After all these years I crossed the positive negative wires while trying to jump my car after it died in the hurricane we had here, ever since, it will not take a jump, there was a spark, nothing major, could I have blown out something that is not allowing my car to take a charge? Thanks.

 

What originally caused your battery to "die"......did it just normally drain out, such as in leaving the lights on ? How old is the battery ? Have you tried another battery yet ?

You could check the main fuse/relay box located on the passenger side underhood for a blown fuse. Maybe even a fusible link ?

I'd personally try installing a known good battery in before I did anything else. That may save you some time by eliminating the battery itself as the main problem.

Then take the old battery to an auto parts store to have checked out !

 

battery could of been completely drained and fried a battery cell and now its not alive or keep a charge gotta get the battery tested more and likely the battery is fried walmart sells real inexpensive and with a 3 year warrenty if money is tight. if you still have your radio codes and etc try use a jumper cable to keep the car alive while to swap over the new battery to try and avoid radio and navigation code issues.

 

have battt tested as said above

look in fuse boxes under hood for a master fusible link--a small metal strip serving as a blow out fuse for situations like this
or something marked main or master 50 amp...

does the car run on its own,,it just wont accept power from outside source?

 

Master Fuse Should be +100A (120A for Type-S)

 

I was using a sample number of 50,,,on the main fuse

 

The battery was fine, has to be the main fuse, I will check on sat, most of the snow should be gone. Thanks guys, 01tl4tl, it has no power is not taking a jump.....

 

The battery tested good, than the fuse hopefully did it's job to protect the system from any potential damage. If it's only a blown fuse, give the new one a sweet kiss before re-installing it !

 

then carry a spare one and NEVER hook the batteries together

always hook up dead car first,,with NEG clamp on a good ground point
NOT to the batt neg!!!
this separates/ isolates your batt from theirs, and any potential electrical feedback from harming your ride

on good car- both cables to correct terminals
connect NEG last, so YOU dont become the path of least resistance to EARTH
thats always a major bummer~

 

The whole point of not connecting jumper cables to the battery terminals is to avoid creating a spark in the hydrogen cloud that can exist above the battery. It has nothing to do you becoming part of the circuit. 12 volts cant hurt you. You can wet your hands, stand in a puddle, and grab both posts of a fully charged battery, and it's not gonna hurt you in any way. That said, the only crucial connection, other than wrong ones, is the last connection you make. That's when the circuit is completed; that's when a spark could occur; that's why you make that connection away from the battery, but as close to the starter as practical.

 

Hey TLer trash, Thanks for the technical explanation, some things are hard for us to fully comprehend when it comes to the specifics of electricity's flow.

Have you ever personally experienced the spark meeting the cloud ?

 

It's a lot rarer than you might expect. I watched a battery boil on the charger for an hour during a high school auto shop lecture. When the lecture was over, "Kool Karl", who owned the battery, remembered it, lept to action and pulled the clamps off. Yep; it blew up; not real spectacular, but it startled everyone. No one was injured. A porter did something similar at a dealership I worked at; again no injuries. The last one was my fault. I jumped my dead garden tractor in a hurry to get mowing. When I went to restart it after I had mowed for a while, it blew up. There wasn't enough water to cover the plates and connectors which allowed a spark or hot spot somewhere.