much drained. The amount of time it would take to charge would depend on the type of battery charger.
If you have a high-power boost charger, this will charge faster than other car battery chargers. This battery charger can charge from four to twelve hours. Of course, this is not the same for every car battery charger.
Some battery chargers will take much longer hours than this. We also need to consider the condition of the battery.
If the battery’s condition is good, the amount of time to charge will also be faster than any other charge. It would help if you also remembered that it is not needed to charge the battery fully.
How Long Should I Drive My Car After a Jump Start?
If your car started after you did a jumpstart, you would have to let it run for a few minutes to charge the car battery further. You have to drive your car for about thirty minutes. When driving for thirty minutes, you also need to stop again.
This way, the car battery will continue charging. If you do not do this, your car battery will run out again, and you might have to do another jumpstart. Some people would say that you only drive your car long enough to get home or long enough until you get to an auto shop.
The best thing here is to know what the cause is. You must know what the reason is why you must do a jump start.
If the reason why the car battery needs a jump start is that you have left your headlights on overnight or for more than a couple of hours, you need to recharge your battery, and it will be okay. There are some worse cases where you will need to replace your car battery with a new one.
Do You Need a New Battery After a Jump Start?
After jumpstarting your car, some people ask if they should remove the old battery and replace it with a new one. So to answer the question, the answer is “not necessarily.” It is not required to have your battery replaced with a new one.
You need to figure out why it went flat. The reason might not require you to change your battery with a new one. After you jumpstart your car to have it running, you must figure out why the battery went out.
If you do not find the reason and you carry on driving the car, the car battery light went off again, and you have to do the jump start again. This is not practical because it will cause a hassle for you. It will require you some time and energy.
So after jump-starting the car, it is essential to figure out what the problem is. This will also be the basis if you have to change your car battery.
How Do You Charge a Car Battery After Jumping It?
After you jumpstart your car, you need to charge your battery. There are two ways you can recharge your car battery after a jump start. The first is through using the car’s alternator.
Some people would go and use the car’s alternator to recharge the car’s battery. However, the car’s alternator can only supply just enough power to keep your car’s battery at a full charge.
The car’s alternator can also power the accessories in your car. When using a car’s alternator to charge your battery, it cannot fully charge your car’s battery even if you drive for a few hours.
Another thing is that the alternator might take the load of charging your car battery that has been drained. This pressure on your alternator to supply a large amount of power to your car’s battery might put a strain on your car’s alternator.
The second thing is that you can charge using a battery charger. This is the recommended way to charge your battery after having to jumpstart it.
The charging time for your car battery can vary for everyone. The time of charging will depend on the size of the battery.
Summary
In summary, dead batteries can be experienced by anyone. As a driver, you need to learn how to jumpstart so that you can start your car.
When jumpstarting a car, there are things that you should also learn. You need to learn how to jumpstart. You also need to learn about recharging your battery after jump start. This will help you in the future if ever you need to do a jump start.
Related:
- Car Won’t Jump Start No Clicking Noise
- Can You Jumpstart a Car With a Bad Starter?
- Can You Jumpstart a Car With a Bad Alternator?
- Can a Car Battery Be Too Dead to Jump Start?
Resources
Image credits – Canva
