When installing the battery, the polarity was reversed

I reversed the polarity of the battery terminals - what could have broken?

When charging or installing a battery, some motorists, despite the different sizes of opposite-polarity terminals, may confuse the polarity and connect minus to plus and, accordingly, plus to minus. If a similar incident happened to you, then this article is for you.

Mixed up the terminals when charging the battery

Reversing the polarity of the battery during charging is much easier than when installing the battery on a car, because chargers do not have terminals of different sizes - the charger has special terminal clamps, which are simply called “crocodiles”. If you noticed in time that you had reversed the polarity, then, as a rule, nothing bad happened. check if the charger is working, change the polarity on the battery and continue charging the battery. If you discover this after the battery is fully charged, then you will have to tinker.

If you charged the battery with the polarity reversed, then the battery has undergone a process called “polarity reversal.” In a reversed battery, the positive terminal is a minus and the other is a positive. Polarity reversal is treated as follows:

— completely discharge the battery by connecting a car light bulb (parking light or brake light) to it;

- fully charge the battery (this time, do not forget to connect the charger correctly).

That's it, your battery is ready for use.

Mixed up the terminals on the car

If you mix up the terminals on your car, the consequences can be much more serious.

If you installed such a battery with the wrong polarity on a running car, then most likely the diode bridge of your generator has burned out. If your car is stuffed with electronics, then an error may appear on the dashboard. Just in case, do some diagnostics.

If you installed the battery but did not turn on the ignition, then usually nothing bad will happen. In any case, you need to make a diagnosis, because... Damage to the vehicle's electronics depends on the duration of such connection.

If, after an error with the polarity, the car no longer starts and the electronics do not respond, then try the following procedures yourself:

— check the integrity of the fuse at the terminal (not all cars have it);

— check all fuses from the fuse block (it is advisable to check with a multimeter, since it is not always possible to visually see damage to the fuse due to polarity reversal).

And one more piece of advice. Once the battery is installed, lubricate the terminals correctly.

All about batteries

A battery is a chemical source of current, for which certain chemical processes must occur to function properly. As the battery discharges, sulfuric acid “sticks” to the negative electrode, forming insoluble lead sulfate, leaving

Very often you can hear recommendations about hybrid batteries from salespeople in car dealerships. So what is a hybrid battery? A hybrid battery for a car is externally indistinguishable from other acid batteries, except for the ethical designation

In the Zhiguli era, starting one car from another was in the order of things. And now?

What happens if you mix up the battery terminals? Installed on the car and also when charging

Question from a reader:

“Good afternoon Sergey, I have a cry from the heart! I recently bought a Japanese right-hand drive car, it doesn’t matter what, the main thing is that it had a dead battery, I decided to change it, when I bought it I didn’t notice that the new battery, although it fits in size, has a different polarity (pluses and minuses in different places), so I connected it wrong! I didn’t even notice the sparks. In general, only after it began to smell like burnt wires did I come to my senses and disconnect the terminals! Now I installed the terminals correctly, I had to extend the positive wire. The car seems to have started and is working, but now I have doubts! What can happen to the car if the battery terminals are mixed up? Tell me, what can I see? Thanks in advance, Albert"

Yes, it’s an interesting question, read on...

THE CONTENT OF THE ARTICLE

Indeed, you are right Albert, there are batteries with reverse polarity (you can read about them here). BUT many ordinary people do not know about this, and if you do not pay close attention to the process of replacing the battery, you can end up in a situation like YOU. That is, the battery terminals are mixed up. It should be noted that this does not bring anything good! If there are no consequences, you quickly come to your senses - then consider yourself lucky! However, often the consequences are the most “deplorable”, today I have collected 8 of the most common breakdowns, and at the end I will tell you what will happen if you mix up the terminals when charging your battery.

Possible faults

A battery left incorrectly connected for a long time can cause a fire. The same consequences can occur if you improperly light a cigarette from another car.

May also be harmed

on-board computer, if installed on the vehicle. This threatens a complete failure of all vehicle systems. It needs to be replaced, which will significantly “lighten” the owner’s wallet.

Negligence and inattention can damage your car alarm. She prefers to work only with her poles.

Be sure to pay attention to the wiring, and not just the one that comes from the battery. It happens that wires that were under load during connection melt and short out. Modern cars provide some protection against incorrect connection. A fuse is installed at the positive terminals.

We considered the question:

What will be the consequences if the battery terminals are mixed up? Also, to prevent short circuits, electronic units are protected by diode bridges with fuses. The fuse blows, but the unit is in good condition. Do not be too hasty when installing the battery, it can literally be expensive.

