MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Going full automotive nazi.....

> > the good spark which means that the cars are connected.
>
> Wha...? If you're connecting the batteries properly, you shouldn't see sparks at all.

Nah, you can see sparks at any time, especially if the car is older with weak/corroded ground cables.

> > With everything hooked up, my
> > buddy turned the key to his car and nothing. The battery must be completely dead.
>
> Even with a 100% dead battery, you should have gotten *something*. Either the battery

Not necessarily. If the sulfation was bad enough, you'll get zip. It can either cause a short with material falling off the plates, or even an open if the plate breaks.

> > I don't know how it happened, but as I was cleaning the positive terminal the cable
> > contacted the post on the battery while the negative terminal contacted the other
> > post. I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN A SHOCK THAT PAINFUL IN MY ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE! Holy
> shit.
> > A bunch of sparks and vulgarities went flying. It felt like someone punched my left
> > hand and arm while stabbing it at the same time. Good God car batteries have a
> > painful charge to them. We then stepped away and pulled the battery out of the bay
> > while I regained control of my left arm. Ha.
>
> Probably more evidence that the car has some kind of electrical fault..? As far as I
> know, the voltage of a car battery isn't high enough to give you a shock like that.

It can be, but it needs help. Sweat, wet skin, rain, etc....You can get a decent pinch under the right conditions.

> > With the battery out, I noticed that the positive cable in the car (Honda Accord
> > 2003) was on the same side as the negative terminal of the battery. The negative
> > cable was closest to what was marked as the positive battery. The fuckers at
> AutoZone
> > gave us a battery with the positive and negative terminals opposite of what the
> dead
> > battery had.
>
> I'm confused, you couldn't just turn the battery around?

Nope. If you've ever been down the battery isle, you'll notice a lot of similar batteries have an "R" or similar tag appended to them. It basically means "Reverse terminal". Common mistake to overlook the "R" from rookie basts behind the counter