is it ok to touch the car battery connections?

[chrisv]

well, this weekend i am going to attempt to clean the connections to the battery. just kind of wanted to know is it dangerous to touch the connectors with bare hands?

one at a time or both at once?

is the battery strong enough to do damage or no precautions are needed and it should be ok to touch the red and black connectors with bare hands without any problems what so ever?

[sunrunner_pei]

There is no danger, there is not enough current/voltage to harm you. Just don't stick your tongue across the terminals like a 9V battery. :lol:

[djdanger]

If you are soaking wet, you MAY get a shock.

[Matt95GT]

12 volt systems found on cars doesn't present much of a hazard to bare hands. You have to really try to do something dumb to cause a shock, and that still will only happen during the right (well, wrong) conditions.

In other words, take off the neg (black) terminal from the battery while you're working, and you'll be fine to touch things. Rule of thumb... the negative batt terminal should always be the first and last thing you disconnect and reconnect (respectively).

[RussGAGT]

if using anything metallic to clean the terminals, however, it is fairly simple to arc the the positive terminal to a ground, so just be careful, your hands are fine, tho

[alegar001]

Battery acid is pretty well the only danger in touching a car battery. Just wash your hands soon after messing with the battery and you will have no worries.

Peace ;)

[Matt95GT]

Originally posted by RussGAGT
if using anything metallic to clean the terminals, however, it is fairly simple to arc the the positive terminal to a ground, so just be careful, your hands are fine, tho

That's why you remove the negative terminal first. ;)

[sunrunner_pei]

Originally posted by alegar001
Battery acid is pretty well the only danger in touching a car battery. Just wash your hands soon after messing with the battery and you will have no worries.

Peace ;)

For the past several years, GM has used sealed, maintenance-free batteries in all their cars. Unless the battery is cracked, there shouldn't be any chance of getting acid on your hands. Even still, it's a good idea to wash your hands after working on your car. :)

[chrisv]

thanks guys.

[MantaGreen97]

Originally posted by sunrunner_pei
For the past several years, GM has used sealed, maintenance-free batteries in all their cars. Unless the battery is cracked, there shouldn't be any chance of getting acid on your hands. Even still, it's a good idea to wash your hands after working on your car. :)

But even "maintenance-free" batteries can vent (hence the vents on the battery). The gas that vents is both acidic and explosive. When the gas changes state/precipitates on surfaces you usually get a white powdery residue, and this can occur even from maintenance free batteries.

Even Optima batteries can vent (though they usually don't unless there is a problem with the battery or it's severely overcharged). Exide Orbitals on the other hand, have no venting provisions at all IIRC.

[sunrunner_pei]

I didn't see any vents on my Delco... I'll have to look again.

[hamiltonaudio]

Originally posted by sunrunner_pei
There is no danger, there is not enough current/voltage to harm you. Just don't stick your tongue across the terminals like a 9V battery. :lol:

this is where you're wrong. There is not enough voltage to cause any /physical/ harm to a human, but there is more than enough current to do SERIOUS DAMAGE.

Even a small battery will discharge 600+ amps of current...granted there are big differences in the measurement of AC and DC current, the bottom line is that you seriously don't want to short that bugger out....

If you want to do a controlled test - you can arc-weld 1/4" plate steel with just a single car battery... yep, melting steel :) To me thats enough current to do damage...

bmoney

[sunrunner_pei]

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
this is where you're wrong. There is not enough voltage to cause any /physical/ harm to a human, but there is more than enough current to do SERIOUS DAMAGE.

Even a small battery will discharge 600+ amps of current...granted there are big differences in the measurement of AC and DC current, the bottom line is that you seriously don't want to short that bugger out....

If you want to do a controlled test - you can arc-weld 1/4" plate steel with just a single car battery... yep, melting steel :) To me thats enough current to do damage...

bmoney

Are you saying that you believe there will be enough current flow through your body by touching both terminals with your bare hands to actually hurt you? I do believe that was the original question.

[MantaGreen97]

Originally posted by sunrunner_pei
I didn't see any vents on my Delco... I'll have to look again.

They're at the "sides" of the top of the battery ;) Look like little oblongish tubes on the Delcos, IIRC. I'd take a picture but I don't have a Delco battery around, lol...

