crossed wifes to mower when jumpstarting

[Deodiaus]

I was trying to jumpstart my riding mower. I crossed the polarity on my te rminals. It melted the top off the red (pos) terminal. Now it won't star t. What cooked? My guess is that the battery, but is it damaged? How do I te st that, I suppose by leaving it to charge overnight. I tried to start aft er fixing the connections, but wondering if the starter motor is not fried too. I have to connect that directly to a new battery? My wires look good , but maybe I should test for connectivity with an ohm meter? Anything else? Any specific wiring to double check? Thanks, You guys have been knowledgeable.

[Dean Hoffman]

Can you try starting it without the mower battery? Just hook the jumper cables directly to the mower battery cables. Does the mower turn over but not fire?

[micky]

What did your wives think about this?

[micky]

Well, if it melted, it's damaged. Probably ruined. Do you have a voltmeter?

Probably not. From the starter motor's pov, one battery was connected property and the other connnected backwards, so it was lowering the total voltage that showed at the starter, not increasing it.

You can always do that but if the wires were cooked you'd be able to see melted insulation. The only wires at danger were the ones connecting the batteries together. The jumper cables. And even then it's mostly the plastic cover of the wires. I doubt you melted the copper. If you promise not to do this again and wrap tape around any copper that is showing that wasn't showing before, the cables are probably still good too.