My battery sparked

[airkevin23]

Ok I know I am really dumb but I need a little assistance here. I disconnected my negative battery terminal to install something in my car. After I was finished I went to put the negative terminal back on and the battery sparked and smoked. Whats going on here, help a dumb ass out.

 

[Robb]

A battery SHOULD only spark if their is a current draw on it (something is on), but I have seen my fair share of them spark with no load at all.

Robb

 

[airkevin23]

Should it start smoking too?

 

[airkevin23]

I've tried to connect it twice with the same result. I also think I really screwed up my alarm since that went haywire and now I can't get my doors to unlock.

 

[Robb]

Smoking how? A quick poof cause by the arcing? Or like REALLY smoking?

Robb

 

[airkevin23]

A quick poof

 

[MattHarrell]

I've seen a wisp of smoke go up and I think I always get a spark when I hook mine back up.

You didn't accidently short the two terminals together, did you?

I can't imagine why the door locks would have a problem. Try disconnecting the negative again for a few minutes and then try it again. Stock or aftermarket alarm?

 

[DarkFox1]

sounds normal.. I get a bright blue spark and sometimes smoke (enough to smell) when I connect my neg. terminal.. but I have a capacitor on my system and who knows what else drawing power on this truck.

also, when I disconnet my negative.. my hood light stays on for about 5 seconds heh, go figure

 

[Hokie]

HAHA.. a quick spark is nothing...

I was mounting a distribution block on a Volvo one time... it had a 1/0 ga input and the mounting screw slipped and arc'd b/t the block and the chassis of the volvo.. we weren't talking sparking.. we're talking FIREWORKS! That pretty much scared the bejesus out of me... only thing worse was when I almost burned a nice Ranger to the ground. Grounded out an (accidentally) unfused wire and it burnt up and filled the cab with putrid wire insulation smoke...

Just take a deep breath, and slap it on real quick.. it'll spark pretty much no matter what

 

[DonM]

A few little sparks is normal. A little smoke is normal also.(PooF)

Keep the posts clean, less likely to do the above!

 

[SteveVB]

It will spark, but you can help yourself out by making sure everything is off and not drawing current - doors, stereo, A?C blower etc.

Put the terminal on the post and hold it so it wont move around and spark as you tighten the clanmp.

Good Luck

 

[Fhantazm]

Ya wanna talk about scared do you? I was getting my last car redy to be sold(Highly modified Eagle Talon Tsi all wheel drive), and had the battery out for some reason that I cannot remember. Mind you I was working on about 2 hours sleep, thanks to the physical activity that took place the night before between me and my ex. The battery terminal colors were worn off, and I was not paying too much attention....guess what I did?? Yup....you guessed it, hooked that ba$tard up backwards...What a nice commotion that made. I almost shat myself. I thought that I had SERIOUSLY screwed the car up. No lights, no ignition, no nothing. Turns out all it did was blow the main fuseable link, and kill(and i mean KILL) a couple of fuses. Replaced those, and I was on my way again. The car sold 1 day later.

 

[Alec]

When working on one of RangerX's trucks I accidentally dropped a ratchet handle. The handle arced the positive battery terminal and the frame. I almost welded the ratchet to the truck!

After I knocked the ratchet off it stopped. Everything was fine, no longterm damage.

 

[EliteConcept]

to limit the spark do this
on removal take off the neg side first then take off the pos.

on re install do this to limit sparks
install the postive side first, then install the neg side