Jun 28, 2021 Pageview:1259
In today's time's computers control every machine around us and manage all our tasks, which makes it very important for us to maintain these properly. There are different ways you can reset the computer of your car if you feel the need to. In this piece, we will discuss how long to leave the battery disconnected, touching opposite terminals and disconnecting the battery to reset the car's computer. Read along to know more.
How Long to Leave Battery Disconnected to Reset Car Computer?
Leaving the battery disconnected for long is said to reset the car computer completely, and this should be done only if you are willing and in great need to do so. When it comes to the time duration for which the battery needs to stay disconnected to reset the car computer, some might say 30 seconds are enough, but to be completely sure, keep it disconnected for at least 15 minutes.
This is suggested by many experts and other people because some amount of electrical current is still present in the car's computer for some time, even after disconnecting the battery. Therefore, leaving the battery disconnected for at least 15 mins to assure that the car computer forgets all its codes and is in reset mode.
Some people also recommend leaving the headlights in on position, and this will help in a faster discharge of remaining current after disconnecting the battery. In fact, turning on anything in the car like brake pedals, radio, airflow, anything that runs on battery will be a great step to speed up the discharging process. This uses up the stored voltage by capacitance in the electrical system of the car. This way, you will not even have to keep the battery disconnected for even 15 minutes to reset the computer; the work will be done much faster, and your car's computer will get to reset mode faster. All the things that your car learned about your driving practices will be lost, and it will start picking up new things.
Will Touching Battery Cables Together Reset Computer?
Yes, touching of both positive and negative terminals works, and it is a manual process for discharging the capacitors so that the car computer resets. In other words, when you clear the system of any left-over power stores, the system still retains some number of electrical currents in it.
When you bring close both the positive and negative terminals of a car's battery and touch them with each other, the retained power is also discharged, and that too very rapidly. This process can even be done to completely discharge a battery after you remove the battery from the car. The touching of these two opposite terminals together will give out a small spark without even being connected to the source of power. This will drain out any amounts of charge that is left in the battery.
One thing to be kept in awareness is that if you have any aftermarket system that has an AMPS, then you must disconnect it from any source of power if it is connected to one before you touch the oppositely charged terminals together; this could harm and damage the system.
When you are removing the cables from their spots, get your hands on the negative one first, then remove the positive one. If you wish to reset the ECU, wait a few seconds and then bring the two terminals to close. Joining the positive and negative battery terminals to each other for around 5 minutes will drain out all the stored power from the capacitors in the computers and force them to perform a cold reboot. This is a very common solution for many problems in cars that owners face. Another thing to be kept in mind while doing things by this method is to always wear safety gloves or take any other safety precaution, and avoid touching the battery terminals with your bare hands.
If I Disconnect My Car Battery Will it Reset the Computer?
The short answer is, possibly. If you detach the battery from your vehicle for a very short time, then it will not do the work for you; this happens because of the reason that there is some amount of current that is still retained in the system. As we discussed above, waiting for at least 15 minutes or more after detaching the battery from the engine and turning on headlights and other things will ensure that the retained current is out of the ECU.
When you detach the negative terminal of battery power from the ECM unit is removed, and that segment of it where the adaptive memory is stored is emptied. For instance, like in any RAM memory of a personal computer. After you turn the PC off, the RAM memory is cleared from its storage. In the case of a car after 3-6 drives or more, the ECM will again have the new adaptive memory created.
Some people might be concerned that disconnecting the battery will damage the car's computer; this is surely not the case, although it can cause it to function in a different way. This happens because the system forgets everything it has learned and starts afresh. That's true; your car's computer acquires everything again as you drive – like when the top times to shift are, in what manner you accelerate, and making of combustion in the engine of the car. Keeping the ECU deprived of power for a noteworthy amount of time, like 10 to 15 minutes, will possibly cause it to retune back to the initial stage. This simply means your car will re-learn and everything. You can notice things like the engine can become a bit rough, and the accelerator and clutch might seem a little off to you as well.
In Conclusion!
You can choose to reset your can in any method you think will be the most suitable for your car. It can differ from model to model, so do thorough research and then only go on with the reset process.
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