[merigayle]

I really have no idea and thought I would ask it here. Someone who came to my office a few weeks ago needed a jump and I declined. He got VERY angry with me and then asked the 38week pregnant woman in my waiting room who also declined.

So, can an Insight give another car a jump?

(For the record, i have never given another car a jump in my previous vehicles)

 

[HafNHaf]

sure, but you run the same risk as any modern car of messing up your electronics if you dont do it right. if you dont absolutly know what you are doing... dont do it. and dont trust the other person to know either.

 

[Guillermo]

If some needs a jump because their battery drained or is weak, I would prefer not use the Insight. But I would consider disconnecting 12V battery and then use it to give someone a boost without risking the Insight's electronics.

 

[Aaron Cake]

Just like any car, the Insight can jump another. I've done it too many times to remember. HOWEVER, you MUST insist on connecting the cables yourself. I had someone in a truck just start jumpering things as soon as I popped my hood and had to forcefully stop him when he was about to connect his positive to my negative...

 

[Frisch41]

I carry a small battery in the back of my insight. It's easy to use. you don't have to worry about messing up your car. I've used it a couple of times for myself. Had a broken door switch and left the lights on and found out that every thing was dead. Talk about a wake up call. It's like car ins, it's better to have and not need it, then it is to need it and not have it. my 2 cents.

 

[originalbadbob]

Just tell them it's 144 volts and it'll kill his electrical system :shock: , or if you have a dinky Odyssey battery like I do, tell them it's not strong enough to jump start a moped.
robert

 

[Resist]

Carry a portable battery jump unit and use that instead of your car.

 

[Armin]

I second Aaron. There is absolutely no reason why an Insight should be less
suitable for jump-starting than any other car. In fact, it has some benefits:

The DC/DC converter provides 70A no matter what the engine rpms are. Even in idle-stop! With any other "donor" car, you need to rev up the engine while the "receiving" car starts.

I have jump-started other cars on occasion and never had a problem. As others pointed out, do it right. (duh!) But the rules are the same as with ordinary cars.

My favorite one is to wait a few minutes after connecting the jumper cables, to allow the receiving battery to take some charge, before attempting to turn over the receiving engine. That will significantly lower the peak current supplied by the donor.

 

[b1shmu63]

Excellent rules for Jumping.

Bear in mind that under some conditions, especially after sitting discharged in cold weather, the discharged battery may be incapable of recieving a charge or could explode due to hydrogen gas generation. I've seen the results of the latter.

 

[kapps]

I agree with the other posts. Remember to connect the positive first, then the negative; and remove the negative first then positive. With the Insight on, let it sit for a few minutes to let the DC-DC converter do it's thing. This will bring a good charge to the dead battery. Jumper cables are not capable of starting a car solely from the doner battery so if it's really dead, it might not start at all (or you will have to keep the cables connected for a while to give the dead battery enough charge to help start the car).

 

[merigayle]

Thanks for the replies.

I still think I may just lie in the future and say no. I did offer to call AAA for the man, but he got snarky and huffed off. :?:

 

[ext1jdh]

I've jumped my fiancee's Jeep Wrangler on more than one occasion. I left the Insight running for a few minutes before and revved while she started the beast. I have noticed no electical or electronic problems in the life of the vehicle (60,000 miles), though one jump triggered a recal.

 

[mb1285]

How to safely jump start another car

Here's what I figured out - these links go to two pdfs in my Google Docs space:

battery - how to jump start - SHORT VERSION.pdf
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...NmM2Mi00NmUwLTkzZTQtNWM4NDBhY2VhNDc3&hl=en_US

battery - how to jump start.pdf
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...NzIwOC00NmVlLWI3ODMtYmNiZTE0MjA5NGQx&hl=en_US

I keep a printed out copy of the Short Version in my car, so I can help someone out and not damage the electronics.

 

[Eli]

If you're damaging electronics by connecting two cars in parallel, you probably shouldn't be opening the hood in the first place.

 

[JackkcaJ]

Thanks for the replies.

I still think I may just lie in the future and say no. I did offer to call AAA for the man, but he got snarky and huffed off. :?:

Can't imagine why? No one would help the guy out beyond making a phone call that he could make himself and would have if he had AAA, which he didn't which is the whole reason he was asking you people for help to begin with. But just be honest next time, don't lie. Tell him you're too important to be bothered with problems of the mere common man. Lol.

 

[atikovi]

You joined the forum just to reply to a 15 year old post?

 

[Insight for life]

Maybe JackkcaJ is that man who needed the jump all those years ago! After hiring a private investigator and coming up with hundreds of dead ends and dicey situations, spending thousands of hours, he finally found the perpetrator and came here to share his side of the story and seek vengeance... 15 years later.