What happens if you mix up the terminals when charging?

If we are talking about charging at home via a charger , then it should be noted that your battery will most likely not do anything! In 95% of cases, the device itself will burn out, because it contains a fuse that will simply burn out if the voltage is incorrect, thereby protecting both the battery and the “charger” itself. You will need to change the fuse in it, and then try to install the charging wires correctly. This happened to a friend of mine, no big deal - after he came to his senses and connected the wires to the terminals, nothing happened, that is, the devices on the charger were at zero, both the current strength and the voltage. However, if you have a cheap Chinese charger, then it can completely burn out, there’s nothing you can do, you’ll need to buy a new one!

Error in polarity during "lighting"

If we are talking about charging at home via a charger, then it should be noted that your battery will most likely not do anything! In 95% of cases, the device itself will burn out, because it contains a fuse that will simply burn out if the voltage is incorrect, thereby protecting both the battery and the “charger” itself. You will need to change the fuse in it, and then try to install the charging wires correctly.

This happened to a friend of mine, no big deal - after he came to his senses and connected the wires to the terminals, nothing happened, that is, the devices on the charger were at zero, both the current strength and the voltage. However, if you have a cheap Chinese charger, then it can completely burn out, there’s nothing you can do, you’ll need to buy a new one!

To sum it up, it turns out that the consequences after such a “mix-up” are not very good, guys, if you don’t understand the car yourself, it’s better to entrust the matter to professionals! And once again - attention and only attention, if you mixed it up, but “threw it off” in time, then it’s possible that nothing bad will happen!

Source

If it is quite difficult to mix up the terminals when installing a battery on a car, then it is quite easy to do this while charging the device. The whole point is that the terminals of the charging unit are the same size - crocodiles. If you notice in time that the terminals have been mixed up, then nothing bad will happen. It is imperative to replace the polarity and check the functionality of the device, after which the user will be able to continue charging the power source.

When the error was discovered after the battery had been fully charged, then solving this problem is somewhat more difficult - the fact is that in incorrectly fully charged batteries, complete internal processes occur. In simple terms, the polarities have replaced each other. To solve this problem, you will need to completely discharge the battery and then charge it, but connecting the charger correctly.

This is the worst situation when you can mix up the terminals, because... the result will not be the best for each car. Each vehicle will experience significant stress on the wiring and system. If the connection was made with the engine running, then the generator will most likely suffer from this.

As you can see, it is necessary to select and operate the battery correctly, otherwise you can completely damage the vehicle.

What happens if you mix up the terminals when “lighting up”?

Here the consequences can be the most dire for both cars. Here it’s like a double blow to the car system and to the wires: on the one hand, your battery is not yet completely dead, on the other, it’s vigorous, and it happens that many people connect it while the engine is running - and this means that they also have a generator. It turns out to be a hellish mixture - it’s even hard to imagine what will happen, but the sparks will just fall like fireworks, the short circuit will be 100%, if you don’t disconnect the wires within 1 - 2 minutes they will start to melt and just light up, and then it’s like in this photo.

That's all, read our AUTOBLOG.

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What to do if the terminals are mixed up?

Incorrect polarity of the terminals on the car

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What happens if you mix up the terminals and connect the battery incorrectly?

For modern cars, this problem is irrelevant - the space under the hood is so tight that it is not convenient to put the terminals on the battery in the correct way. However, a person is only human to sometimes do impossible things unintentionally. You can buy the battery itself with the wrong polarity and put it in place of the old one. When lighting a cigarette, all cars have a risk of incorrectly connecting the battery terminals; in the dark or in a hurry, this may not happen.

What happens if you mix up the battery terminals?

Proper operation of the vehicle not only extends its service life, but also prevents the occurrence of situations that could threaten the lives of the driver and passengers. Not all novice car enthusiasts know what will happen if the battery terminals on a car are mixed up.

This error, which may seem insignificant, often causes dangerous consequences. Even experienced drivers can mistakenly install the battery incorrectly. Most often this happens when the current source has reverse polarity.

Consequences of incorrect battery connection

Let’s immediately dispel the myth that a battery connected “backwards” starts the engine in the opposite direction. Let's start with the starter: if the stator has a winding and not permanent magnets, then when the polarity is reversed, the direction of the current will change simultaneously in both the stator and the rotor, the starter will begin to rotate in the same direction as before. Think about the commutator motors of electric drills, grinders and other tools - they operate on alternating current, the direction of which is constantly changing.

