When a jumpstart goes wrong? Safety Question

Neighbor tried jumping my wife’s ‘06 Nissan Altima, we left it for 10 minutes and came back and the cables had melted through the headlight of both cars and some of the bumper. I wasn’t there but thankfully they stopped their car and were able to disconnect the cables without incident. We noticed after there had been mice living in around her engine from the mouse poop, minimum the last two weeks. What causes jumper cables to do this? Something a rodent may have chewed? Definitely an issue with my wife’s car. Our poor neighbors have a newish midsized suv. My wife has also had constant issues starting her car, even with a new battery I got a year or two ago. Anyone seen this before?

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u/PoliteCanadian2 Dec 31 '23

What do you mean you left it for 10 mins? Connect, start the dead car, disconnect immediately.

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u/ChinoManda Dec 31 '23

No, if the battery is fully empty you can leave it on for charging a bit

5

u/Mutated__Donkey Dec 31 '23

That’s what the alternator is for. You start the car with the jumper cables than disconnect.

3

u/thebigaaron Dec 31 '23

10 minutes is a bit excessive, but if the battery is really dead and the Juno leads aren’t making excellent contact, it definitely takes a few minutes to charge up.