Review Car

Five Safety Tips For Working With The Battery

The car battery stores electrical energy that is needed to start your car and it passes electrical current along to the car components to allow them to work, for example radio, lights, and so forth.

A battery, like many parts of your car, can subject to wear and tear and they should be checked regularly. In general, a battery should be kept clean to allow it last longer than a dirty one. Before working on a battery, make sure to read every safety measure involved. Here is a rundown:

1. Don't work on a battery, in fact on any car component, with a lit cigarette nearby. Car batteries use sulfuric acid that produces hydrogen gas, so you should be careful when working near them. If you touch acid deposits or some of them get into your clothes, you should wash them off quickly.

2. Disconnect your battery whenever you are working on it, but make sure to shut the engine completely! On most modern cars, computers manage functions of the engine, ignition and fuel systems, transmissions, and many other components. Consequently, when messing about with a battery and its cables, you should be extremely careful not to accidentally send a shot of undesired voltage into those delicate chips and fry it. For this reason, it is important to disconnect all battery cables before working on it.

3. Always disconnect the negative cable from your battery if you want to work on car wiring. This will prevent any damaging electrical current from reaching sensitive components

4. When you want to remove and replace both battery cables, you should remove the negative cable first and when you've finished the work replace it last. If you accidentally remove the positive clamp and suddenly your wrench touches something made from metal, your wrench can be immediately fused to the metal surface like an arc welder.

5. Always tie the battery cables while working on the battery so you can't prevent them from flopping back over onto the terminals. Never allow anything metal touches the terminal posts; as it can ruin the battery. If a cable touches the post when something else is still connected, you can fry the onboard computers.

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The radio and digital clock may also be affected when you disconnect the battery. Generally, you can maintain a low amount of power after disconnecting the battery by using a combination of a 9-volt battery and the car's cigarette lighter socket. (Most electronics stores may easily set up this contraption for you at low price.) Ask a technician to plug the 9-volt battery into something that can fit into your car's cigarette lighter socket. You can put it in before disconnecting your battery, and remove it after your battery is completely reconnected.