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Old 05-11-2011, 06:41 PM   #1
Balgrupa
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Battery Question

I was told when we purchased our Passport that when done camping and dropping the trailer back at storage to remove the + head off the battery to keep it from draining my battery. I was wondering if that is correct because I bought this in 2010 and blew the converter last year and this year when going out the first time 3 fuses blew. The white wire I was told is the ground and it is the negative. By disconnecting the Black + one am I doing something wrong.
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Old 05-12-2011, 05:19 AM   #2
jq1031
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The black is positive & white negetive. I usually remove the battery & keep it on a small block of wood in my garage on the concrete floor. If I just want to disconnect the battery I remove the negetive cable from the post, or sometimes both cables. Also, your battery will have a + & - at the respective terminal so you don't cross the cables.
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Old 05-12-2011, 05:28 AM   #3
KenBob
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I have always removed the negative cable first on the RV or other 12 volt vehicles. I also remove the batteries from the RV when in storage and keep them on float chargers when not in use.

I would suspect other issues for blowing fuses. Which fuses? (what do the fuses protect?) Even disconnecting the positive cable alone should not be harmful. Got any more info?
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Old 08-06-2011, 04:42 PM   #4
albertr
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Question Battery question

I have 2 6 volt batteries. When not being used I disconnect the ground from one battery post. After a while a pile of green goo builds up on the disconnected cable end. What am I doing wrong? How can I stop this from happening? Would appreciate an answer. Thanks...Al
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Old 08-13-2011, 05:50 PM   #5
Duckogram
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"Green Goo"

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Originally Posted by albertr View Post
I have 2 6 volt batteries. When not being used I disconnect the ground from one battery post. After a while a pile of green goo builds up on the disconnected cable end. What am I doing wrong? How can I stop this from happening? Would appreciate an answer. Thanks...Al
The green stuff is corrosion caused by a chemical reaction on the cable end. IMHO, you chould clean it with baking soda and water first, dry it, then coat it with something to keep the chemical from erroding the metal. I normally use dielectric grease and have used white lithium grease upon occasion. There are also corrosion preventer gaskets, basically felt doughnuts with a transmission like fluid soaked in, that you can get at auto parts stores or wally world type stores. Hope this helps.
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Old 08-16-2011, 06:54 AM   #6
SAABDOCTOR
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Talking Battery clinic.

All great replies. Allways disconect pos first and ground last. Then conect ground first pos last. Save a lot of ecu's in the automotive repair world. As far as the green eath goes after cleaning vasaline works well too. Just a side note about putting a battery onthe concreet. Batteries used to have a hard rubber case that all ways was damp.and when you put them on a cocreet flooralso damp the battery would run down after sitting. But with the new plastic cases that no longer is an issue. But the wood keeps the floor clean. Thats from interstate battery corp. As far as blowing fuses. What is left one and with an amp meter you could check the draw. Put the meter in line between the pos cable and the post and see what it reads. When you do hook it up i always make sure my shore power is unpluged. Good luck barney
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Old 08-17-2011, 06:02 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by SAABDOCTOR View Post
All great replies. Allways disconect pos first and ground last. Then conect ground first pos last. Save a lot of ecu's in the automotive repair world. As far as the green eath goes after cleaning vasaline works well too. Just a side note about putting a battery onthe concreet. Batteries used to have a hard rubber case that all ways was damp.and when you put them on a cocreet flooralso damp the battery would run down after sitting. But with the new plastic cases that no longer is an issue. But the wood keeps the floor clean. Thats from interstate battery corp. As far as blowing fuses. What is left one and with an amp meter you could check the draw. Put the meter in line between the pos cable and the post and see what it reads. When you do hook it up i always make sure my shore power is unpluged. Good luck barney
SAAB, While I can't (and won't) claim to be an auto repairman or engineer, I can tell you from experience in the ER that working on the positive terminal before removing the negative terminal has caused many serious burns. Just before I retired, I treated a gentleman who was using a wrench to loosen the positive terminal, his wedding ring contacted the wrench of course and he brushed against a metal brace and his ring contacted that. He had a 360* burn around his ring finger, destroyed all the tissue which resulted in a finger amputation at the MCPJ (hand/finger joint). When reading Ford owner's manuals regarding battery removal, they all say to remove the negative terminal first to eliminate that potential. There may be a possibility of "sparking" an ECU, but I'd much rather pay to replace that over paying to remove my finger. This is only one of many such instances I've seen in the ER.

If you do remove the positive terminal first, use a nonconductive wrench to prevent shorting the battery, burning yourself or possibly causing the battery to explode causing much more damage than a failed ECU.
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Old 08-17-2011, 08:07 AM   #8
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Battery problems

If you worked in my shop and wore a wedding ring you would be lookingfor a new job!! But when working around computor controlled equipment positive is removed first if you have a chance look at the disgnostic plug that plugs into the obd2 conector on your car the ground pins are longer than the other ones. For that reason. Ifyou are going to work where there is high current then one needs to take proper precautions. No rings and pay attention. You may unplug your battery any way you like but if you are unluckyenough to fry an expenssive ecu well....... And if you were gold around high cuurent then that keeps you working. Have a great day
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Old 08-17-2011, 08:17 AM   #9
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Smile

And i forgot no mater which terminal you unhook first there is a chance of a spark. The sad part is most do not understand how much current the car battery can produce. Just like the ones that smoke when near a gas pump they haven't seen the destruction first hand. You worked in the er so you have most likely seen it all god bless the work you have done! There is no way i couldhave done what you idi or do. I would be puking my guts out!!! One reasone i try to be carefull. Have a great day barney.
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Old 08-17-2011, 08:29 AM   #10
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Thanks for the compliment, Barney. As for travel trailers/fifth wheels, I've not seen an ECU in one yet, but I haven't looked beyond the ones I've owned and helped others repair.

My battery quick disconnect is installed in the ground cable which effectively removes the ground cable when you disconnect the battery. That's the same as removing the negative cable first, IMHO.

As for spark when removing a negative terminal connection. If there's a spark, there's something wrong. The negative terminal is connected to chassis ground and if it sparks, you'd risk being shocked when you touch the door (or any other part of the vehicle)

When I retired, it had nothing to do with the trauma or helping people, it was all about being at a stage in my life when I could look forward to not pulling 24 hour shifts, working every other weekend and being on call the "off" weekends. LOL I never realized that the sun comes up the morning after a 24 hour shift. It sure is nice to watch it from a campground, or better yet, from a boat in a lake next to a campground

Cheers.
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Old 08-17-2011, 10:31 AM   #11
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Smile

Some of the new fridges have an ecu yikes. By the way i hate computor controls so far i can turn my own knobs. The reson ground last then first is any spike goes to ground with the ground lifted poofgoes the ecu thats what they beat into my head. And i have not fried and ecu yet. Which is good that way i can finish up and go camping. I have a 2010 montana and the fridge has a controler for temp and it electronic and so is the fantastic vent. Which by the way failed winth in two days of picking up the unit. Put in manual controll four hour ride back to the dealer wasn't in the cards. Have fun enjoy retirement you lucky guy i've got 8 years to go i hope..... Barney
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