Anyone know how to jump a truck with the reefer battery? I've heard people talk about it but didn't pay attention. Now I'm hauling a reefer and my truck is dead. Any ideas?

 

Same as boosting a car ; positive (+) to positive (+)... negative (-) on the reefer to chassis ground.

Ground strap bolt in the frame beside the starter works well.

 

Just make sure that reefer is running....it has much less battery capacity than your truck....if you have a dead shorted battery in your truck it could kill the reeefer battery as well....leaving you doubly stranded (and with a melting load of ice cream to boot!!!)....

If the reefer unit is running the alternator on it should charge your truck batteries sufficiently after a little while and coupled with the amperage of the reefer battery you might get it to start.

The best bet anytime you jump start (especially a big diesel) is to not get in a hurry...this ain't no 2.0 liter cavalier you are tryin' to turn over....if your cables are not of sufficient capacity you might NEVER get enough juice to spin it over...but if you wait and let the alt charge those buggers up, you might have enough charge to get it running...

I always hook up the cables, "smoke if you have them", then check the voltage to make sure I have enough....try it....if it still acts "low" and cannot start just wait longer....
like I said, there is no use in gettin' in a rush...you're not going anywhere 'till you get it running anyway!

 

yep-Just jump it like any car battery

 

Just like when jumping a car you usually have to step on the gas to get enough juice to jump the car. So; with a reefer, lower the temp enough to put the reefer unit into high speed and you have the needed juice. I had to do it last week, I pulled into a truck wash, got a washout, went to leave and no go. Connected the cables lowered the temp for high speed and was out of there in 3 minutes.--- Get at least 12 ft. heavy gauge cables #6 wire, or # 4 wire.