Electrically that's fine. The idea, though, behind not making the connection directly to the battery is that it might spark and as the battery may be giving off hydrogen it's not a good idea to have sparks immediately over it . . .
I HAVE seen one explode and it's not a pretty sight.
And BTW, being a Good Samaritan and jump starting other cars is a great way to destroy YOUR alternator and fry your computers. Jump starting causes a HUGE power surge.
It causes your alternator to immediately jump to full output. If your car is at idle, that overheats the diodes and can burn them out. Plus, the spark when you connect the cables can cause a voltage spike in your car as well.
Don't write back and say you've done it that way for years, because the newer cars aren't like the older cars. And if you've done it without damage, consider yourself lucky.
If you read enough of the question on Yahoo, you see questions every week where someone jumped or got jumped and now they've got computer problems.
yes its a better ground
Every instruction I've ever read says to attach it to an unpainted piece of metal, but usually when I try to assist someone, they always want to connect it to the negative terminal of the battery. Does it matter? Is there any danger in doing it this way?
