Then I have been doing it wrong my whole life too.

I usually connect one car, then the other. Making sure that the leads not connected are not able to touch. and I usually put the negative on a ground like the engine, not the battery on the live car. I do let it run the 5 minutes at least...

 

Yes John I was taught this method in auto shop class in high school and have always practiced this ever since. Most car manuals indicate the same method, what have you been doing?

 

ive been hooking both the positive and negatives up in no particular order

then waiting about 1-2 minutes

 

Any which way worked on older cars...until it didn't.

but on newer cars with all the electronics and computer stuff you need to worry about a single zap.

so, yes, do it as in the OP.

Better still to not use jumpers at all and get a battery pac.

 

what Croat said, also, by connecting the negative to the frame, rather than the post, prevent sparking around the battery. Batteries release small amounts explosive vapors, and can explode if those vapors are ignited (about as common as your car exploding because you were talking on the phone while fueling up, but still...)

 

where is the frame on the patriot? I thought you can hook it up to just any metal piece?

My neighbor whos a wonderful mechanic hooked it up to this metal piece, and I saw this and thought nothing of it, until I did some searching, and saw in the patriot manual about hooking it up to the negative dead battery is bad.

my vehicles manual before this never had this info, nor the one before, or the one before. -at least I dont remember seeing it, and I read my last one front and back for sure

 

There are several issues here:

1) A spark while connecting/disconnecting could ignite the gas around a battery. Notice that it could happen both when you first hook up the batteries, and also when you disconnect the cables after charging for a while. It's less likely if the engines are running their fans, or if the wind is up, but it could happen. To reduce this possibility, it can be worth it to do the last connection on the healthy vehicle, whose battery isn't under as much stress.

2) Heavy charging can boil a battery, causing an acid "explosion". The most dangerous time is probably at the start of the charging, when the battery is the most flat and thus taking in the most current. Some auto-parts store people say that they throw a new battery onto the charger for a few minutes to avoid having it blow up in people's cars when they first install them. And that's a mostly charged battery right off the shelf.

3) On many vehicles there is a smaller wire (#10, for example) connecting the frame to the battery. This smaller wire can limit the charging current and reduce danger if the battery is charged through the frame instead of directly to the posts. On other cars, the black starter cable is connected to the frame along the way to the starter, so it doesn't really limit the charging current even if you charge through the frame.

4) One convenient place which is usually available to hook up the jumper cable is the hood release catch above the radiator. It's right in front, usually not right next to the battery, and you can get a good connection.

5) Keep your face away from the charging battery. Keep on-lookers at a distance.

I once saw someone hook up the cables backwards and wait around as it "charged". What I noticed from a distance was visible gasses coming from one of the batteries. I yelled at them (from a distance) to turn it off and disconnect and let things cool for a while before doing it right. I don't remember thinking to tell them to disconnect the good battery first, since there obviously was hydrogen gas all over, but I guess the wind took care of it, as nothing exploded.

 

1) A spark while connecting/disconnecting could ignite the gas around a battery. Notice that it could happen both when you first hook up the batteries, and also when you disconnect the cables after charging for a while. It's less likely if the engines are running their fans, or if the wind is up, but it could happen. To reduce this possibility, it can be worth it to do the last connection on the healthy vehicle, whose battery isn't under as much stress.

My autoshop teacher in highschool actually had him and one of his students get injured when the student removed the leads from a battery during a fast charge. The whole battery exploded plus the battery acid got thrown all over the shop, it was not a good story and he tells it to all his new students eventually.

3) On many vehicles there is a smaller wire (#10, for example) connecting the frame to the battery. This smaller wire can limit the charging current and reduce danger if the battery is charged through the frame instead of directly to the posts. On other cars, the black starter cable is connected to the frame along the way to the starter, so it doesn't really limit the charging current even if you charge through the frame.

The only downside to this is if you actually have to jump start a car the smaller gauge wire won't be enough. At that point to get the car to charge you'd have to sit there for a half hour with the "alive" car at a fast idle. Also I've never heard of it but you could possibly destroy that wire if you tried to jump start it and the starter motor drew a lot of current overheating the wire.

Edit: That's also assuming both cars have a good ground to frame connection...I've heard of these decaying on older model cars.

4) One convenient place which is usually available to hook up the jumper cable is the hood release catch above the radiator. It's right in front, usually not right next to the battery, and you can get a good connection.

That's a great spot!...I'll have to try it next time I ever do it.

I haven't had much luck connecting to anything metal on a car...maybe cause the last couple times it's been with my wifes Saturn which is mostly plastic...LOL

The order you connect them doesn't really matter a whole lot, it's the last one that is really important due to the explosive vapors that can be given off if a battery is stressed. The only reason to connect to the dead car first is that if you were to touch the other leads together when hooking up the other end it's probably a little safer as the battery is already dead. There's no circuit until the last lead is connected...don't let yourself be between the last connection.