Connected battery cables in wrong order...- then + huge spark! Please help.

[veritasveritas]

Tow it to a local mechanic and have them diagnose it.

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by cebuan

I don't understand why industry standards allow this to happen. How hard could it be to make battery posts a different size, so it would be impossible to attach the wrong connector end to the wrong post?

It's like mic inputs and speaker outputs being exactly the same.

Well because it’s a battery post. So simply touching them will smoke a ECU or BCM. Even if they were different sizes and actually the top posts (on batteries with top posts) are different sizes. However that doesn’t protect against polarity reversal IF the cables are long enough. To do what you want would add markups in costs. And there is only so much room under the hood.

However what you are suggesting can be done and on some cars it’s practically impossible to cross cables polarity. That would be easier than redesigning the battery connections. On my wife’s Infiniti there is absolutely no way to cross the battery cables as they are not long enough to cross positions. And it uses top posts. There is only enough slack in the cable to get them over the posts. Turning the battery around places the posts too far away from the cables. There is literally no way to cross the cables. All the manufacturers need to do is secure the cables where they can only reach their respective battery post
Another way to do it is by making the battery cables a quick connect plug in where it only fits one way. It will add to the cost and the physical size of the battery. Quite a bit.

I guess for the uninitiated what I would say to do is make case where the positive terminal is located a big round red circle around the post. This way you know it’s positie. I guess the embossed + isn’t enough

[blktoptrvl]

Originally Posted by Electrician4you

Well because it’s a battery post. So simply touching them will smoke a ECU or BCM. Even if they were different sizes and actually the top posts (on batteries with top posts) are different sizes. However that doesn’t protect against polarity reversal IF the cables are long enough. To do what you want would add markups in costs. And there is only so much room under the hood.

However what you are suggesting can be done and on some cars it’s practically impossible to cross cables polarity. That would be easier than redesigning the battery connections. On my wife’s Infiniti there is absolutely no way to cross the battery cables as they are not long enough to cross positions. And it uses top posts. There is only enough slack in the cable to get them over the posts. Turning the battery around places the posts too far away from the cables. There is literally no way to cross the cables. All the manufacturers need to do is secure the cables where they can only reach their respective battery post
Another way to do it is by making the battery cables a quick connect plug in where it only fits one way. It will add to the cost and the physical size of the battery. Quite a bit.

I guess for the uninitiated what I would say to do is make case where the positive terminal is located a big round red circle around the post. This way you know it’s positie. I guess the embossed + isn’t enough

This would only be a problem once you've tried to connect the second cable. Hopefully, trying to attach the first and noticing that the cable end is far too big - or far too small would alert the installer they are about to commit automotive harakiri.

[Marisa5521]

My dads battery died whilst charging my mums flat battery with jump lead. It’s sparked and smoked and now it’s totally dead. Mums car charged fine now (by neighbour) but dads is left dead. Key stuck in the ignition and nothing will work. Boot won’t open and it’s dead. What best thing to do with it? Dad wants to use my car to try charging his but it’s probably weak as hardly driven in lockdown. I have a car battery charger (connect to mains not bother car) is that best to try? Thanks x

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by Marisa5521

My dads battery died whilst charging my mums flat battery with jump lead. It’s sparked and smoked and now it’s totally dead. Mums car charged fine now (by neighbour) but dads is left dead. Key stuck in the ignition and nothing will work. Boot won’t open and it’s dead. What best thing to do with it? Dad wants to use my car to try charging his but it’s probably weak as hardly driven in lockdown. I have a car battery charger (connect to mains not bother car) is that best to try? Thanks x

Option 1
Try charging the battery. REMOVE the battery cables and charge the battery without having it connected to the car.

Option 2
Buy new battery

[Vic Romano]

Originally Posted by Marisa5521

My dads battery died whilst charging my mums flat battery with jump lead. It’s sparked and smoked and now it’s totally dead. Mums car charged fine now (by neighbour) but dads is left dead. Key stuck in the ignition and nothing will work. Boot won’t open and it’s dead. What best thing to do with it? Dad wants to use my car to try charging his but it’s probably weak as hardly driven in lockdown. I have a car battery charger (connect to mains not bother car) is that best to try? Thanks x

Maybe try opening the bonnet instead of the boot.