3800 What did i do wrong?

[mybluegtp]

Well I went to give a jump to are company van cause it didnt start. I went to get my cables to hook them up, but i wasnt sure where to put them on my battery. Those who have the battery know that you have the side connection and the two on top. Well i hooked them up on top cause it seemed the easiest, but when i had both car/van connected both cars started to smoke by the handles of the cables. I yanked them out so fast i got burned a little. The cable got melted after the handle and it melted somewhat through the top connectors.

What went wrong?

Bad cables? or bad connection?


I want to make sure i dont do it again.

Click to read more...

 

[MIKES3]

Dumb question but im grabbing for straws.


Did you have the positve and negative hooked up correctly?

 

[SaturdaysGS]

Did you hook them up right, like maybe crossed them? and remember the car your "jumping" you need to connect the negative cable to a metal part (to act as a ground) in the engine bay and not to the negative on the car your jumpings battery.

 

[mybluegtp]

Everything was connected correctly, but Nick could be right i wasnt sure if i had to connect to a ground part in order to jump it.

Dunno!

 

[EmersonHart13]

John

 

[mybluegtp]

Thanks John that helps.

 

[EmersonHart13]

Did you do that?

John

 

[mybluegtp]

No.

 

[EmersonHart13]

Ruh roh!

 

[LPSPEED2]

either way, sounds like bad wires as well, there may have been a loose strand making contact on the other side.

 

[Mike K]

Originally posted by LPSPEED2@May 11 2005, 10:39 PM
either way, sounds like bad wires as well, there may have been a loose strand making contact on the other side.

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Agreed... Generally the order doesn't matter and is only to spare "shock" to the electrical components and the dolt doing the work. I bet you'll find that the two connected cables became one... Well, actually now for sure they became one.

 

[xttc2000]

you know the yellow top is a marine use battery and not recommended for cars right?

 

[SnM]

I thought the blue was for marine??? I always see red and yellow top for sale for cars. btw, i think john samp used, and might still be using a blue top with no problems.

 

[TommyGloves]

Originally posted by xttc2000@May 12 2005, 07:18 AM
you know the yellow top is a marine use battery and not recommended for cars right?

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The Optima Yellow are for cars:
http://www.dcbattery.com/optima_yellow.html

The blue is the marine battery:
http://www.dcbattery.com/optima_blue.html

 

[EmersonHart13]

Yellow tops are for high drain automotive applications such as car stereos or police cars. Red tops are for standard issue cars. Blues are for marine.

The Optima people told me if you have a yellow top and do not have a high drain device in the vehicle to cycle the battery it actually voids the warranty because the battery is not used properly.

John

 

[imported_snoop]

the red and blue batteries are identical. the only difference is one is for water. thats all. maybe a few cold cranking amps but thats it. the yellow ones are stricktly to be drained all the way down and then charged back up. they are not made to take a continous charge all the time. that will fry them. i have been working with optima batteries for 10 years now. yellow are not for under the hood.(not gonna say not for the car cuz they help with the boom-booms ;-) ).

 

[mybluegtp]

So what i shouldnt have this battery in my car? i've had it for a whole year and its been running fine.