I know most everyone knows the possible dangers of handling batteries, but something happened today that reminded me of just how dangerous they can be. While in the parking lot atLowes, I was loading my trunk with 2x4's for a workbench I'm building when I heard a loud boom come from right behind me. As I turned around I heard a man scream, and I saw him on the ground about 10 feet away from his truck. I ran over to him, and helped him up, and he was bleeding quite a bit all over his face. I got him inside, got him to an eye wash station and flushed his eyes for about 10 min. while the EMT's got there. They took him off to the hospital after that. Result was a large, deep gash right above his left eye, two large cuts on his nose, 3 missing front teeth, ( we couldn't find them afterwards) and battery acid in both eyes. The entire top of the battery was gone, and nowhere to be found. Acid was also covering just about everything under the hood.All becuase his battery terminal has been coming loose for the last couple days, and he went to tighten it, when it sparked, and exploded. Just a friendly reminder to be careful!

 

ouch....

 

That's why before working on the battery, it is good to air the area out (you can just blow on it) to get rid of any excess hydrogen gas that might have accumulated.

 

Ya I felt really bad for the poor guy. He couldn't stop shaking, he was so freaked out. And then because of his teeth, he couldn't stop drooling. He was really freaked out. Fortunately he didn't pop an eardrum.

 

Major ouch!

Good thing I'm reading this now instead of this morning when I was getting ready to replace my starter. Or else I might have been too freaked out to touch my battery.

 

no doubt. i don't even want to imagine the pain that guy went through. and all because of a battery....thanks for the reminder. i know i will be a little bit more cautious when working with or around my battery.

 

A couple of years back, I had a pretty dead battery on my 93 Caravan, one day it died in a parking lot, I asked a buddy to give me a boost. When he put the cables on my battery, the top blew up! It sounded like a bomb went off in the hood of my car. It missed his face by a few millimeters! and I got Acid all over the engine bay!
From now on, I always stay to the side of the car when someone is getting a boost, or working on something with electronics in the car!!!
Scary stuff!

 

This looks like a good time to remind everyone on the correct sequence of hooking up jumper cables.
1. + terminal on good battery
2. + terminal on dead battery
3. - terminal on good battery
4. chassis ground on dead car - NOT ON THE BATTERY!

Reverse to remove.

 

A little confused on what you mean by chassis ground. Clarify please.

Thanks!!
-Nick

 

Usually, I just hook it to a metal part of the car, near the battery, not negative. Link the radiator support or something. That's probably what is meant by chassis ground.

Off the topic... Nick... would you mind saving that pic and uploading it to your own picture hosting service? Not to be a jerk or anything, but that "Say No to Altezzas" pic is in my Zing account and if more than a couple of people link to it, Zing will delete the picture (again). Thanks.

 

The electrical system on most modern autos is a negative ground system. The negative terminal on the battery is attached to the car's chassis and engine block. This makes it easy for the manufacturers to complete an electrical circuit, all they have to do is go to ground instead of bringing a wire back to the battery.

There are two reasons for attaching the jumper cable to the chassis:
1. The resistance and reactance in the large mass of metal in the chassis acts as a buffer and helps reduce the electrical shock to the electrical system.
2. Completing the circuit with the second battery cable usually causes a spark and discharged batteries release hydrogen gas. Combine the two and you get battery acid in the face.

In other words, just about any bare metal spot on the chassis or engine will do. You will know if it is a good connection because you will get sparks.