Battery cable query

[rrlund]

When I started out in generator repair work, I was cautioned to not wear any rings, watches, hanging jewelry, etc. Doesn't take much to short out the generator AC leads, or damage some expensive DC control board. No rings/jewelry, etc. to this day.

Catching a ring on a piece of rotating machinery is no joke either.

I know a guy who took off everything but the bone on his ring finger just by jumping down off the back of a truck. Ring snagged and the finger was completely stripped. He had to have the bones amputated.

 

[kencombs]

I know a guy who took off everything but the bone on his ring finger just by jumping down off the back of a truck. Ring snagged and the finger was completely stripped. He had to have the bones amputated.

In addition to the ring burn I mentioned in an earlier post, I also had a near miss in a similar situation. Back when I was younger, dumber and weighed a lot less I was framing a house. Seldom used a ladder to get down from the ceiling joists, just grab one, drop and swing to the floor.

Until, my wedding ring got hung on the edge of a joist. Didn't do serious damage but cut it pretty good and felt like it separated the joints. Ring went into a jewelry box, where it remains to this day. No rings, no watch, except I wear my Dad's old Bulova sometimes when going to dinner or similar. Just because it reminds me of him.

 

[wore out]

I know a guy who took off everything but the bone on his ring finger just by jumping down off the back of a truck. Ring snagged and the finger was completely stripped. He had to have the bones amputated.

MANY years ago a friend of my late Dad did that jumping off of a hayrack.

 

[olddavid]

The amazing or less than intelligent part is as soon as his wrist healed up he had a brand new crawler track watch, and of course didn't take the time to pull the ground off of a battery before doing most simple tasks where he was reaching right back into that same area, more I think on it I think he was changing the engine oil and doing something with the filter!

I sometimes had to work in electrical panels and on electrical equipment where I worked. I wore watches with plastic bodies and bands for a while and then I just quit wearing a watch at all. Even those can get caught in moving machinery. I never wore my wedding ring to work. My wife understood why.

 

[Eman85]

I learned not to wear jewelry if I want to work, period. Had an uncle that was missing a finger because of his wedding ring. He was still married despite having no finger or wearing a ring.

 

[Brownie450]

Makes you wonder about these professional baseball & football
players wearing necklaces. Wouldn't take much to get something
caught somewhere.
Jim

 

[will-max dairy]

More important thing is to always disconnect the ground cable when doing any work on the electrical system. Even if not working on the battery, no one wants to short their wedding ring, wrench and chassis together when removing a starter. DAMHIKT. Same holds true when working on the dash panel, ammeter etc.

If you do that everytime, ground disconnected first and last you'll be fine.

Used to have a Ford E350 cutaway with the 7.3L diesel. Loved that thing. Very handy. Haul 50-60 bales of hay all under cover...

Anyway... the starter failed. I faithfully disconnected the battery and crawled under the van to remove the starter. At some point, after I disconnected the starter cable; while I was removing the starter itself... the now free-hanging cable end touched the chassis...and...

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!! sparks flew everywhere...

No real harm, other than my underwear.

I chalked it up as a curiosity at the moment, and carefully removed the starter without tempting fate with that starter cable again.

Then, before installing the new starter... I did a little bit of research and found out that the E350 with the diesel... had TWO batteries. One in the engine compartment (that I saw). The second one (that I did not) in a nondescript metal box bolted to the frame just forward of the rear tires...

 

[Eman85]

Makes you wonder about these professional baseball & football
players wearing necklaces. Wouldn't take much to get something
caught somewhere.
Jim

They might be rich, but it proves you don't necessarily have to be smart.

 

[Fawteen]

I was an electronics tech in the service and worked around electricity most of the time between then and retirement. Never developed the habit of wearing jewelry. No watch, no rings. Still don't.

I do need to pay more attention to clothing around rotating equipment tho.

 

[NDIHC]

All this talk of batteries. Recently I've had neighbors replacing batteries in vehicles and equipment and I've noted they all do it the same way: positive cable removed first and relanded last. This runs counter to the way I was taught. I was taught ground first off and last on. That way if the tool contacts the ground to the chassis, nothing happens: no arcing.
So for removal: ground off first, positive off last.
Installing: positive first, ground last.
Anybody else do it like this?

