Speaking of car batteries...

**Rich Z** · 05-25-2012, 11:08 AM

I've been trying to figure out why my battery tender won't charge up the brand new Optima yellow top I put in the C5Z (that went dead a couple of days ago) so I go poking underneath the hoods of the C6 and C6Z. I hooked up an older battery tender that I used to use on the C5Z before it went to be, um, I guess the best term I can think of is "butchered", to the C6Z and left it on for a good two days. That tender never showed the green light neither, and I believe it's just a regular lead/acid battery in there. I hooked up the tender under the hood to the prescribed points shown for jump starting the car. Maybe I should have gone directly to the battery in the trunk.... But I would think that if those points are used for jumpering the car, then they should suffice for a battery tender device.

So anyway I pop the hood on the 2007 C6 figuring I would hook up the battery tender there to see what happens, and I got slapped by a bit of confusion when I looked at the battery connections. Hmmm... The positive terminal is on the RIGHT side of that battery, whereas on the C5Z the positive terminal is on the LEFT side. I double checked the markings on the battery to be certain. And when I popped the trunk on the C5Z to check that battery, yep, that one has the positive terminal on the right side as well. Sheesh, I used to wonder how anyone could reverse jumper cables and blow up batteries. Well, heck, now I see why. If there had been some sort of STANDARD on orientation of those battery terminals, there wouldn't BE this kind of issue. Heck, I'm going to have to really pay attention when I'm doing anything with the batteries to make sure I don't screw up. I've got color coded covers on the battery ends, but heck they don't last forever. And that little "+" sign isn't all that easy to see on the battery itself on some of them. To make matters worse, the battery on the C6 has some sort of thread inserts right behind the terminals, and of course they both have a phillips style screw driver head on them, which look exactly like a "+" terminal marker. It would be EXTREMELY easy for someone not being real careful to just see one of those inserts without looking at the other, and assume that was indicating the positive battery terminal. Basically the first one looked at would be presumed to be the positive side, which means there would be a 50/50 chance of getting it wrong.

And speaking of standards, why in the world would GM have BOTH SAE and metric nuts and bolts on the same car? I know that a transition is in place, but damn........ I can't tell you how TICKLED PINK I am that I have to have double the tools I really should need just so I can straddle both sides of this "transition".

I already hated that there were a bazillion different allen head styles and sizes, and now there are TWO bazillion of them with metrics thrown into the mix.

Do you know what the ODDS are now of picking up exactly the right sized allen wrench at the first try? Well, it was nearly impossible before, so now it is doubly impossible. And don't even get me started on the number of bolt and nut sizes and thread pitches that now abound....

Cor66Vette · 05-25-2012, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich Z

... and I got slapped by a bit of confusion when I looked at the battery connections...

... Sheesh, I used to wonder how anyone could reverse jumper cables and blow up batteries ...

I got a rude awakening a long time ago when a good Samaritan offered to help jump start my disabled '57 Chevy. If you're thinking, kaboom- you are correct.

Ever since that fireworks display, every new battery I install in my vehicles gets white marker applied to the + and - terminal markings on the battery, and I place red electrical tape on the top of the battery next to the + terminal. I also apply 2 wraps of red electrical tape around the + cable.

**Rich Z** · 05-25-2012, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedRestoredRoadster

I got a rude awakening a long time ago when a good Samaritan offered to help jump start my disabled '57 Chevy. If you're thinking, kaboom- you are correct.

Ever since that fireworks display, every new battery I install in my vehicles gets white marker applied to the + and - terminal markings on the battery, and I place red electrical tape on the top of the battery next to the + terminal. I also apply 2 wraps of red electrical tape around the + cable.

Yeah, I would imagine a battery exploding and spraying hot sulfuring acid all over the place would not be a very enviable experience. Getting acid in your eyes would ruin your day, for sure. I've taken to wearing goggles whenever I work with the batteries, and even then, I can't imagine acid getting anywhere on my body being a very pleasant experience.

Speaking of which, had a scary experience with a battery when I was a youngster. I was working at a Dodge dealership in the parts department many moons ago and my boss asked me to set up a new battery. At that time, the batteries were shipped dry, with the acid separately, and we had to put the acid in the batteries when sold. Well, I clamped shut the hose and cut it with a razor while kneeling beside it, and was quite surprised when a stream of acid shot out of my cut. Exactly at eye level, but in the other direction, fortunately. I never did THAT again. I showed the acid spill eating into the concrete to my boss and told him he could fire me right then and there if he would insist on that being part of my job duties, but I was NOT going to risk my eyesight for anyone.

**Rich Z** · 05-25-2012, 02:10 PM

Oh, btw, I went over to the garage a little bit ago and saw that the battery tender was showing green on the yellow top battery. I disconnected the ground wires from it, so I guess maybe the minor drain there is enough to keep the battery from being as charged up as the tender would like to see it in order to call it "fully" charged.

On the C6, the tender was still showing orange, so I pulled it off of the extension cord it was on and plugged it directly into a wall socket. Surprisingly it showed green immediately. Maybe I need to try that on the C6Z. Btw, I moved the cables from the tender directly to the battery terminals last night. So maybe one or both changes made the difference.

Cor66Vette · 05-25-2012, 06:33 PM

I use a battery tender on my '68 Electraglide. It seemed like the green took forever to show steady. I was like WTF? So I jiggled the positive clip and all of a sudden- green! Steady green. From then on if the steady green took too long to appear, I would just jiggle the clip and it's good to go.

Now, with the '66 ... after a ride and when the engine is cooled, I attach the battery tender and within 1/2 hour the green is steady. The batteries in the car and the bike are new, and both are Interstate batteries.