Well ya i was tightening the battery tie down and accidentaly hit the positive battery terminal. There were sparks. The next day i went to start the car and it turned over but would not start. After 3 tries it wouldnt even turn over. The CD player would turn on, the fans would work but not as powerful as before. Seemed like the battery wasnt putting out much power.
So i jumpstarted it and everything works fine now. What could have happened?
In order to prevent this eventuality.... I use a product called "dip it" on my 1/2 inch and 10mm wrenches. It's basicly a ruberised coating, either available via a dip in liquid or a spray on solution. It is highly reccomended on your ratchet as well as it will improve your grip.
There are others options i'm sure that are just as good. I've been somewhat impressed with the spray on truck bed coating, though it has flacked off a couple of my tools, in particular the handels of my ratchets.
My father on the other hand employed the use of electrical tape wraped around the handle of his ratchets that worked as well.
We did this because we were both unwise and zapped batteries.
Ok...first off! Why did you remove the positive terminal!
YOU NEVER Never ever touch the THE POSITIVE TERMINAL!(Only in special cases only do you remove it!) ie.replacing battery, installing subs etc.
Always remove the negative cable wire! Theres no special lubricant or electrical tape needed!! Don't even bother to waste your money on nonsesne stuff. Just remove the negative end of the battery and use electrical tape, to tape it down somewhere so it doesn't "wobble" around
If you touch the negative end of the battery with a screwdriver, any sort of metal, then I can assure you 100% that you will not see sparks!!!!!!
When you touched the ratchest to the positive end of the battery, you created a direct ground. Yeah the ratchest acted like a ground because it is zero volts! So you kinda short circuited your battery...So the sparks you saw flying was you zapping away your battery life!! Nothing is wrong with your car, you burned nothing, you toasted nothing!
If you remove the negative end of the battery then you will stop current flow in all your electronics devices within the car 100% assurance guaranteed!
So from now on if you doing minor work to your car, replacing bulbs, changing some lights here and there, then remove the negative end of the battery!
__________________
Electrical Engineer in da his house.
"If you eliminate the impossible then whatever left, however improbable must be the truth!"
Last edited by UNISH25 : Jul 20th, 2003 at 09:07 PM.
Originally posted by Nissan200sxSER Could you elaborate more on that? Is the damage perminent?
The only damage done was to the battery itself...
You probably shortened the lifespan of the battery, nothing more!
It'll work fine and probably won't need replacing any time soon anyways! So be happy you didn't blow up anything else!
Remember...electrical work?
Remove negative end! Not positive!
__________________
Electrical Engineer in da his house.
"If you eliminate the impossible then whatever left, however improbable must be the truth!"
if you need still need to get a new battery buy a red top. they're great.
__________________
'95 200sx SE = konig divas on 185/60R-14 Kumho 716s, open-airbox, k&n filtercharger, 1.3 bar radiator cap, all red taillights, removed black doorframe vinyl, mesh grill, remote start alarm, no-chrome window frame, sylvania silverstars, optima red top, w/ 4AWG ground, full kenwood sound system. my car!
__________________
'95 200sx SE = konig divas on 185/60R-14 Kumho 716s, open-airbox, k&n filtercharger, 1.3 bar radiator cap, all red taillights, removed black doorframe vinyl, mesh grill, remote start alarm, no-chrome window frame, sylvania silverstars, optima red top, w/ 4AWG ground, full kenwood sound system. my car!
Originally posted by UNISH25
Always remove the negative cable wire! Theres no special lubricant or electrical tape needed!! Don't even bother to waste your money on nonsesne stuff. Just remove the negative end of the battery and use electrical tape, to tape it down somewhere so it doesn't "wobble" around
While this is sound advice, it doesn't take into account folks who have lost their positive red cap and are using a ratchet of an approperate length to hit both terminals. Those who have bought 3rd party battery terminals will notice that their old positive cap just won't fit, and other times there is still a bit of positive leed exposed.
I'm still an advocate of having an insolated handle for these reasons. Comfort and protection from accidental shorts is always good. I'm not an advocate of buying anything particularly special, personaly my choice for Dip it is based on the fact that I use it for other things, like for example protecting the postive terminal in lue of the factory red cap.
There also is an additional reason to remove the positive terminal, and that is for routine cleaning. For example, I just swapped out the battery from my old car and made sure to brush both terminals using a base solution, in this case washing soda was handy, normally I use baking soda.
I had to remove the battery itself to put the cold air extension back on, that is why i removed both positive and negative.
Well i went to start my car up today, and again the battery was not putting out enough power again. Fans, CD player, lights everything worked but not as well. I had to jumpstart the car again.
You guys think the battery has a problem holding a charge?
Im going into Sears to check out new batterys. Optima Red tops are like $120 right, damn?
Originally posted by zakezuke While this is sound advice, it doesn't take into account folks who have lost their positive red cap and are using a ratchet of an approperate length to hit both terminals. Those who have bought 3rd party battery terminals will notice that their old positive cap just won't fit, and other times there is still a bit of positive leed exposed.
I'm still an advocate of having an insolated handle for these reasons. Comfort and protection from accidental shorts is always good. I'm not an advocate of buying anything particularly special, personaly my choice for Dip it is based on the fact that I use it for other things, like for example protecting the postive terminal in lue of the factory red cap.
There also is an additional reason to remove the positive terminal, and that is for routine cleaning. For example, I just swapped out the battery from my old car and made sure to brush both terminals using a base solution, in this case washing soda was handy, normally I use baking soda.
I agree withyou on this, if you must remove the positive end of the battery then please do use something that prevents accidental shorts.
But the overall meaning of this thread is that never touch metallic objects to the positive terminal!
__________________
Electrical Engineer in da his house.
"If you eliminate the impossible then whatever left, however improbable must be the truth!"
The test at Sears proved that the whole charging system was working properly. Can some1 explain why i have to jumpstart my car after not driving it for a day or 2?
the battery cant hold a charge as long as it used to be able to. i would get a new one if its a problem
__________________
'95 200sx SE = konig divas on 185/60R-14 Kumho 716s, open-airbox, k&n filtercharger, 1.3 bar radiator cap, all red taillights, removed black doorframe vinyl, mesh grill, remote start alarm, no-chrome window frame, sylvania silverstars, optima red top, w/ 4AWG ground, full kenwood sound system. my car!
So be happy you didn't blow up anything else!
Linear Mode
