Watch That Diamondplate!

[SpeakEasy]

Front of my trailer has diamondplate in the lower 2 or 3 feet.

This is immediately next to my battery boxes. Today when I was doing some maintenance work I had occasion to disconnect the battery. I was using a crescent wrench to loosen one of the terminals, and the wrench slipped out of my hand. For an instant it was still touching the + terminal while it was falling against the diamondplate.

ZAP!

Fortunately it only made contact for an instant.

Moral of the story - disconnect the negative first. That diamondplate is connected to the frame, which is essentially the ground/negative of the battery circuit.

-Speak

[fj12ryder]

Had some Triumph motorcycles that were positive ground.

[Dave_H_M]

Hmmmmmmmm, and then I have an antique tractor that is positive ground. :h

[CavemanCharlie]

When I was 18 and living in my first house I was changing the element out on the water heater and never though about shutting the power off first. I welded the screw driver to the heater and blew the fuse. Darned Lucky I Wasn't Hurt or Killed.

I never made that mistake again and now I make sure I shut off the power and use a test light just to make sure it's really off.

I still have the screw driver with the bad spot on it where I welded it to the heating element. I keep it around as a reminder.

[mobeewan]

I learned about the diamond plate, but it was just a tiny spark.

My biggest blunder was when I had a socket wrench that i was using to install 2 new 12v batteries on my trailer. The wrench slipped from my fingers and i accidentally dropped the socket wrench across the contacts of one of my new batteries when tightening a cable.

Luckily I had a shovle close by I could use to knock the wrench loose with which was now welded to the lugs. I used a rag to pick the wrench up to look at and man was it hot. Had to drop it and let it lay a while. The there was a melted spot on the handle and I was no longer able to operate the thumb lever to change the direction of the gears. Went back to the autoparts store for another battery.

That was about a 100 dollar accident. Now I slip a piece of hose over a wrench when playing with batteries.

[dedmiston]

SpeakEasy wrote:

LadyRVer wrote:
Thanks for the info. I would have never thought about that diamondplate doing that. I have two batteries right there. Sure will remember this post.

I'm really glad you posted this response. It makes it worth putting up with the people who are on my case for doing something stupid.

-Speak

I think I'm in the "stupid" category right there with you. My friend was stupider though. :B

[SpeakEasy]

LadyRVer wrote:
Thanks for the info. I would have never thought about that diamondplate doing that. I have two batteries right there. Sure will remember this post.

I'm really glad you posted this response. It makes it worth putting up with the people who are on my case for doing something stupid.

-Speak

[Eric_Lisa]

I thought you were going a different way. Long time ago we had a diamond plate tool box mounted to the trailer of a race boat. First time out the sun reflected from the diamond plate on to the black carpet of the trailer. Along with the existing sunlight, melted it right down. Only clue what happened was the diamond plate pattern in the melted carpet.

[LadyRVer]

Thanks for the info. I would have never thought about that diamondplate doing that. I have two batteries right there. Sure will remember this post.

[CavemanCharlie]

dedmiston wrote:
I used to have two batteries on the TT tongue and another two in a tote that I would connect to give us four. I had touched that diamond plate with the end wrench a few times and knew it would spark, so I always made it a point to wrap my entire hand around the end of the wrench so that any accidental contact with the diamond plate would be metal on skin (non-conductive) instead of metal on metal.

I wasn't as smart as I thought I was though.

On evening we got to camp a little late and it was already dark and most of my friends were already drinking around the fire. I followed my usual protocol with my palm wrapped around the wrench, but I got careless and let the wrench rest against my gold wedding band. When that gold band (very conductive!) touched the diamond plate, it exploded hard enough to blow the stones from my ring. It was still dark, but I could see the ring glowing brightly and smell my finger burning.

I ran over to the trailer of a friend who arrived just before I did (he wasn't drinking yet) and got him to cut my ring off.

My friends gave me grief for this every time we camped, but they were also pretty sympathetic about the injury and how long it took to heal (I couldn't wear a ring for almost a year). And then exactly a year later one of my buddies came over to heckle me and offer to help. He grabbed my wrench but before I could yell out a warning (time slowed down), he did the exact same doggone thing.

My diamond plate had these two adorable his-and-his weld marks where I and my brain-dead buddy both shocked ourselves.

It's been at least five years and I still remove my ring every night at bedtime to give my finger a break. We've been married for 32 years, but I didn't replace my fine original gold band. I wear cheap $19 bands from Amazon now. And my buddy wears even cheaper rubber rings.

We upgraded trailers since then: No diamond plate and the four batteries are installed permanently.

That's quite the story.

The insulated wrench that was in the posted sounds like a good idea.

[Fisherman]

That's why they make these for those that can't/won't/decide not to remember how and how not to do things and learn the hard way. Insulated wrench

[Lynnmor]

Someone failed to negotiate the straightaway in front of my house and took out the electric pole. As is the procedure, the fireman disconnected the battery that was encased in bent sheet metal, and you guessed it, positive first. I corrected him before it got out of hand.

[rightlaneonly]

Back in the early 60's when I went to work for Standard Stations they taught us to remove all jewelry,especially rings, before working on batteries. I still take it off to this day.

[time2roll]

BurbMan wrote:
ALWAYS disconnect the negative side of a battery first for exactly this reason!!!!

Actually I remove any metal jewelry first.

[MrWizard]

Be very glad
That it wasn't your wedding ring

I have sparked my share of wrenches