Why do some drivers cut off the battery terminals?
- April 27, 2023
- 0
In the annals of garage life hacks, you can sometimes find a recipe for restoring even such car parts, the maintainability of which you cannot “guess”. Portal “AutoVzglyad”
In the annals of garage life hacks, you can sometimes find a recipe for restoring even such car parts, the maintainability of which you cannot “guess”. Portal “AutoVzglyad” tells about the original method of “reincarnation” of the battery.
The starter battery terminals of modern cars are not made of lead out of whim or tradition. In this case, this fusible metal plays the role of a kind of fuse in very powerful currents. In this case, the lead terminal will simply melt from overheating, eliminating the unfortunately flammable consequences for the entire vehicle. But such a property of the material of the “horns” in some cases can play a nasty joke on the owner.
This scenario is especially likely for cars with high-capacity batteries, which are often equipped with serious SUVs and large crossovers with large-capacity petrol or powerful diesel engines. A more powerful battery is required to start up and power numerous on-board consumers.
It happens that over time, as a result of driving over serious irregularities, the clamping nut of one or another wire connected to the battery loosens and weakens. Electrical contact deteriorates, leading to a local increase in resistance in the circuit. The connection starts to heat up. Sometimes so bad that the battery terminal has melted.
A similar effect is sometimes observed in the event that the car’s electrical network has a “bad ground” – the negative wire from the battery does not have close enough contact with the body. Because of this, sometimes, strange as it may seem, the positive battery terminal melts. If it’s still reasonably alive, there’s an immediate reason to put it back into service by repairing the damaged terminal.
But first you need to remove the old one – to get a flat, flat platform on which a new one will be made. Having cut off the spoiled lump of lead, we arm ourselves with a powerful soldering iron and cover the saw cut with a layer of tin solder. Next we find a short metal tube as long as the future terminal or a little more. The inner diameter must match the diameter of the recovered lead “column”. We moisten it from the inside with water and sprinkle it with hygienic talc so that this powder covers the metal as closely as possible.
Now we take an old metal can and melt some lead in it – for example, using a portable gas burner. We fasten (using pliers) a tube with talc exactly on the tinned “hemp” and pour lead into it to the height of the old terminal. Let the metal harden and remove the tube. We needed talc so it wouldn’t stick to the new terminal’s cable. Voila: the battery is restored.
globallookpress.com’s photo
The starter battery terminals of modern cars are not made of lead out of whim or tradition. In this case, this fusible metal plays the role of a kind of fuse in very powerful currents. In this case, the lead terminal will simply melt from overheating, eliminating the unfortunately flammable consequences for the entire vehicle. But such a property of the material of the “horns” in some cases can play a nasty joke on the owner.
This scenario is especially likely for cars with high-capacity batteries, which are often equipped with serious SUVs and large crossovers with large-capacity petrol or powerful diesel engines. A more powerful battery is required to start up and power numerous on-board consumers.
It happens that over time, as a result of driving over serious irregularities, the clamping nut of one or another wire connected to the battery loosens and weakens. Electrical contact deteriorates, leading to a local increase in resistance in the circuit. The connection starts to heat up. Sometimes so bad that the battery terminal has melted.
A similar effect is sometimes observed in the event that the car’s electrical network has a “bad ground” – the negative wire from the battery does not have close enough contact with the body. Because of this, sometimes, strange as it may seem, the positive battery terminal melts. If it’s still reasonably alive, there’s an immediate reason to put it back into service by repairing the damaged terminal.
But first you need to remove the old one – to get a flat, flat platform on which a new one will be made. Having cut off the spoiled lump of lead, we arm ourselves with a powerful soldering iron and cover the saw cut with a layer of tin solder. Next we find a short metal tube as long as the future terminal or a little more. The inner diameter must match the diameter of the recovered lead “column”. We moisten it from the inside with water and sprinkle it with hygienic talc so that this powder covers the metal as closely as possible.
Now we take an old metal can and melt some lead in it – for example, using a portable gas burner. We fasten (using pliers) a tube with talc exactly on the tinned “hemp” and pour lead into it to the height of the old terminal. Let the metal harden and remove the tube. We needed talc so it wouldn’t stick to the new terminal’s cable. Voila: the battery is restored.
Source: Avto Vzglyad
Donald Salinas is an experienced automobile journalist and writer for Div Bracket. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of automobiles, offering a unique and knowledgeable perspective on the latest trends and innovations in the automotive industry.
