Side battery connection bolts too long?

[terry]

Not quite home repair; unless you use several 12 volt truck/auto batteries to power your 24 volt computer UPS, as we do.

However those of us who 'do' at home are most likely to attend to (at least the smaller stuff) on our motor vehicles? So this tip may help?

Picked up a couple of lead replacement side terminal connectors for auto type batteries to set up an out-of-vehicle charging set up for some 12v recreational/spare auto style batteries.

Each connector came with a short bolt to screw into the battery side terminal. As it was installed each bolt 'seemed' a little bit too long! To continue turning it in after it appeared 'to bottom out' could IMO have either damaged the soft lead thread in the battery or perhaps broken through the battery post into the interior of the battery. So I stopped, investigated an measured!

But by not tightening it fully the connector was loose; the solutions were; use a shorter bolt, grind off end of the bolt provided by say an eighth of an inch, or use a suitable washer (which due to the depression in the connector into which the bolt head fits will have to be certain size, only slightly bigger than the bolt head!

Or possibly, but undesirably, using say a steel plated washer between the lead surface of the side connection and the lead connector thus introducing a different metal between the two contact surfaces which can carry high current.

These connectors looked as though made in 'The Peoples Republic' and/ or cheaply made somewhere else?

Not saying that because these were perhaps Chinese, Korean or third world made etc. that all such side post connectors are necessarily no good. Although recent events involving, food products, pet food and more recently toothpaste (falsely/alleged, but not actually made, in South America) seem to throw doubt on manufacturing to the proper standards we are used to in North America and the European Union.

BUT: This warning might save someone the grief of not damaging a side terminal battery????

Must go and change over the charger lead clips to the other spare recreational battery until I get the bolt length sorted out! I think shortening the bolts, although it will grind off the plating is quickest and safest way to go!.

[terry]

Oops!!!!!! I wrote ................... in part ................. above ....

I should have written that the news reports I had heard said "Toothpaste allegedly but not actually made in South Africa"; sorry about that, my error. Wrong continent!

terry

[Jack]

I'm an old codger 90 yrs old. All my adult life I have proclaimed that this country should should be a 'Made in USA' state in every way it is possible. The people and country should come first and the rest of the world afterwards. How ever our politicians, in order to gain votes, have changed things around over the years. NOW, we are reaping their greedy mistakes.. The grass root people of this country need to rise up in masse and take control and put this land back on the original track that was set forth in 1776 by our fore fathers.. Having foregn trade is good only to a point. Beyond that it serves no good to this land. I say let America become Americaiized again. Jack

[dpb]

terry wrote: ...

...

Sounds like a tempest in a teapot to me...

I've never had a problem w/ a washer on a battery terminal in some 50 years on everything from a small lawnmower to the multi-parallel/series systems on the large tractors...

But, taking off a little off the end of a bolt is about a 15 second operation or get a shorter bolt...

--

[Charlie Bress]

Jack, I am sure you remember when Sam Walton was still alive and the Walmart stores were proud to display Made in America signs. When the old man passed on and the kids took over the business is when they took down those signs and replaced them with Made in China with lousy quality and cheap labor.

Charlie

[Bob F]

If you do try to shorten the bolt, be sure to screw the appropriate nut on it first to restore the threads.

Bob

[Stormin Mormon]

Wouldn't that be nice! Maybe we'd have some more jobs in the US, instead of sending all our money to China?

[Rich256]

America industry can't compete with most foreign products where the workers and companies don't have to pay income tax, social security or medical care premiums. Then there are those so called "made in America cars" that are assembled by Japanese robots with one union man watching, using parts shipped in containers from Japan. Again no significant taxes, there is no way can an American factory compete. Ship a car from the US to those countries and they immediatly impose their value added tax making our goods even more expensive. They don't apply their tax on goods they export.

When I suggest that we impose a similar tax the arguement I get is that "it will hurt the poor people too much". I dislike the idea of such a tax because it opens the door for the politicans to easily increase taxes.

[terry]

Thanks Bob. Yes that's a trick I use especially if one is say hacksawing off a bolt; the nut helps 'clean' the threads as it comes off. Plus bit of oil if necessary! Regards. terry.

[terry]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Smiling a bit! Cos there is always more than one side to a discussion.

Because what was originally intended to be helpful hint to the group about battery terminals, with my side comment about manufacturing standards turned into a discussion about US industry/manufactruring.

I'm in Canada!

Which exports a great deal of its raw materials and some manufactured goods to the USA. For raw materials there tends to be a world price for a barrel of oil, or a ton of iron ore. And since Canadian resources, including water, electric power, oil, minerals (nickel, copper, iron, uranium etc.), lumber etc. are in world wide demand doesn't seem to be too much of a problem?

By the same token Canada imports items from (or sometimes through) the USA. Yesterday for example the potatos at s.market were from the USA, as were other vegetables and food goods. After all it's only mid June up here, so summer has barely started! :-)

But all too often Canadian semi finished and raw products (such as lumber) are faced with US 'Import tariffs', "To protect US industry". These often increase costs to the US consumer. One estimate was that lumber tariffs increase the cost of a typical US home by $2000 to $3000? Canadian lumber costs more, so US lumber can cost more? But now the Chinese are 'looking for' lumber; so tariffs unlikely there!

Some (perhaps many) Canadians would like to see NAFTA done away with. It's far too easy for some group in the US to lobby Congress to impose tariffs, sometimes imposed contrary to the NAFTA treaty. In other words what good is any treaty if not followed?

Canadian labour costs are high. As are also taxes due to various social programmes and need to operate a larger country with a population one tenth that of the USA . Together with a generally harder climate, and greater distances due to size of the country, Canada is not a cheap place to do business or live! But it competes; partly because of the demand for natural resources and also its manufacturing sector.

Canadian auto plants, for example, have high productivities and good quality. Also when considered as a source of materials; oil/petroleum etc. Canada is a well orgainsed and very politically stable country.

Yesterday one big news item was that the Chinese were at a big western Canada conference announcing and actively looking for oil-deals to feed their booming economy. Canada buys a lot of consumer stuff from China too! India at the moment is not too far behind. And OPEC which includes a lot of Middle Easter Countries, some of whcih are not very politically stable or efficiently run, get our money for the oil we buy. So it's a world economy.

The whole 'world order' will gradually change. In Canada for example too much dependence on extraction of non-renewable natural resources may stifle innovation! The next 50 years will be interesting!