pull the battery?

[andreasklapp]

do i need to pull my battery before i weld on my car body? i won't be working anywhere near it, but it seems like a bad idea to have it hooked up to the same thing i'm welding. i'd rather not have a battery explode or something. also gonna probably need some help polarizing my gen/regulator after i move my battery around, or rather identifying what terminals are what on my regulator. i'll put up a pick of that in a little while though. only ever had to do it with an old volkswagen, and that was a few years ago. well i suppose i should have posted this regulator question in the electrical section, but anyway. regulator has four poles. battery positive, S, T, ground(?) . got to turn the battery around so it is mounted a little better, as well as make some new wire ends at the regulator. also need to make a new strap for the batt so it doesn't fall out on the first hard right turn, and eventually paint the battery tray. any help's appreciated. found some how to's on the net, but they aren't really in depth and their poles are labeled differently.

 

[Sam_Fear]

Unhook it. Pull it if there is risk of it catching spark.

 

[Motorhead]

If it's a newer car with a computer, disconnect that also.

 

[Toad]

Always better safer that sorry! [cl

Toad

 

[fuzz]

Yes pull the battery. It's important to hook the welders ground clamp as close to the area you're welding so the current from the welder travels a short distance from the arc to the ground clamp not thru the whole car.

 

[Reign]

you need to unhook the battery. there is way too much risk of damaging something with it hooked up. hell, i would even remove it from the bay just in case it gets hot.

 

[andreasklapp]

thanks, i kinda figured as much. would just rather not get any more mutilated than i have to.

 

[donsrods]

I had one blow up (literally) on me years ago. I hooked up a battery charger to it, turned around and walked a few steps and heard a gunshot. The top of the battery blew off and hit the ceiling of the gas station I was working at. I guess the hydrogen gas exploded from some spark. Probably another reason to remove it from the area while you are welding.

Don

 

[andreasklapp]

yeah i haven't had one blow up on me, but i have been set on fire working on a fuel system before, and i've seen some big nasty scars leftover from people who had a battery blow up while they were right next to it. not trying to deal with any of that.