About the dangers of smoking

What is the danger of “lighting up”? The only thing is with sudden changes in load in the vehicle’s on-board network. The more modern the car, the more delicate electronics it contains, and the higher the danger of burning something. However, we should not forget that a sharp drop in voltage in the on-board network is a normal situation for any car: this happens when the engine is started “cold”, when the starter consumes a large current. Much more dangerous is a short-term increase in voltage in the network, which can really lead to all sorts of troubles. Where can he get a promotion? From the great mind of the ill-considered actions of some users. So, for example, removing the terminal from the battery while the engine is running is not the most reasonable action. A generator deprived of load and feedback can raise the voltage in the network to 17 volts, and at the same time it is quite possible to burn something electronic.

Surely there will be people who will object: “I’ve done this a hundred times and nothing burned!” Indeed, the probability of damage to the on-board electronics is far from one hundred percent - it all depends on a bunch of factors: idle speed, generator power, design of the relay regulator, endurance of the electronic systems of a particular car, and so on. (For example, a VAZ 2101 with an electromechanical PP380 is difficult to disable even by the EMP of a nuclear explosion). However, the danger exists and the cost of error can be high. Therefore, unless absolutely absolutely necessary, it is better not to experiment, and if it’s stuck, then you need to turn on some powerful but “strong” consumer in advance - an engine cooling fan, a rear window heater, etc. It is not recommended to use a radio or headlights as such a load.

In general, the driver’s task when “lighting up” is to reduce the possibility of power surges to a minimum. How to do it?

Short circuits in the network

What happens if you short the battery terminals? Given the ability of starter batteries to briefly deliver current of hundreds of amperes, an object that shorts the terminals (for example, a wrench accidentally caught between the “plus” and the car body) will melt. More massive metal objects can become tightly welded to the terminals or body, causing the battery to go “zero.” At risk are cars where the battery is installed in the trunk - you should not carelessly throw keys or towing lugs there, it is unknown where they will end up under the influence of shaking while driving.

Battery short circuit when hit by a foreign object

Since such short circuits occur hidden from the owner (a key accidentally dropped during repairs can at least be immediately seen), they are the most dangerous - there is a high probability of ignition in the trunk.

With such short circuits, problems with on-board electronics are possible. Standard pre-start heaters on German cars are blocked after this, and their functionality is restored only after forced unlocking from a diagnostic scanner.

Cars with CAN wiring are sensitive to power surges. There is a risk of sporadic errors appearing in the controllers' memory.

Incorrect lighting

If the driver mixes up the battery terminals when lighting a cigarette, then the following happens: we get two batteries connected in series, the outputs of which are short-circuited. We get a short circuit already under a voltage of 24 volts. The vast majority of sets of wires sold in stores, whose core cross-section is already insufficient, will instantly burn out, leaving burns on the hands of the unlucky driver. If the wires have a sufficient cross-section, then they will have time to heat up before burning out.

Therefore, always check that the wires are connected correctly. While factory kits at least have color markings, homemade wires are often cut from one piece and do not differ in color. You can mark them with colored electrical tape on the “crocodiles” - this will reduce the risk of incorrect connection.

The “positive” terminals are connected first - first the crocodile is attached to the battery being lit, then to the battery being used. The ground is connected in the opposite direction - first on the cigar battery. Thus, the circuit is closed at the last step on the car being lit.

Since it is equally important to correctly disconnect the battery terminals, the disconnection procedure is also strictly defined. The ground is disconnected first, after which any manipulations with the wires will not pose the risk of a short circuit.

Remember that lighting for on-board electronics is an emergency situation that creates an increased load on the generator and excessive voltage surges in the network of the vehicle being lit during rotation of the starter.

Video: What happens if you reverse the polarity at the battery terminals? What will happen? How to arrange it?

Is it easy to get confused with connecting terminals?

In order not to accidentally get confused when connecting the terminals to the batteries, the negative terminal was made thinner than the positive one. That is, it will be very difficult to put the negative one on the positive contact, and the positive one cannot be simply attached to the negative contact. In addition, next to each contact there will be symbols “+” and “-”. Sometimes they are also distinguished in red and black (blue).

If the designations have been erased and it is impossible to determine where the “plus” and “minus” are, then there is no need to guess. To avoid confusion with the connection, it is recommended to use a tester or multimeter to determine the polarity of the battery. Even a severely discharged battery will be able to provide sufficient voltage to perform such a diagnosis.

Poor indoor lighting or work in the dark can also result in battery polarity reversal. Therefore, even if it is not possible to organize normal lighting, when connecting the battery, you can turn on the cell phone and accurately determine the polarity.

