What happens when you disconnect the battery terminal?
When you disconnect either cable from the battery terminal, you effectively have broken the circuit and the result is the same either way. However, the way in which the battery is connected to your vehicle plays a critical role in the order in which to both disconnect and connect your cables in order to keep you and your vehicle safe.
Can You disconnect the positive terminal first?
Safety dictates that it is best to disconnect the black terminal to reduce the chance of damaging the vehicle, burning yourself, or destroying the battery. Can you disconnect the positive terminal first?
How is the positive terminal connected to the battery?
All electronics on the vehicle simply have a wire from the positive terminal of the battery running to them, and the negative lead of the electronic is simply tied to the frame of the car — which in turn is tied to the negative terminal of the battery to complete the circuit.
What happens if I Disconnect the battery while my car is charging?
In the old days of generators and magnetos their would be no problems. In a current car the charging circuits will be unstable. Meaning spikes in voltage and current. Circuit boards don’t handle either well. Damage will vary but ignition, fuel injection, and dash pods are good prospects for damage.
Can a negative battery cable be disconnected from a positive battery?
Because the negative cable is the one most often disconnected while working under the hood of a car, the positive one may by slightly more difficult to remove. Once the positive cable is disconnected from the battery, the battery will be completely disconnected and may be removed.
When to disconnect positive terminal on car battery?
Disconnecting the positive (or negative if you want less risk of shorting tools to chassis) terminal during the night often gets around most discharging problems but would have little effect if the battery itself is self-discharging internally which sometimes happens.
What should I do if I Disconnect the battery cable?
Disconnecting the battery cable or not probably won’t really matter, but make sure everything is off in the car, and unplug any chargers/accessories plugged into lighter plugs, and make sure anything you’ve added on is disconnected or turned off before leaving your vehicle.
Can a car battery drain if I Disconnect only the positive lead?
No, it won’t drain overnight if you disconnect the positive lead. However, it’s very bad practice & can be dangerous, assuming the car is negative earth/ground. NB: Just about every car built since about 1965 is negative Earth.