Car Battery

Looks like the terminal connections on my battery posts are a little loose. The only tools I have are metal (no rubber hand cover thingys). Will I get electrocuted if I try to tighten these up myself using my metal wrench? Will i get a shock if I touch the terminal posts?

Reply to
dumbbroad
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Reply to
George

No, you can't feel anything under 36V or so. Just be careful not to short the posts (or the + terminal to ground).

Reply to
Jim

No, the voltage is too low to hurt you. However, be careful that you don't touch the wrench between the two battery terminals, or touch it to any metal parts on the body when tightening the positive terminal, or you will cause a short and get fireworks. If you disconnect the negative terminal before messing with the positive, you can prevent a short from happening if you touch the wrench to the body by accident.

Reply to
Robert Hancock

Approximately 11/30/03 07:44, snipped-for-privacy@rogers.com uttered for posterity:

You may be able to get this done quite cheap at a local Sears Auto, Autozone, etc. Tell them you are having charging problems and would like a quick check. If your battery is 2-3 years old or more, save yourself some grief and just replace it before it dies suddenly.

The voltage is too low to hurt you. However, several things to watch out for.

If you are working on the positive terminal and hit the negative one, or the car body, or even the battery hold down bolt or bracket, you are likely to get a lot of sparks. Which will probably startle you into dropping the wrench into the worst possible place.

Before you tighten them, remove then and clean the terminals and the connectors [inside] with a wire brush until they are shiny. A special brush for doing this costs just a few bucks at a local parts store. While at that parts store, you may want to pick up a set of those colored felt washers and put them under the connectors.

Be careful not to put too much force when tightening...you can break or loosen the battery terminals inside the battery and cause it to fail fairly soon.

Reply to
Lon Stowell

I'll add one other precaution. Remove any metal rings you might be wearing on the hand you will be using with the wrench. Its happened more than once that a persons ring has completed the circuit between the wrench and the other battery post. The ring becomes red hot very quickly!

Reply to
Mike

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