So you’ve left the interior lights on in your car or truck overnight and your battery is dead. It’s not that big of a problem.

If you or a friend has jumper cables, you can easily recharge your car or truck’s battery. If you’ve never jump started a car before, here is what you need to know.

Step 1: Have a running car park next to your car with the dead battery.

Step 2: Make sure both cars are off and locate the battery. For each car, find the positive “+” and negative “-“ terminals. These should have a plus and a minus sign. They also may be red (positive) and black (negative).

Step 3: On the good battery, attached the red jumper cable to the positive terminal and the black jumper cable to the negative terminal.

Step 4: On the dead battery attach the red jumper to the positive terminal and the black jumper to a piece of unpainted metal.

Step 5: Start the engine of the car with the good battery. Let the car run for a minute or two. Then, try starting the car with the dead battery. If it has trouble starting, let it sit for another minute or two. Then try again. If you’re still having problems, you may need a tow truck.

If you manage to get the car started it is important to carefully remove the jumper cables. You do not want the red jumper to touch the black jumper when removing.