Note! The positive terminal is always thicker than the negative terminal and is indicated by a “+” sign; sometimes there is also a red casing on the contact.

What happens if you mix up the battery terminals?

The degree of damage during polarity reversal will depend on what devices will be connected to the battery. In some cases, nothing bad will happen, for example, incandescent lamps will work as before, and DC motors will begin to rotate in the opposite direction.

At the same time, LED equipment that is not protected by fuses will instantly fail if connected incorrectly. Complex electrical circuits on semiconductor devices will also not withstand and will burn out.

When charging the battery

Polarity reversal when charging a battery is the most common phenomenon. Even experienced car owners can encounter this problem. After all, if the clamps on car wires are designed for different terminal diameters, then chargers have crocodiles at the ends.

If you use a homemade charger, then in this case you should also be careful when connecting the wires to the battery terminals. Moreover, if such a device was made by other people, then you can easily detect a positive charge on the black conductor, and a negative charge on the red one.

Charger with reverse polarity protection

Many modern charger models are protected from polarity reversal. For this purpose, fusible or self-resetting fuses can be used, which immediately open the circuit if the polarity is violated. Such a part can be located on one of the low-voltage wires or in the lower part of the product body.

The use of protection allows you to fully preserve the functionality of the product, but if fusible inserts are used, then to restore the device you will need to replace the burnt parts with new ones. If there are no built-in protections, then the charger will simply burn out. Nothing should happen to the battery itself.

Charger without polarity reversal protection

A charger without polarity reversal protection can not only fail, but also ignite due to high temperature. There is also a risk of battery damage, especially if the battery has been severely discharged.

When using chargers without protection, you should be very careful when connecting the low-voltage wire clamps to the battery terminals.

When lighting

If the car does not start, then the lighting method is an excellent solution for quickly starting the engine. If in such a situation you incorrectly connect the wires from one battery to another, then a lot can happen, even an explosion of the battery, which is less charged.

In practice, such actions can be compared to if the owner of a car shorted the positive conductor to ground, but only with a discharge current twice as large. Also in this case, a fire may occur as a result of the release of a very large amount of heat.

In addition, there is often a need to repair the electrical equipment of both cars after an incorrect connection. The life of the batteries will also be significantly reduced if the wires are not connected correctly when lighting the cigarette.

When connected to a car

If the contact between the power wires and the battery is incorrect, sensitive elements such as the generator rectifier and the regulator relay may fail. Other equipment may be protected by fuses that blow first.

More powerful electrical equipment, such as the starter, will not be damaged, but it will be impossible to start the engine of a car that has an incorrectly installed battery.

What happens if you mix it up?

What are the consequences if you mix up the battery terminals on a car?

Several connection options and their consequences are possible.

The terminals are mixed up when installed on a vehicle with the engine running;
The battery is installed with the ignition off.

will cause much more trouble to the driver than the second one. When changing the polarity of the battery, it can be damaged

, as well as other electronic devices of the car. This applies mainly to older cars that do not have factory protection against incorrect battery connection. Most modern generators are equipped with electronic relays that control battery charging, for which polarity reversal is unacceptable.

If the battery is connected incorrectly with the ignition off, the consequences will be less severe. In this case, previously turned on electronic devices usually come out,

, watches and other devices. Sometimes blown fuses installed in their power supply circuit help out, but provided that they meet the necessary requirements for the maximum current in the protected circuit.

What to do in case of polarity reversal

The first thing to do when reversing the polarity is to disconnect the battery from the charger, car wires or other load as soon as possible. Then you should inspect the place where the polarity violation occurred.

If signs such as slight smoke or smoldering of the material of the connected device are observed, then the first signs of fire should be properly eliminated using a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher or sand or water. If there is a strong fire of petroleum products, it is not recommended to use water.

After making sure that no fire occurred when the battery was connected incorrectly, the condition of the battery and devices connected to the network are assessed. This is best done by an electrician in a car repair shop; you won’t be able to carry out a complete diagnosis yourself without special knowledge.

If the battery is hot, it must be allowed to cool down before performing diagnostic measures. Then use a multimeter to check the voltage at the terminals. If this value is greater than 13 Volts, then most likely the battery can be used further without any restrictions. Otherwise, the battery is placed on charge.

If the battery is working, you should try installing it on the car and try to start the engine. If this procedure was successfully carried out, then all electrical equipment of the car is checked. If the on-board electronics elements are found to be inoperable, you must contact qualified specialists to carry out repair work.