What happens if you cross battery terminals

On the other hand, the charger might also get damaged as a result of the wrong connection. This is because once the cables have been connected incorrectly, a wrong polarity is sent into the charging system and this causes a permanent damage as it will not be able to charge batteries as it did before. Jumper cables and a charged battery come in handy if your battery dies in the middle of a drive.

If you are lucky you get this done in seconds, but in some cases complications arise and you are delayed. When doing this, connecting the jumper cables to your car battery, you need to be careful when connecting the cables to the terminals. If this is done wrongly, there will be damage and this might be severe since there is high current flowing in the system.

For one, the two batteries will be damaged after a series of ugly events occur. The batteries will then begin heating and a lot of hydrogen will be produced from a series of chemical reactions. This is even worse for lead-acid batteries that are the most common. The heat produced is highly destructive as it will cause both the internal and external parts of the battery to melt.

On the other hand, the hydrogen gas exerts pressure on the battery casing and might cause it to crack. Some may even show bulges on the casing. In the case of cracking, the hydrogen escapes and might even ignite and explode once it gets outside.

The jumper cables are not left behind as they too will be damaged as a result of the wrong connection. They will not be able to contain the huge amount of electric surge and they get quickly heated up and hence burn the insulation. Each terminal can be identified using its color and the sign it uses.

Connecting each terminal firmly is extremely important as a loose connection can hinder the process and not effectively charge the battery. In electronics, the positive terminal is always connected first in order to avoid a high voltage meet of the semiconductors. Also, be wary of any metal object touching both terminals of the battery simultaneously.

To better understand the implications of not connecting the positive first, let us assume, one has connected the positive terminal first. When the negative terminal is connected, the whole chassis including the metal bolts holding it in place become grounded, upon which placing the positive terminal, connects the spanner with any common ground resulting in some sparks, splashes in a best-case scenario, and a dead battery or even an explosion of the unit in a nightmarish one.

Connecting the positive terminal first is recommended to ensure the spanner is not able to cause any damage even if it has met the chassis. And just as it is recommended to start with the negative terminal while connecting the cables, you need to remove them first as well. The current from a 12VDC system is not massive enough that it can harm you, in fact, one might not even be able to detect such low voltages as the current needs to overcome the resistance of and go through.

To have any effect on you, the current from the battery will have to penetrate the skin in order to electrocute you. High voltage sources of current independently are not dangerous, Although there are few other things that you should look out for when dealing with your car battery such as an acid leak, sparks plug arcing, jumper cables. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Search for:. Table of Contents. The following two tabs change content below. Bio Latest Posts. The heat can also melt solder and other components that hold the cables and clamps together. The surge of electrical current can blow the fusible link or fuse element that protects the vehicle's main electrical system. If the engine of the vehicle with the charged battery is left running, the electrical surge can damage this vehicle's alternator.

When the jumper cables are incorrectly connected, the polarity of the electrical system on the vehicle with the dead battery will be reversed for a few seconds.

This can irreparably damage many of the sensitive electronic components that are common on today's vehicles, such as on-board computers and electronic sensors.