Safety question about battery cables

[Mike CA]

As I was thinking about the battery cable routes today, it occured to be that there are several open and exposed ends. The one I am most concerned with is the negative lead from battery to the switch. At the switch it's exposed. Is there constant power on that end? If my kids touch it, or bump into it, are they going to get some voltage?

If so, what is a good way to secure that from them?

 

[old]

Well unless something is real odd not a problem with a shock from a 6 volt battery. AS per the Navy E.T. course I took the average person will not get shocked till voltage gets up around 32 volts. Human skin resistance is around that point, unless your wet or sweaty. But that said I have been shocked by 12 volts but that was in an odd time and the engine was running and it had an alternator which if unhooked from the battery can/will put out a lot of volts for a short period of time till it burns its self up
Hobby farm

 

[Tom Windsor]

Exposed or not...just touching them will not do any damage...Are you in aviation mechanics...I am sure you have seen the little rubber covers that slide over the ends of wires to cover it up...When I hung around the hanger...they were everywhere including the trash. (however, I have never seen them used except on an airplane.)

The only thing you need to guard against is to make sure you do not short the wire to ground. Proper routing and double checking clearance will handle this.

 

[Mike CA]

Exposed or not...just touching them will not do any damage...Are you in aviation mechanics...I am sure you have seen the little rubber covers that slide over the ends of wires to cover it up...When I hung around the hanger...they were everywhere including the trash. (however, I have never seen them used except on an airplane.)

The only thing you need to guard against is to make sure you do not short the wire to ground. Proper routing and double checking clearance will handle this.

Sounds good. And yes, I was thinking some aviation wiring when I was thinking about safety. Of course, the last time I was shocked was with 115v 400hz. Man, that will knock you on your keister. :shock: I'll keep an eye out for a rubber cover. Maybe they sell them at the parts store?

 

[John T]

Mike, yeppers theres always hot ungrounded battery voltage present at the input post/terminal on a starter switch but its only 6 or 12 volts DC (with respect to the frame ground) and generally thats not sufficient voltage to cause pain/tingling/shock or health consequences etc because at that low voltage theres sooooooo littleeeeee current through the relatively high resistance of our body. If it makes you uncomfortable insulation such as black tape or heat shrink tubing or spray on insulative coatings can help. However, the high output voltage of the coil or mag nowwwwwwwww that can really set you jumping ouchhhhhhhhhhh even though its such small current.

John T

 

[ScottyHOMeY]

Good thought, but you should be okay. It's always best to undo the ground terminal of a vehicle's battery first if you're gonna disconnect it for some reason but, if you think about it, you can touch the hot post of a battery while leaning against he body and never feel a thing.

The closed DC circuit on a vehicle doesn't pose the same hazard as AC household current.

So, unless Junior has a propensity for sticking Daddy's screwdrivers into odd places where he might weld them to the surrounding metal, I shouldn't worry about it too much.

That said, one of these days, I'll tell the story (again) of why Grandpa decided to teach me to drive a trctor. Had mostly to do with takin' the mystery out of it, so I'd stop playin' on 'em.

 

[Handyman]

If you want to cover up the exposed areas there is a product called liquid electrical tape that you can paint onto your connections to insulate them. dont know how hard it would be to remove if you had to but it may give you some piece of mind

 

[Janicholson]

There is no shock potential, there is a spark,and fire potential if a hot wire is grounded (by you, or a child/screwdriver combo)one of the reasons for putting a fuse link in the wire going from the battery side of the Gonzo Starter Switch and the amp meter. (by the way the wire should be exposed to air, and have ends that are connector removable so it can be replaced) A source for rubber wire terminal protectors is an automotive wrecking yard. For a few bucks you can get a variety of terminal ends and boots made to cover the end of the wiere and the bolt connection. Just let them know what you are after, and bring home a selection. They will, however, not be stock! JimN

 

[dave guest]

Hey old did ya ever disconnect alt from batt and run power tools. I did that for couple years when I needed to drill or saw in remote location. Think reading was 80 or 90 volts which was OK for universal motors. Navy AT but switched to Personnelman for recruiting duty which wasn't even half as much fun. I kept getting quotaed out of AT.

 

[old]

Nope never did that but I know if you do the right things to an alternator you can get 100 plus volts out of them. Not sure how long they would last doing that but I know it can be done just not sure how it was done, but I have seen if before and thats with out an invertor

 

[Mike CA]

I'm an AT aircrewman, which means I know bupkiss about electrical stuff. lol

 

[Anonymous-0]

As a parent you must teach your children not to ever get on the tractor or play around with it. How do you think all the thousands and thoussands of kids grew up on a farm and stayed off cause they new better. You sure aint the first person to have a tractor and kids.

 

[mkirsch]

Mike, if you're crapping your pants over the price of the battery cables, you'll need another complete change of clothes if you ever do find those "safety" covers. You'll probably only find them in aviation parts catalogs, and nothing airplane related is cheap.

As long as everything's solidly mounted, and the cables are in good shape, I would not worry about the "exposed" connections. You would have to be VERY unlucky to fall, trip, or poke in the right way to get a shock, and then, that's all you'd get, if that. It takes a lot more than 6 Volts to cause injury.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I have never recieved a shock from a 6 or 12 volt battery. In fact just this last weekend I was working on a starter from one of my tractors, and I had the battery, and starter removed and all the cables hooked up off the tractor troubleshooting it. My wife walked up and was commenting about the exposed cables, and that I was touching all those exposed cables 'hot' and why I was not getting any shock. You can litterally lie your hand across both the starter case and the hot negative cable and not feel a thing. Just not enough potential there. This was on my larger tractor with 4DLT battery, and 12 volts from my diesel. Course she also asked a while back why I was working on a hot service entrance on the meter base a while back while putting on a plug for my generator as well. That one will get you, and I would not advise trying those, but I have worked with electricity, and electronics all my life.

 

[Bob Kerr]

I wouldn"t worry about the bare ends so much as long as they don"t come close to grounding on a metal part. Be sure they don"t sit near an edge so vibration will eventually rub through the insulation. I wouldn"t put anything on to coat the connections. They will have to be removed once in a while for cleaning.