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Battery terminals


LarryH57

Question

I bought a vehicle battery and the negative terminal was smaller than the positive. That meant that the connector on the negative was still loose even with the securing ring tightened to its maximum point. I could just pull it up and off. After a test drive it was nearly off the terminal. If i use copper, lead or steel to wrap around the battery to allow the negative lead to fix tightly, are there conductive metals to avoid?

And BTW why are negative terminals on new batteries smaller than the positive ones?

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I got one of those rings to fit on the battery from Halfords today, but it was too fat. It fitted over the battery negative terminal OK but was then too big to fit inside the ring on the end of the negative wire. I found a thin sheet of copper to wrap around the battery terminal and it is now secure, so I  can't pull off the battery lead. But will the copper be ok or will it react with the battery or get hot or do something i dont expect?

Edited by LarryH57
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You probably got the wrong size ,  if it were near I would probably dress to fit using a Dreadnought file.  The ones I have seen are just lead / alloy same as terminal posts.  Some 'quality' replacement clamps are copper/chromed or tinned.    So copper is hardly a dissimilar metal that could cause problems.   I have a cheapish reamer , like a cheap pencil sharpener - to re-profile terminals , can be tough going - they seem a alloy not just soft lead.

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On 7/3/2021 at 8:03 PM, andym said:

That's the SAE standard and it's been that way for ages, apparently to avoid incorrect polarity.  It might be a good idea to just change the connector for one that fits correctly?

Andy

24v diesel land rover, a guy did not understand that + and - could be opposed depending on battery type. He hammered the negative on the positive post, then used flat copper pipe to fill out the other side. Imagine the damage done when he tried to start it. It was a nice idea, but idiots gonna idiot. 

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