[sunrunner_pei]

I still have my old batt, I'll look at it tonight if I think of it. :)

[hamiltonaudio]

Originally posted by sunrunner_pei
Are you saying that you believe there will be enough current flow through your body by touching both terminals with your bare hands to actually hurt you? I do believe that was the original question.

have a screwdriver or wrench in your hand, which accidentally shorts out while ur touching said battery. Now you see what I'm getting at ;)

As for touching the battery - there is zero potential for any injury...if both hands are soaked you MAY feel a little tingle...I remember as a kid I used to have a little electric trolling motor on a dingy and tooled around the lake with it - I discovered I could get current to flow if my knee was touching the + post (the way it was situated it was easy) and put my hand in the water....bzzzzzzzzz.....

bmoney

[sunrunner_pei]

I've shorted out a battery with a wrench before, nothing but some sparks. No shock. Fortunatly I've learned not to wrench on a car with the battery disconnected, as a dead short like that will more likely result in an explosion or fire. I still don't think a person would be electrocuted that way.

[Vhrus]

Originally posted by sunrunner_pei
I've shorted out a battery with a wrench before, nothing but some sparks. No shock. Fortunatly I've learned not to wrench on a car with the battery disconnected, as a dead short like that will more likely result in an explosion or fire. I still don't think a person would be electrocuted that way.

I dont know about electrocuted, but if you lay a wrench or something metal across the terminals it will weld it. Metal generally needs to get pretty hot to melt, so I would say shorting out a battery with a metal tool (or metal anything) has potential to burn you.

I wouldn't really worry about it though, as long as your carfull to not short the battery with a metal object in your hand, and even then as long as you dont hold onto it tightly while it lays across both terminals you should be fine.

[rixGAphx]

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
have a screwdriver or wrench in your hand, which accidentally shorts out while ur touching said battery. Now you see what I'm getting at ;)

As for touching the battery - there is zero potential for any injury...if both hands are soaked you MAY feel a little tingle... Serious off-roaders know how to use the car's 12v battery, jumper cables and welding rods to make trail repairs on steel plate..

Yes, there's a lot of potential heat and injury there.

And as hamiltonaudio has been stating, it has to do with metal contacting the terminals, not bare flesh.

REMOVE metal watches from your wrist and rings from your fingers!!!
Especially gold, which will burn-off your ring finger(s). MUCH amperage flows lead-to-gold, then the gold band distributes the amperage around the flesh.
Assuming your hand is somehow grounded or you otherwise complete the circuit.

Most dangerous location, IMO:
A screwdriver or wrench touching the POS connection on the starter solenoid.
That hot terminal is only 2" from the engine block, just waiting to burn metal and flesh if the NEG cable hasn't been disconnected.

In an emergency, you can use a 9-volt transistor battery and some ordinary steel wool to ignite tinder for a campfire.
For a flashy good time, do the same thing with an old, but still slightly good 12v auto battery and a large clump of steel wool :eek:

-Rick

[tenspeed]

I guess we all know everything about 12V lead acid batteries.

:horse:

[Vhrus]

Originally posted by tenspeed
I guess we all know everything about 12V lead acid batteries.

:horse:

Ok thanks that made me laugh out loud in real life!!

[SE2000]

Originally posted by chrisv
well, this weekend i am going to attempt to clean the connections to the battery. just kind of wanted to know is it dangerous to touch the connectors with bare hands?

one at a time or both at once?

is the battery strong enough to do damage or no precautions are needed and it should be ok to touch the red and black connectors with bare hands without any problems what so ever?

You can touch both connectors and not harm yourself, the voltage is low, the current is high. You can weld steel with a battery but not a person. You can even run 12v motors under water.

- terminal off first and on last.

[HeyDace]

Funny you should mention batteries. I went to a seminar tuesday night , paid for by my new employer, on Hybrid vehicles. The batteries in those can kill you. You have to wear special lineman gloves to service them...500 volt systems. Ford Toyota and Honda have the true Hybrid vehicles, where 90% of the time the car runs on electric motors and the gas engine (Honda uses a 1.0 L) is used as a boost or for charging the batteries.

[Rayz]

Only if the battery is of age and consents and only if you use protection. :D (latex gloves work good.)

[HeyDace]

Originally posted by Rayz
Only if the battery is of age and consents and only if you use protection. :D (latex gloves work good.)



:lol: