Battery Terminal problems

[Burnerman]

Have a look at 'Halfords Battery Terminal Negative' and you should get the idea - the bare battery lead is secured beneath the 2 terminal screws.
One of these days I'll be bright enough to post pictures.....
Don't go down the road of wrapping a battery cable around a screw - its far too heavy duty for that.
John

 

[madder]

Thanks. I'll make sure to pick that up!

 

[Burnerman]

If I can bore you just a little more......
+ve and -ve terminals are different sizes, as you know.
Although the terminal posts on medium sized commercial batteries are the same size, the cables they use are of larger diameter so the hole that you push the cable into is somewhat on the large size. I doubt if Halfords will stock these, though.
Smear the battery post with some vaseline if you wish to keep the green crud at bay - but this is a sign of an ageing battery really.
John

 

[Stivino]

You need to get one of these. The +ve one has a slightly larger hole and is on the left in each of the pairs.

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• Stivino
• 24 Sep 2010
• 1

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[Burnerman]

Yo!
Thats them
John

 

[Stivino]

I've got about ten of them in the shed, I could stick one in the post for you.

 

[Mursal]

[/url=http://cgi.ebay.ie/Kit-Car-Battery-Terminal-Clamps-6V-12V-24V-/360266068109?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item53e187f08d]

This one on E-Bay should do the job. No gloves needed as the voltage is low. But be careful of the acid around the top of the battery. Don't by mistake connect the positive terminal of the battery, the one you are fixing with the steel work of the car. This is what is known as a short and their will be sparks. So disconnect the negative terminal first then fix the broken one and then reconnect the negative one last, just to be on the safe side.

The wire will have to be held tight with the two screws as someone else said or the car will not start.

Good luck

 

[madder]

but this is a sign of an ageing battery really.
John

I only have the battery a few months. I got it brand new just before my car test in May? Thanks for all your help John.

I've got about ten of them in the shed, I could stick one in the post for you.

Much appreciated Stivino. I'll have a look around Dublin today and I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks Mursal too for the instructions.

 

[madder]

guys, I need you again!!!

Ok, so I got my hands on the positive terminal clamp. Delighted.
Now I go to change the terminal clamp, and I notice that the clamp on my battery is quite different to the one I bought. It seems to have 2 wires in it? I have included a picture of a similar one below.
To make matters worse, the nuts and bolts are rusted so badly that I cannot loosen them, at all. Should I cut the old clamp off, and if so where should I make the cut?

 

[Stivino]

I'd cut the clamp parallel with the clamp bolt and right behind it (between the dolt and the battery post) using a junior hacksaw.
And, it seems the terminals you got from Halfords are the correct ones. The ones in the picture I posted aren't the type you need.
And, disconnect the earth first.

 

[madder]

Hi Stivino. I'm actually completely lost now. I got the terminals that you have in your picture. Those are the ones I have. I previously bought a pack of Battery Terminal Adaptors AD1.

I have taken a photo of the 2 options I bought and have uploaded it here. Is there any way I can use either of these to fit to my battery terminal? I only need to change the positive one.

 

[Burnerman]

It seems like your Halfords adapter clamps could have worked here, after all.
Anyway.....you have two red leads going into the existing corroded clamp, right? Do you think, once you have cut off their ends and pared back the insulation, you could fit them both inside the new terminal with the 2 screws, i.e the one on the left of your last picture? That would be the best option, probably.
Either way, remove the existing clamp from the battery...the nuts usually come undone (10mm) but if they are badly chewed then cut them off, as Stivino suggests.
If you could get rid of that red plastic cover and show us whats underneath, this could help too.
John

 

[madder]

I think I have probably enough slack, but what I am unsure of is this:
1. Where do I cut? There seems to be 2 small units around these cables. It's a thick black wrapped cable. Inside this seems to be 2 smaller black wrapped cables. It's hard to see where they are going. None of the nuts and screws are coming undone. Not the one on the actual terminal and not the one that the cable seems to be under. I'm wondering can I cut the cable Before any of the terminal clamp/adapter comes into play?

2. Then, once I've done that, if it's workable, I'd have to peel back the 2Xcables. Does it then matter which side of the clamp I put each cable into, before tightening the screws around them and then fixing it to the terminal?

I'm not sure that if I cut the clamp up between the battery post and the bolt, that it'll be any easier on me at all, because I'd still have the problem of the bold being stuck in place, screwed down onto the cable.
Hope I'm making sense!

 

[Burnerman]

Ok, if you're still a bit unhappy about this, consider:
Using a junior hacksaw, cut down the side of the nut, next to the thread of the bolt holding the cable in place. Once weakened by this, the cable terminals will come away.
Remove the earth connection from the battery first!
Post us a pic of the cable ends...I think the 2 cables will simply pass down into a taped up length of plastic conduit, but it does no harm to remove a length of that.
then, cut down the side of the battery clamp itself, exactly as Stivino suggests. This will then come away.
It looks like your cables will have one thick one and one thin one, connected under that first nut, but ideally we would like to see, just in case there is something called a fusible link involved...but don't worry about that.
John

 

[madder]

Thanks John. Sorry for being a nonse about this! I'll take a pick of it all as it is now, before I do any cutting first, tomorrow, in the daylight during the morning and post it up as quickly as I can. Maybe we can take it from there!
Thanks for the help and patience guys!

edit: 1 thing I can clarify is that the clamp will easily slip off the battery terminal, which is the reason I'm changing it at all! So I shouldn't have to do any cutting to remove that. I just need to get the cables loose. So whatever cutting I'm doing will just be for that.