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Jumping a battery safely

PeterK

Yoda
Offline
A reminder

A neighbor attempted to jump start my mom's car in storage to take it for a drive. He's done this before. But this time he apparently reversed the cables (I have heard that some newer Japanese named cars mark the ground with RED).

Don't have the entire story yet since I'm not local. But good thing he was not near the car. He returned the cables to mom with all the insulation gone and the cables burned. He said there was a loud boom and something flew out of mom's car and cracked his headlight. He quickly exited and went home without explanation.

Her battery ws already at a low state of charge, the heat from shorting the cables heated up the battery, a little vapor leak and spark and the battery exploded. I still don't know where he was (mom was in her house) or what exactly happened. But good thing he wasn't anywher near the front of the cars.

My brother is taking photos for me today.

So BE CAREFUL, observe polarity, and let the discharged battery charge a little before attempting to start the car.
 
If the battery exploded, there will be acid all over the place. I hope it got washed off, but it doesn't sound like it was if this guy just flew the coop. :hammer:
 
I expect to see a real mess. Told mom about baking soda slurry, an old paint brush and rubber gloves.

This guy could have been killed or blinded. Not good.
 
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