Easy Question: Charging Car Battery Removed From Vehicle?

When you charging a car battery removed from your vehicle, my battery
charging owners manual states that you need to "attach at least a
24inch (60cm) long, 6 gauge (AWG) insulated battery cable to NEGATIVE
battery post", then later states "connect the black NEGATIVE output
clamp to the free end of the cable".

Ive used battery chargers in the past, but Ive never done this step
before. How important is it to use an insulated cable between the
batter charger's negative clamp and the battery's negative post?

I tried to google for more information, and I see the same
instructions explained he

http://www.battery-chargers.com/char...structions.htm (scroll down
half way until you find "B. CHARGING BATTERY OUTSIDE VEHICLE".

Could anyone explain to me why a jumper cable or insulated battery
cable is required to be placed between the charger's negative clamp,
and the battery's negative post? How important is it to do this? I
have charged batteries in the past and have never done this. What
problems could occur if I did not use a jumper cable or insulated
cable and instead just attached the battery charger's NEGATIVE clamp
to the battery's NEGATIVE post?

On Dec 9, 1:03 pm, wrote:
> Could anyone explain to me why a jumper cable or insulated battery
> cable is required to be placed between the charger's negative clamp,
> and the battery's negative post? How important is it to do this? I
> have charged batteries in the past and have never done this. What
> problems could occur if I did not use a jumper cable or insulated
> cable and instead just attached the battery charger's NEGATIVE clamp
> to the battery's NEGATIVE post?

I should add to this:

I removed the car battery from my car for the winter since it is not
going to be driven. I wanted to store the battery in my basement
connected to a slow charging system to keep the battery alive and well
all winter. Should I use a jumper cable between my battery post and
batter charger's NEG output clamp as described in the owners manual
and website URL posted in my original message?

wrote:
> When you charging a car battery removed from your vehicle, my battery
> charging owners manual states that you need to "attach at least a
> 24inch (60cm) long, 6 gauge (AWG) insulated battery cable to NEGATIVE
> battery post", then later states "connect the black NEGATIVE output
> clamp to the free end of the cable".
>
> Ive used battery chargers in the past, but Ive never done this step
> before. How important is it to use an insulated cable between the
> batter charger's negative clamp and the battery's negative post?
>
> ...

Perhaps it's for the same reason that it's recommended to connect the
negative jumper cable to the engine block instead of directly to the
negative post when jump starting...to prevent a possible spark from
igniting any gases from the battery? I can't think of any other reason
why you'd want to do that.

If you connect the charger to the battery and then plug the charger in
(or turn it on) you'd probably accomplish the same thing. It's probably
just CYA for the charger manufacturer...

In article
>,
wrote:

<snip>

> Could anyone explain to me why a jumper cable or insulated battery
> cable is required to be placed between the charger's negative clamp,
> and the battery's negative post? How important is it to do this? I
> have charged batteries in the past and have never done this. What
> problems could occur if I did not use a jumper cable or insulated
> cable and instead just attached the battery charger's NEGATIVE clamp
> to the battery's NEGATIVE post?

It's not "required", it's just fairly intelligent.

The purpose of the "extension", whether it be a set of jumper cables, a
hunk of insulated wire, or whatever else, is to move the
connect/disconnect point away from the battery, so that any spark that
may happen when connecting/disconnecting the charging apparatus is
distant from the (possible) cloud of explosive hydrogen gas produced by
the battery as it charges. The extension cable serves *ABSOLUTELY NO
ELECTRICAL OR FUNCTIONAL PURPOSE* beyond moving the physical
(dis)connection point away from the battery - omitting the extension
will have no effect whatsoever on the actual charging process. On the
other hand, omitting it *MAY* result in a trip to the hospital to have
pieces of the battery surgically removed from various parts of your
anatomy...

It's the same principle as when you jump-start a car - You hook up to
the positive posts on both vehicles (no particular order - it isn't
important), then you connect to the negative post of the "live" battery,
and finally, you connect the other end of the negative cable to
"someplace as far away from the battery as practical". The last
connection made is the one that's going to cause the spark, so you want
to make that connection as far away from the batteries as you can.

Similarly, the first thing you disconnect is going to be the one that
makes the spark - So you want it to be far from the battery and the
likely cloud of hydrogen. Thus, you disconnect the "someplace far from
the battery" connection first. Once you've done that, the disconnect
sequence is irrelevant, although most folks agree that the next one to
be removed should be the other end of the negative cable (because doing
so makes it impossible to accidentally short the positive and negative
clamps on the "far end" of the cable to produce a spark)

Whether charing out of the vehicle, or setting up for a jump-start,
connecting directly to the battery is perfectly functional, but may be
unsafe due to the potential for explosion.

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info

The only reason they tell you to use a extra cable when charging a
battery out of a vehicle is safety.

If the battery is outside of the vehicle chances are that the battery
is indoors and away from air movement. If this is the case explosive
battery fumes may be present at the battery itself. If your last
connection was made at the battery site the spark resulting may cause
an explosion.

