Charging Positive ground cars

35Terra
35Terra Senior Contributor
edited November -1 in HUDSON
How do you charge a Positive ground car? My 35 TP has the positive cable hooked directly to the chassis. The charger says to hook the red clamp to the chassis and the black clamp to the negative post on the battery. Can you just put the red clamp on the positive post and the black clamp on the negative post?



I want to put her away for the winter and don't want to blow the house up...



Jim

Comments

  • Uncle Josh
    Uncle Josh Senior Contributor
    Yes, you can just hook the red positive lead to the + post and the black negative lead to the - post. For super safe, do it before you turn the charger on.



    If however you have a female battery, both terminals will be negative, in which case I don't know what to tell ya.
  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    The only reason they tell you not to clamp both clamps to the battery post is, that if there is a slight spark at either post, it can cause an explosion of the gasses within the battery. The general idea is to connect one clamp of the charger to the battery and THEN to clamp the other clamp to the chassis (which will of course be the same as clamping to the 'grounded' post of the battery). This way, when the final connection is made, the sparking (if there is any) will occur AWAY from the battery. Thus, your house won't be blown up.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Great advce Jon. I've had a battery explode trying to hook up jumper cables, taint no fun
  • 35Terra
    35Terra Senior Contributor
    Thanks for th replys. It makes sense to me now. Just needed to hear it from someone else.



    I know the instructions are specific on putting the red to the chassis and the black to the neg post because if you hooked the red to the pos post and the black to the chassis then problems will arise.



    BTW, I have always hooked up the charger to the battery first and then plugged into 110v. And if there is no charging going on then I unplug it before trying to make a "better" contact to the battery. Sparks and gasses do not mix.....



    Thanks, Jim
  • hudsontech
    hudsontech Senior Contributor
    35Terra wrote:
    Thanks for th replys. It makes sense to me now. Just needed to hear it from someone else.



    I know the instructions are specific on putting the red to the chassis and the black to the neg post because if you hooked the red to the pos post and the black to the chassis then problems will arise.



    BTW, I have always hooked up the charger to the battery first and then plugged into 110v. And if there is no charging going on then I unplug it before trying to make a "better" contact to the battery. Sparks and gasses do not mix.....



    Thanks, Jim



    It sounds simple and I'm sure you've already done it - but disconnect the terminals from the battery to prevent any possible damage to the electrical system. Then you just proceed as above.



    Hudsonly,

    Alex Burr

    HudsonTech

    Memphis, TN
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