Minor, or major, oops when hooking up batteries?

[IGBT]

My dad always said, accidents don't happen if you're careful, I believed that when I was a child, but after I grew up I realized that sometimes it doesn't matter how careful you are, accidents can and do happen.

But the battery would still be OK...good to hear, Wrench's are cheap...

No, your dad was right.

"But I thought the plywood would stay in the back of the truck if I put a mattress on top of it and kept my speed under 70"

 

[Wabbit]

...No, your dad was right...

Well, I guess in a simplified way he was. However, you can be as careful as careful can be, but if there's a mechanical part failure with a nasty accident occurring because of that part failure. Who can say that accidents don't happen if you're careful? Well, my dad! Lol.

I'm not going to say cliches are for silly people, but some of them are silly! Saying all that, I agree with the sentiment that accidents don't happen if you're careful, I just dont believe in the validity of the cliche.

 

[GotSmart]

99.9% of the time, a mechanical falure is caused by someone screwing up.  Not listening to the noises the motor is putting out.  not visually and manually checking things.  Not cleanig a surface properly.  Failure to listen to all the sounds the car is making.  That new thumping noise is the old tire splitting apart because it has been on the van more than 10 years.  When it goes and you run off the road into a ditch, that was not an accident.  It was failure to properly maintain your vehicle.  Dropping a wrench across battery leads is failure to hold on to your tools, or i was forcefully reminded, being careless.  Melting an electrical system shows failure to properly fuse it.  

If there is the potential for harm possible, my daughter will find it.  She can trip over the shadow at night.  That is failure to pick up her feet, and watch where she is walking.

 

[DuneElliot]

You really should treat the batteries like they are a stick of dynamite and not be quite so careless.   If you ever drop something with a really low resistance that can handle a lot of amps, like a wrench, across the battery terminals in a parallel banked system, it could explode into hot fragments (the wrench, not the battery).

Power = I^2 * R.   If R is 0.01 ohm and I is 2000 amps, the power dissipated in the wrench is 40,000 watts.  The wrench will heat up very fast since it cannot dissipate 40,000 watts into the air fast enough.  When it gets past the melting point of the Chinese alloy that was used to make it, globs of white hot metal are going to spray all over your hands and face.

So cover the positive terminals with a plastic insulator and keep all of your 12V connections as insulated as possible so things cannot short against them.

Wow, way to be judgmental...I was not being careless, in fact I was being very, very careful; I am very respectful of batteries and electricity in general because I know what can happen.

 

[Wabbit]

DuneElliot, don't sweat it. Accidents happen even when being careful. Ignore what ruins a moment and embrace what makes the moment better. 99.99% of the times you do this, life is better! Don't ask me where I got that % number...lol. These are all good guys\gals here!

 

[John61CT]

You need to have the knowledge and skills in order to prevent problems in a given topic domain.

These rarely come from a teacher or reading, but from experience. In other words learning from "mistakes", aka school of hard knocks.

Of course exposing yourself and listening to others' experiences allow you to learn from theirs, not just your own.

 

[ArtW]

you are fine. remember you can stick weld with batteries, which is basically a dead short. highdesertranger

I have always heard this, but no one will give the particulars
I went to HF to look at welders, and they all required 70 amps, more than my shore power hookup can supply, I sure would like to know more

 

[ArtW]

No, your dad was right.

"But I thought the plywood would stay in the back of the truck if I put a mattress on top of it and kept my speed under 70"

Actually, no, he wasn't, you can be as careful as you want on the road, and another driver can still hit you because HE wasn't being careful You can be very careful working in a shop, and the other guy can cause you an injury because he wasn't
Careful minimizes your chances of accidents, but other people's accidents can still involve you
It's at best a half truth

 

[IGBT]

Wow, way to be judgmental...I was not being careless, in fact I was being very, very careful; I am very respectful of batteries and electricity in general because I know what can happen.

I was not being judgmental just cautioning you that it could get much worse than just damage to the battery terminal.   Batteries are a lot more dangerous than people think.

The plastic caps that go over the terminals, covering the wires also, are about a buck each.   You can get by with just ones on the positive terminals but they usually come in a 2 pack of red and black.

 

[Trebor English]

I have always heard this, but no one will give the particulars
I went to HF to look at welders, and they all required 70 amps, more than my shore power hookup can supply, I sure would like to know more

Not power a welder, just use the battery as a welder. Current control is a bit iffy. For a very small repair it can work. All other conditions need to be ideal.

 

[GotSmart]

DuneElliot, don't sweat it. Accidents happen even when being careful. Ignore what ruins a moment and embrace what makes the moment better. 99.99% of the times you do this, life is better! Don't ask me where I got that % number...lol. These are all good guys\gals here!

I was taught in Communiations school that 87.329 % of facts are made up on  the spot.   :huh:

We may be passionate and opinionated, but nobody here wants to see anyone hurt by something that can be prevented.  Sometimes we have the tact of a bulldog eating beans, but please try not to be offended. I know I have at least one story that starts with, "Guess what bonehead thing I did."  :blush:

 

[highdesertranger]

yeppers you can weld with a battery I have done it before. like English said current control is a bit hard. you can change amperage and volts by series/paralleling. but you still don't have fine tuning control. you could use jumper cables in a pinch. you are not going to weld sheet metal, you would just blow holes in it. if you had any other way to weld it would be a better choice. I carry one of these with me, http://readywelder.com/ . that portable welder works great have used it many time for emergency field repairs. highdesertranger

 

[John61CT]

fair dinkum bush welding video