If a Car's Charging System Isn't Working Properly, Why Can't We Just Jump Start it With An External Booster Pack?

So the scenario in question here is that a vehicle will not start and it is known to have a bad charging system. The question being asked is why someone couldn't just hook up an external booster, whether that's a jump box or a set of jumper cables and start the vehicle. The short answer is that you probably could do that, but as soon as you remove the source of electricity that started the vehicle, you are going to have issues.

The reason is that pretty much every car and truck on the road today requires some electrical support to operate- fuel pumps, ECUs, ABS modules, etc... there are countless components on vehicles that need a source of electricity to operate. If the vehicle's charging system fails, the battery can provide that electricity for a period of time, but the vehicle charging system is also supposed to maintain proper voltage in that battery. If it's an "all take and no give" electrical relationship between the vehicle and the battery, the battery will eventually run out of electricity.

That is typically how you end up in a scenario, where you know the charging system is bad and the battery doesn't have any juice left to offer. What's the solution? If a mechanic is nearby, you could swap out the battery on-site, start and drive the vehicle on battery power to get it to that mechanic. Otherwise, simply trying to boost or jump-start that car is unlikely to result in a scenario where the vehicle can be driven for any amount of time or even stay running, once the electrical source is removed.

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