Quote:
Originally Posted by drcoastline
One of my friends dad's owned a Sunoco when we were in school (he still does) My friend was the tow truck/jump start guy. I would go with him from time to time. The truck had a plug for the jumpers he would plug the plug in first. Then he would hook the black cable to a ground on the car. A bolt, bracket the hood hinge something but not the black terminal on the battery. Then he would connect the red cable to the battery. I asked why he didn't hook the black to the battery? He said because if you hook both directly to the battery the battery could explode. So that's how I have done it ever since.
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He is correct. The reason is that the final connection will probably make a spark and if it does you want the spark far away from the battery. All it takes is for the battery to be emitting some of its hydrogen gas and a spark. I had a battery explode in my face when I was using it to test a light bulb. I've also had a battery explode when jumping a car and the cables were on correctly. Again, hydrogen + spark.