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An Electrifying Invention. Brilliant!


Subdeacon Joe

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As I used to tell my wife; I'm an electrician and I'm here to check your shorts...

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Did you know that a new Snap-On 3/8” drive ratchet handle reacts identically to a 40 year old K-Mart long handled 1/2” wrench when coming into contact with heavy duty truck battery terminals? 
 

In 40 years car batteries haven’t changed much. They will still vaporize the ends of your tools, make that air smell funny, put a metallic taste in your mouth and allow you to realize that after 40 years you still do some pretty stupid stuff once in a while. 
Brilliant!...pun intended :lol:

 

 

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2 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Did you know that a new Snap-On 3/8” drive ratchet handle reacts identically to a 40 year old K-Mart long handled 1/2” wrench when coming into contact with heavy duty truck battery terminals? 

 

 

You've seen a lot of people do that, eh?  I know, you being the wise, experienced, illuminated, and competent person you are that you could never have done something like that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:lol:

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On 6/5/2020 at 2:42 PM, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Did you know that a new Snap-On 3/8” drive ratchet handle reacts identically to a 40 year old K-Mart long handled 1/2” wrench when coming into contact with heavy duty truck battery terminals? 
 

In 40 years car batteries haven’t changed much. They will still vaporize the ends of your tools, make that air smell funny, put a metallic taste in your mouth and allow you to realize that after 40 years you still do some pretty stupid stuff once in a while. 
Brilliant!...pun intended :lol:

 

 

The short circuit current from lead acid batteries is tiny compared to flooded cell nickle cadmium stationary batteries.  A equivalent ampere hour capacity nicad* to a group 31 truck battery that vaporize the part of the tool that touches the battery terminals will vaporize the whole tool & the blast from the arc will shatter the nicad cell plastic cases.   Reminds me of when I learned this early in my career as an engineer for a CAT dealer I saw a 24 volt set of nicad batteries that were used for starting a D348 CAT engine genset. It had been shorted out when a mechanic was replacing the engine's thermostats.  The coolant hadn't been maintained so it was very rusty.  Even after the bad coolant had been drained some remained in the cooling system.  So when he removed the thermostat housings some coolant drained out.  The battery set had a polycarbonate sheet cover over it.  The sheet had holes in it for some unnamed reason.  Nicads don't outgas when charging or discharging; because, the electrolyte (potassium hydroxide) is only an ion transfer medium.  The leaked coolant ran across the cover & onto the tops of the battery cells shorting them out.  Other than temporary hearing loss the mechanic didn't suffer any injuries.  He was shielded by the large engine.  The destroyed battery cells were taken to our yard on a pallet for disposal in a hazmat landfill.  The plastic cell jars were all missing.

*12 volt nicad is physically larger than a automotive 12 volt battery.  They a much more expensive than engine starting lead acid batteries; however, besides there superior short duration discharge current they are a lot less temperature sensitive & they have 20+ year service life.  Their temperature performance is why they are very common in the Middle East.  One of Silicon Valley's mega tech companies specifies them for all their standby diesel gensets.

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