chastmeister

+1 for battery terminals.

m1bjr

Some excellent first hand safety points here for sure.
You guys were very lucky.
There was a chap who used to tour the power plants giving safety talks.
Hes now blind, following a foklift battery explosion at the Coca-Cola plant where he worked.

Harrowing hearing that tale first hand.

We have a popular saying on nukes:
"You don't know, what you don't know".

2000GT Matt

I hadn't had mine long when I had to jump start mine in a carpark. I had to jump start the car but it would start even when connected. I had to place the cable directly on the engine block, it then started first time.

dennohue

Slightly off-topic, but it reinforces the need for care when charging batteries.

More mature members will remember that, in the 1950s, police traffic cars made a distinctive sound as they drove by. Many thought that the cars were modified to enhance their performance, but not so!

At that time the vehicles carried heavy duty batteries in the boot to service sirens, lights, radios, etc. In fact the burbling sound was made by a venturi plate fitted to the floor of the boot after several vehicles had literally been blown up by gas accumulated from charging these batteries.

Mans Best

True, that can happen. I had a battery explode on a Supra just trying to start the thing!! Worse bit was, it wasn't even my car - I was borrowing it from a mate. Luckily as the bonnet was down, all it needed was a good flushing with water and a new battery. Of course, the body probably fell apart after 12 months, but I was long gone by then

Richard_the_Rogue

In my case, I was jump-starting my Dutton Phaeton from my friend's Hillman Imp Californian. The Imp was +ve earth just to complicate matters. Of course I had to apologise profusely and buy him a new battery.

dennohue

That's the reason why it is important that the vehicles are not touching each other, when you jump start, although there aren't many about nowadays with +ive earth!