I see the younger guys at work doing it backwards all the time. They are the same guys who tighten the nuts at one end of the exhaust manifold, then the other end and the center ones last. I try to give them tips. One will listen and take advice. The other two think they know better and I'm just an old guy blowing smoke.

 

[Russ from MN]

I don't know if it was a company rule or the insurance company, but we were forbidden wear rings at work.

 

[drsportster]

As an electrician my wedding ring was on my keychain when at work Not burning my finger to a stump.

 

[Tom from Buckeye Lake]

I was an electronics tech in the service and worked around electricity most of the time between then and retirement. Never developed the habit of wearing jewelry. No watch, no rings. Still don't.

I do need to pay more attention to clothing around rotating equipment tho.

Where I worked, we had Baker drills that used up to 3" diameter #5 tapered shank bits. These machines were 10-12ft high and spun the 14-16 inch long bits at 200 RPM max in forged steel. A few men actually had their shirts ripped off, being caught in the long chips. Luckily the emergency stop buttons were large. They were in violation of company rules wearing long sleeves. Factory was cold in Ohio winters.

 

[4wdtom]

A LOT of the REAL arts are being lost.

Have to agree with you there.

 

[NDIHC]

As an electrician my wedding ring was on my keychain when at work Not burning my finger to a stump.

I don't wear a watch anmore since I tried to weld mine between the alternator battery post and alternator bracket on an old straight frame Case front end loader. I have the time on my cell phone anyway. I wear a silicone wedding ring and my wife has my real one in her jewelry box. It won't fit on my finger anymore anyway!

 

[cumminstinkerer]

I don't wear a watch anmore since I tried to weld mine between the alternator battery post and alternator bracket on an old straight frame Case front end loader. I have the time on my cell phone anyway. I wear a silicone wedding ring and my wife has my real one in her jewelry box. It won't fit on my finger anymore anyway!

I've not worn a watch since I was in the army, and like you my phone has the time, same thing with the wedding ring here too, silicone that I wear and wife has the good one in her jewelry box, I can sorta get mine on still but off is a pain, dislocated the middle knuckle in my ring finger several years ago when the good ring caught on my truck door handle in a blizzard trying to pull the mail person out of a ditch!

 

[JoeM(GA)]

I worked in a quarry years ago driving a rock truck, the last thing coming out the locker room to the bus that took you to the pit was a safety officer that looked you over, no jewelry of any type, no belts, suspenders etc. It was 10-12 ladders rungs up to the cabs, they showed us many pictures of people getting their fingers “de-gloved” because of rings and watches messing up hands and wrists, it’s not a pretty sight.
I made the mistake of trying to show something to a tractor owner about his Ford tractor while it was on the trailer, managed to bump my wedding band on the starter solenoid, amazing how fast gold will turn red, left me with a scar my wife refers to as my permanent ring. To this day I still don’t wear jewelry or a watch unless I’m in a sui, and that’s not often.

 

[TheBartman47]

Shorting out your wrist watch against a piece of sheet metal and they will learn how to do it correctly

I quit wearing a watch after that happened to me decades ago.

 

[NDIHC]

I've not worn a watch since I was in the army, and like you my phone has the time, same thing with the wedding ring here too, silicone that I wear and wife has the good one in her jewelry box, I can sorta get mine on still but off is a pain, dislocated the middle knuckle in my ring finger several years ago when the good ring caught on my truck door handle in a blizzard trying to pull the mail person out of a ditch!

My dad's uncle jumped off the side of his grain truck but his wedding ring and ring finger stayed on the edge of the grain box where it got caught when he jumped. Neither my dad nor I have ever worn our real wedding rings while working. I didn't wear one at all for years until the silicone ones got popular and and my wife bought a few for me.

 

[stevieb49829]

Shorting out your wrist watch against a piece of sheet metal and they will learn how to do it correctly

My dad shorted his watch between the chassis and the picture tube on an old TV. He bit the stem of his pipe off as us kids watched it happen. The watch was welded in place, but he yanked his hand out of it. Made me a believer in the power of the electron. steve