Jump start question

Got back from three weeks away, and the battery appears dead (must have left a light on). I put it on trickle charge from 110 and after a few hours lights appeared on the dash but not enough power to crank. I'm going to let it charge overnight.

Question: Any issues with simply hooking up my Odyssey van with jumper cables to the engine battery (under the panels below the driver leg area)? I assume it would be straight forward but wanted to check with folks before doing something stupid.

There is a jump start stud under the hood.
A red plastic knob ( top drivers side) is pushed to expose a positive connection.
Negative bolt drivers side above the fender wall.

Compliments of Autostaretx:
Here's the relevant section from page 269 of the 2010 Freightliner Owner's Manual:
------
* Run the other vehicle's engine at idling speed.
* Connect negative terminal of the donor battery to ground contact of your own vehicle.

Start with the donor battery:
* Start the engine.
(info) You can now reactivate electrical consumers, with the exception of lights.
* Disconnect the jumper cable from negative terminal of the battery and ground contact first, then from positive terminal of the battery and
jump-starting connection point
* The red protective cap springs back to its initial position when terminal clamp is removed from the jumpstarting connection point.
(info) You can now switch on the lights.

Above is good.

Whenever you replace/remove a battery- disconnect the negative/ground terminal first. If your wrench or the cable coming off touches some metal around the battery no harm is done, as your are contacting ground to ground, and no current will flow. Take the positive off last. If your wrench or the cable coming off touches some metal around the battery no harm is done, as your negative cable is already off and no current will flow.

Replacing a battery put positive on first, negative last.

Think of jump starting as adding a new battery. First attach positive to battery (or red terminal in engine compartment -mine us just to right of air handler for engine) of each vehicle. Second add negative to the good/donor vehicle and to a chassis bolt/point on your van.

Start the donor and let it idle a minute or so- this will charge the dead battery some. Then start your van. With engine running act just like removing a battery. Take the negative off both vehicles first, then remove the positives last.

Good luck,

Bob Skillman
Ellicott City, MD
2011 RS Adventurous

Turn and Push to expose pos. main terminal