The use of the extra cable nullifies this scenario by taking the
inevitable spark and moving it away from the battery, providing your
last connection is the negative charger to the free end of the extra
cable.

wrote:
> When you charging a car battery removed from your vehicle, my battery
> charging owners manual states that you need to "attach at least a
> 24inch (60cm) long, 6 gauge (AWG) insulated battery cable to NEGATIVE
> battery post", then later states "connect the black NEGATIVE output
> clamp to the free end of the cable".
>
> Ive used battery chargers in the past, but Ive never done this step
> before. How important is it to use an insulated cable between the
> batter charger's negative clamp and the battery's negative post?
>
> I tried to google for more information, and I see the same
> instructions explained he
>
> http://www.battery-chargers.com/char...structions.htm (scroll down
> half way until you find "B. CHARGING BATTERY OUTSIDE VEHICLE".
>
> Could anyone explain to me why a jumper cable or insulated battery
> cable is required to be placed between the charger's negative clamp,
> and the battery's negative post? How important is it to do this? I
> have charged batteries in the past and have never done this. What
> problems could occur if I did not use a jumper cable or insulated
> cable and instead just attached the battery charger's NEGATIVE clamp
> to the battery's NEGATIVE post?


Make it easy on your self and make sure your battery charger is turned
off , Hook up the Battery and then turn it on!!!

Don't need to nullify (Sigh) justify or anything else. people sometimes
forget to turn off the charger before they unhook them and thats why the
recommend the cable.

If you wanna go pro on it,,, buy yourself a Battery tender (not a
trickle charger) and use that during the storage period. It will save
you battery life by not over charging and keep sulfation to a minimum
Later
Tim
PASCO we are your starting and charging specialists
410-546-2041

>Make it easy on your self and make sure your battery charger is turned
>off , Hook up the Battery and then turn it on!!!
>
>Don't need to nullify (Sigh) justify or anything else. people sometimes
>forget to turn off the charger before they unhook them and thats why the
>recommend the cable.

So no spark will occur with most chargers unplugged? Think again.

In article >,
wrote:

> >Make it easy on your self and make sure your battery charger is turned
> >off , Hook up the Battery and then turn it on!!!
> >
> >Don't need to nullify (Sigh) justify or anything else. people sometimes
> >forget to turn off the charger before they unhook them and thats why the
> >recommend the cable.
>
> So no spark will occur with most chargers unplugged? Think again.

Precisely...

A spark *DOES NOT NEED TO BE VISIBLE* to be plenty adequate to touch off
a hydrogen explosion.

*EVERY* time a circuit is made or broken, *THERE IS A SPARK*. Hooking
the final clamp of a charger to the terminal of a battery is closing a
circuit, and even if the charger is unplugged, *THE BATTERY* is
extremely unlikely to be so dead that it doesn't make at least a
micro-spark (small, perhaps even invisible, but perfectly capable of
igniting a cloud of hydrogen if it's there) as the connection is made.

Likewise, disconnecting the clamp after the battery is charged, even
with the charger powered down, or unplugged from the wall, causes a
spark as the circuit is broken. At this point, though, the chances are
*MUCH* higher of getting an explosion, because the battery has been
charged, which has generated hydrogen, which may be hovering around the
battery just waiting for something to ignite it. Which, incidentally, is
the reason that they'll tell you to charge a battery in a well
ventilated location - minimize hydrogen build-up, minimize chance of
explosion.

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info

Don Bruder > wrote in
:

> In article >,
> wrote:
>
>> >Make it easy on your self and make sure your battery charger is
>> >turned off , Hook up the Battery and then turn it on!!!
>> >
>> >Don't need to nullify (Sigh) justify or anything else. people
>> >sometimes forget to turn off the charger before they unhook them and
>> >thats why the recommend the cable.
>>
>> So no spark will occur with most chargers unplugged? Think again.
>
> Precisely...
>
> A spark *DOES NOT NEED TO BE VISIBLE* to be plenty adequate to touch
> off a hydrogen explosion.
>
> *EVERY* time a circuit is made or broken, *THERE IS A SPARK*. Hooking
> the final clamp of a charger to the terminal of a battery is closing a
> circuit, and even if the charger is unplugged, *THE BATTERY* is
> extremely unlikely to be so dead that it doesn't make at least a
> micro-spark (small, perhaps even invisible, but perfectly capable of
> igniting a cloud of hydrogen if it's there) as the connection is made.
>
> Likewise, disconnecting the clamp after the battery is charged, even
> with the charger powered down, or unplugged from the wall, causes a
> spark as the circuit is broken. At this point, though, the chances are
> *MUCH* higher of getting an explosion, because the battery has been
> charged, which has generated hydrogen, which may be hovering around
> the battery just waiting for something to ignite it. Which,
> incidentally, is the reason that they'll tell you to charge a battery
> in a well ventilated location - minimize hydrogen build-up, minimize
> chance of explosion.
>

while all this safety info is mostly true, a good batt charger, not a
cheepe, will not spark while off. It does not conplete a circuit as that
means that it would discharge the batt if left conected but off. The
cheep ones will do that but most comercial ones will not. KB


--
Thunder Snake #9
"Protect" your rights or "lose" them.

wrote:

>>Make it easy on your self and make sure your battery charger is turned
>>off , Hook up the Battery and then turn it on!!!
>>
>>Don't need to nullify (Sigh) justify or anything else. people sometimes
>>forget to turn off the charger before they unhook them and thats why the
>>recommend the cable.
>
>
> So no spark will occur with most chargers unplugged? Think again.

I thought again, and the answer is still the same. With the charger
unplugged- no spark because the diodes in the charger don't allow
reverse current flow through it.