Car battery question

"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012) 01/31/2019 at 07:43 • Filed to: None

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I left my car in garage for a while. Battery is fairly new - bought it last year.

Figured the battery needed charging as I plan on taking the car out tomorrow. Took battery out and brought in into the house. Brought it my charger only to be thwarted. Battery has side terminals with threaded connections inside the battery. What the hell are you supposed to attach the alligator clips of a charger to ? The bolts that go into it are secured to the cables which are attached to the car so I can’t use those bolts in the house.

Are there special chargers for car batteries with side terminals? Are you just supposed to get replacement side post bolts to screw in so you can hook up your car charger?

Why do they make life difficult for no reason whatsoever?

Aremmes > PartyPooper2012 01/31/2019 at 08:09

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Just find any pair of bolt s that will fit into the threads, install them on the battery’s terminals, and clip the charger on them.

PartyPooper2012 > Aremmes 01/31/2019 at 08:11

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i went and bought replacement bolts. It was far too cold for me to dig through my stash of bolts.

What is annoying though is the fact that you have to do this. Why do they make batteries this way? I’ve never once had a good experience with batteries that had side terminals. They leak. Pain the ass to charge. Threads inside get stripped.

Just plain ol garbage. 

MoCamino > PartyPooper2012 01/31/2019 at 09:16

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I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing they are considered “ safer” . Without the terminals sticking out, it’s a lot harder to accidentally bridge them and short out the battery (like by dropping a wrench on it). You can buy screw-in posts like this for charging :

I’ve seen them at WalMart, and obviously you can buy them on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-BAF-1-Side-Terminal-Charging/dp/B0060YI0S4/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1548944019&sr=8-8&keywords=car+battery+post

PartyPooper2012 > MoCamino 01/31/2019 at 09:19

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I already bought the replacement bolts so I can screw them in and charge...

Thanks though.

I was suspecting maybe there was something i was missing. like side terminal charging gizmos. Apparently not. 

nermal > PartyPooper2012 01/31/2019 at 09:27

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Just jam a fork in each one, then attach the clamps to the forks .

Make sure the forks are metal, not plastic or wood.

Echo51 > PartyPooper2012 01/31/2019 at 09:33

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Charge it in the car?

ateamfan42 > PartyPooper2012 01/31/2019 at 09:57

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Why do they make life difficult for no reason whatsoever?

Because General Motors.

Urambo Tauro > PartyPooper2012 01/31/2019 at 09:58

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My truck takes those side post batteries too, so when the time came for a new battery,  I made sure to get one that had both side AND top terminals. I don’t hat e the side posts as much as I used to, but the top posts really do make it a lot easier to work with.

PartyPooper2012 > ateamfan42 01/31/2019 at 11:01

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True story! 

PartyPooper2012 > Echo51 01/31/2019 at 11:03

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I need to do a little more work to determine if there is anything actively draining battery. Plus  it was so damn cold out last night. I feel like battery would have benefited greatly from being in warmth of indoors.

PartyPooper2012 > nermal 01/31/2019 at 11:04

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I got replacement bolts. Stuck em in the battery and its allegedly charging. I’ll see if the car fires up tonight.

I had it charging overnight and allegedly it wasn’t done. So either bad contact or dead battery.