Subfamily Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 Ok... I have lots of excuses... I'd been working 70 hours a week for a month... it was 6 am... it was foggy... it was dark and my flashlight batteries were dead... my jumper cable red and black are too close... but the bottom line is I messed up. I have a 1996 Subaru Outback that had the dome light left on for days, and therefore a very low battery. My wife has a 2000 Subura Legacy Sedan. I thought I had been very careful, but I hooked the cables up backwards. The Outback's power was totally shut down. I was dumb enough to start her car. When this did not make a difference, I got out and happened to touch the jumper cable, which was very hot. I knew instantly and confirmed my error. I pulled them off and inspected batteries, fuses, wires, etc. for damage. Everything looked okay. I hooked the cables back up and jump-started the Outback. Both cars have been working fine for over a week... batteries have been charging and holding a charge even in very cold weather... all electronics are still working. I am still very afraid of the damage I may have caused. Is there any safety feature that Subaru puts in place to prevent stupidity and protect the electronics? If not, what possible damage might have been done and how should I check for it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 you are very very lucky. that reason why you didnt do damage at the time was because the car itself was stone dead. If it has been running for a week with no issues, you didnt hurt anything important because it was so dead, For peace of mind i would loook into the battery, as you may have dramatically shortened its life. You were very lucky nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 ...I got out and happened to touch the jumper cable, which was very hot. I knew instantly and confirmed my error. I pulled them off and inspected batteries, fuses, wires, etc. for damage. Everything looked okay. I hooked the cables back up and jump-started the Outback. Both cars have been working fine for over a week... batteries have been charging and holding a charge even in very cold weather... all electronics are still working. I agree with Nipper, you were very lucky. Part of the luck was that the jumper cable got hot. First, it was a clue that led you to realizing what was wrong. Secondly, it means that there was resistance in the connection/wire, limiting the current draw from your wife's car and the voltage that reached yours. In this instance, a marginal connection may actually have saved you. A better connection might have resulted in heat developing inside one or both batteries sufficient to cause acid to spew, or worse. The electronics typically has at least some minimal protection, but you could possibly be severely injured. Although electronics can sometimes be damaged in ways that don't show up immediately, it's likely that you "dodged a bullet" this time. I agree that under poor visual circumstances, two dark colors (red/black) don't offer good contrast. May I suggest that you attach a large rugged label with a "+" at the end of each of the red cables? Also, there are now some jumper cables on the market that have LEDs built in to indicate the polarity. Apparently, they come in two pieces; you first make the "+" and "-" connections at each car, and verify polarity via the LEDs, then join connectors at the middle of the cables. It seems that would also serve to keep sparks away from the batteries. I have no personal experience with this type of jumper, so I'm not endorsing it. --OB99W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 i've reversed cables in the past on an older late 80's/early 90's soob. no serious damage done. burnt fusible link is the only damage i've incurred. done it once or twice. i definitely don't recommend it. suppose i was lucky. if you're big on reliability then i'd look into another battery as well. it's fine now and will likely test fine, but like they said you likely shortended it's life and i for one wouldn't want to find out by how much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outback_97 Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 Glad you are okay and it looks like there's no damage done to the cars. FWIW I have a set of jumper cables that are yellow and black (vs. red and black) and find them very easy to distinguish, I too have a hard time distinguishing red and black in poor lighting conditions. As far as the flashlight, I'd recommend carrying an LED light in the car, those last a very long time, use much less battery power, and are much more robust; the bulb won't burn out at an inopportune time. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Clark Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 3 words can sum this up... You lucky bastage! If everthing works I doubt there's any damage. Go buy a lotto ticket! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerFahrer Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 Agree with the luckiness. It's understandable, I've made all kinds of idiotic errors, especially when I'm tired from work and all that. But yeah, if you had done any serious damage, it would have probably shown up as a serious problem by now. Just learn this lesson well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 Glad you are okay and it looks like there's no damage done to the cars. FWIW I have a set of jumper cables that are yellow and black (vs. red and black) and find them very easy to distinguish, I too have a hard time distinguishing red and black in poor lighting conditions. As far as the flashlight, I'd recommend carrying an LED light in the car, those last a very long time, use much less battery power, and are much more robust; the bulb won't burn out at an inopportune time. Steve i have a pair of heavy duty cables that were given to me that are goof proof. They have a connector in the middle, you put one side on, then the LED lights up, repeat on the other car, same thing, then plug them into each other. Tells you immediatly if you did it right, and gets you away from sources of BOOM ... They arent cheap, but are great when its a night with a new moon... nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unibrook Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 Agree with GrossGary. I have reversed the jumper cables on my 2001 Forester. Just fried the fusible link....it costs $2.50 at AutoZone to buy a replacement. Same thing, it was dark etc. Don't worry, no major harm done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet82 Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 I didn't do this, but last time I saw it done.... The battery exploded! There was a loud POP! like a muffled firecracker, and the battery splattered acid all around. Good thing you didn't get the same results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 Well, the internal resistance of the dead battery seems to have protected you and your electronics. Very lucky, indeed ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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