Stupid boy :o(

[Jono]

On Monday I decided to re-fit the negative battery terminal to my battery, as when I fitted a grounding kit a few weeks back, I'd not secured the clamp as robustly as I'd have liked.

Anyway, full of the joys of a sunny bank holiday monday morning, I set to with a 10mm spanner and started to undo the clamp on the +ve terminal. What happened next... can you guess?

Yes, foolishly I had not thought of disconnecting the -ve terminal first and when the spanner came into contact with an earthing point I received a nasty shock. Worse still - the spanner was in contact with my gold engagement ring which I wear on my right hand. The ring heated up to such a temprature that it melted itself to my finger... the skin on my finger burst open like a banana skin right down to the flesh and there I was, left screaming in the street trying to pull the damn thing off my finger.
48hrs later it looks exactly like this... The picture doesn't do it justice believe me.

The ring was a 4-band puzzle ring, the sort that come apart... that's been nicely fused together, and the celtic pattern it made when assembled has been well and truly b*ggered as well. Gutted.

Suffice to say, it hurt quite a lot. I can safely say, I'll not do that again! :wack:

 

[Nicely]

Fooking ouch!?!!

 

[sushiming]

buddy take care

 

[Yakozan]

Damn

I suspect this was on the R33. almost did the same thing myself.
very easy to touch earthing points when undoing the nuts.

 

[Jono]

Damn

I suspect this was on the R33. almost did the same thing myself.
very easy to touch earthing points when undoing the nuts.

Correct it was

 

[JEZ 8553]

Screw the finger...id be more worried of blowing the electrics!!

Still it could be worse...my brother got round a friends house once just in time to see him jumpstart a car using + to - in the loop! :wack: Melted the insulation on all the wiring and blew pretty much everything, very expensive repair bill :no:

Hope its heals quickly....especially if you are lefthanded.

 

[Jono]

Yeah, the bill would have hurt more than my finger I expect!

 

[mint]

god damm.. not good mate :S

 

[gunner93]

Hi Jono... what a painful experience. I had my share of experience once wrongly connected a new battery -ve terminal on the +ve clamp. After got it all connected up the whole wire was smoking real bad! I was like WTF! Fortunately car was still ok and I just replace the entire cable to the alternator.

 

[Jono]

Hi Jono... what a painful experience. I had my share of experience once wrongly connected a new battery -ve terminal on the +ve clamp. After got it all connected up the whole wire was smoking real bad! I was like WTF! Fortunately car was still ok and I just replace the entire cable to the alternator.

You were lucky!!! :nod:

 

[Topper]

I disconnect my battery on the positive side all the time, without taking off the negative. Is this wrong? I've never had a shock :no:

Looks a sore one mate, get some aftersun on and it will got a nice brown colour

 

[JEZ 8553]

You should always disconnect the negative first and connect it last. If you leave the negative connected you run the risk of shorting out on the chassis or any other metal object causing potential severe damage or burns.

Now to the crux..... you will only get a big bang if you connect the two terminals together. So if you leave the negative lead connected and, whilst disconnecting the red positive lead, your spanner happens to touch the chassis while its other end is around the bolt on the positive, you will have connected the two terminals together through your spanner and it will become a permanent part of your chassis as 300 amps flow through it and weld it to the car! You will also probably let go of it very smartly as its temperature reaches that of the Sun!!

Conversely, if you disconnect the negative lead first, thus also disconnecting the chassis from having anything to do with the battery, then your spanner can be round the positive and touch the chassis with no ill effects. I would suggest that, once you have disconnected the battery negative, you close the protective cap on it so that nothing metal can accidentally fall across the two terminals. There is no need to disconnect the positive terminal of the battery unless of course you are taking the battery out for some reason. If you do undo both, always remember, UNDO THE NEGATIVE FIRST AND RECONNECT THE NEGATIVE LAST. When you have undone the negative lead, tuck it safely out of the way so that it can't suddenly spring back and touch the negative of the battery again before the work is finished. And do undo the negative everytime you work on the electrics. A minute's extra work is better than a fire.

http://7faq.com/owbase/ow.asp?GoodEngineeringPractice%2FBatteries%2FDisconnectingTheBattery

 

[gunner93]

Thanks for that. I normally disconnect the negative if my car is not in use for a long time. Its easier to disconnect the negative anyway. :nod: