# Accidentaly hit positive terminal with ratchet



## Nissan200sxSER (Dec 20, 2002)

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?


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## himilefrontier (Jan 21, 2003)

Burned out a plate or 2 inside the battery when you shorted it.


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## zakezuke (Mar 22, 2003)

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.


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## holy200sx (Jan 8, 2003)

man.. thats some wierd shit... what level fluid is ur battery at?


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## Nissan200sxSER (Dec 20, 2002)

himilefrontier said:


> *Burned out a plate or 2 inside the battery when you shorted it. *


Could you elaborate more on that? Is the damage perminent?


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## UNISH25 (Aug 12, 2002)

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!


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## UNISH25 (Aug 12, 2002)

Nissan200sxSER said:


> *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!


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## V i V i D 200sx (Sep 17, 2002)

if you need still need to get a new battery buy a red top. they're great.


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## HCS200sx97 (Jul 8, 2002)

> they're great.


...but are they as good as frosted flakes?


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## V i V i D 200sx (Sep 17, 2002)

only w/ milk


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## zakezuke (Mar 22, 2003)

UNISH25 said:


> *
> 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.


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## Nissan200sxSER (Dec 20, 2002)

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?


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## UNISH25 (Aug 12, 2002)

zakezuke said:


> *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!


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## Nissan200sxSER (Dec 20, 2002)

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?


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## V i V i D 200sx (Sep 17, 2002)

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


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## Nissan200sxSER (Dec 20, 2002)

Yes but at Sears they tested the charging system and it worked properly. Hm...


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## V i V i D 200sx (Sep 17, 2002)

probably because it can crank enough, and can hold a charge. just not over a long period of time


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## zakezuke (Mar 22, 2003)

Nissan200sxSER said:


> *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? *


Either

1. Your battery was damaged as a direct result of the short circut, burnt out plate very likely.

or

2. You have not not run the car enough to bring the battery to a full charge. 

Usually such places test the battery it self under a load. I know that when I've visited Schucks, a largish chain, they do diagnose the battery. Based on my experence with them their equipment has properly isolated battery or alternator problems.


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## UNISH25 (Aug 12, 2002)

Nissan200sxSER said:


> *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? *



Is where you live cold really freezing right now? Then thats the reason!

Your charging system is fine, then start it up once and leave the car in idle for about 10 min...and then after that you shouldn't have any more problems!
If you have to constanly jumpstart the car everytime, then your battery is in need of replacement!

As the life of a battery increases then, it has a tougher time recharging! So if your battery is really really really old then I suggest you get a new one!


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

i hit the positive terminal with a rachet once, SCAREY SHIT!! sparks goin everywhere and the rachet got really hot. no damage to the battery tho.


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## UNISH25 (Aug 12, 2002)

Yup! The ratchet gets hot, because theres current flowing into it!!!!!!
If you left that ratchet on there for a long time..d.I mean like 5 hours...then it'd probably be really really hot, and your battery would get really really hot!


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## zakezuke (Mar 22, 2003)

I don't think there would be 5hrs of current available to be honest. I'm pretty sure a ratchet is rated at a lower resistance hince higher consumption then something like your headlights. I don't have those numbers available as I don't deal devices who's resistance is practicaly jack squat. 

This is all accidemic anyway because the melting point of the lead in the battery is lower then the ratchet, depending on the size of the ratchet. Something the size of a knife blade i've seen melt first, which is good as it broke the circut. 

Needless to say... this is a whole bunch of no fun and should NOT be tried at home.


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## UNISH25 (Aug 12, 2002)

zakezuke said:


> *I don't think there would be 5hrs of current available to be honest. I'm pretty sure a ratchet is rated at a lower resistance hince higher consumption then something like your headlights. I don't have those numbers available as I don't deal devices who's resistance is practicaly jack squat.
> 
> This is all accidemic anyway because the melting point of the lead in the battery is lower then the ratchet, depending on the size of the ratchet. Something the size of a knife blade i've seen melt first, which is good as it broke the circut.
> 
> Needless to say... this is a whole bunch of no fun and should NOT be tried at home. *


True true true...5hrs is kinda long ain't it? Especiall for a short circuit!


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2003)

u did say they tested the charging system,but did they check for discharge ? like maybe a trunk light that stays on when the trunk is closed?i have seen it happen more than once. just my .02


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