Finally got my battery!!

[tnswt12]

I noticed several owners have new batteries installed (from the pictures posted) and I don't see any evidence of a battery disconnect installed. You guys are asking for trouble.

If you experience an electrical short or something similar you run the chance of burning your car to the ground. While you look for a wrench to disconnect your battery the insulation on your wires melt and smoke and quite possibly you could have a serious fire on your hands, all in a matter of seconds.

Play it safe and spend a few dollars on this very important safety device, and use it.

[paul2748]

My safety device is a 1/2 in box wrench. When the car is not being used for a while, I just remove the ground cable from the battery.

[ICON 1956]

So....I'am a little spoof. What your saying is there can be a fire if the negative is not disconnected from the battery at any time? I have always had the battery tender attached to my past cars 65 mustang and my 1961 Thunderbird. And now I have the 56 Thunderbird attached to the battery tender. I do have the green disconnect but since I had my alternator upgraded to heavy duty . Can someone educate me on what could happen if I left alone......

[Joe Johnston]

In general terms, our Little Birds had no more electrical fire issues than a modern car when they were new. That said, a lot can happen over 60 years with previous owners doing poor wiring, the normal hardening, cracking and general deterioration of insulation, & corrosion of terminals leading to resistance and heat build up. Fuses may have been eliminated and old relays may fail and provide constant power to a circuit only intended to be intermittently powered.

These disconnects are inexpensive, provide peace of mind and cheap insurance to disconnect the battery and eliminate power to the entire electrical system. There is some debate over which terminal to use, I prefer the positive terminal, but disconnecting either terminal is effective.

Your battery tender can still be connected to the battery's terminals.

[jatkinson]

Our cars are hardly ever driven, not because I don't want to, because I don't seem to have enough time. I disconnect the battery completely.

[ICON 1956]

In general terms, our Little Birds had no more electrical fire issues than a modern car when they were new. That said, a lot can happen over 60 years with previous owners doing poor wiring, the normal hardening, cracking and general deterioration of insulation, & corrosion of terminals leading to resistance and heat build up. Fuses may have been eliminated and old relays may fail and provide constant power to a circuit only intended to be intermittently powered.

These disconnects are inexpensive, provide peace of mind and cheap insurance to disconnect the battery and eliminate power to the entire electrical system. There is some debate over which terminal to use, I prefer the positive terminal, but disconnecting either terminal is effective.

Your battery tender can still be connected to the battery's terminals.

So what your saying every time I would need to reset the clock in the car, right? My car was totally redone by Jewel Meets in Brillion Wisconsin. He is well known for restoring baby birds. I'am sure he done the job right. I'll have to call and hope they remember my car. btw I do have the the green disconnect that stays on the battery.....the battery tender is on all the time when she is not out running..

[Joe Johnston]

So what your saying every time I would need to reset the clock in the car, right?

Yes that is correct. The clocks in both my cars were working originals needing reset every time I connected the battery. A minor inconvenience, but still annoying. I bought non working clocks and modified them with AA powered quartz movements. Change the battery every Jan 1st and perfect time all year. Granted not for the purist, but if the next owners want originality the original clocks will be there.

[Haz567]

You missed it on mine tnswt12 (see first picture posted) but I reeeeeealy agree w/ you that quick disconnect is essential; saved my bacon when I rewired horns and had one going straight to ground. I Never leave car w/o unhooking.

Having to reset clock is a minor inconvenience (solved by Joe) but worth it. Icon, Joe is right, your tender will work fine by just hooking directly to terminals.

[tnswt12]

Hazard 56 T Bird I didn't overlook you. I said several owners :)

Anyway, I am not preaching when I call for a battery quick disconnect. Here's my story; it occurred last week.

I fooled around with the cigarette lighter (or cigar lighter as documents state) installing one of the CASCO gizmos that allow the lighter to charge the phone or other such nonsense. I could not get the charger to work so I pulled the charger out of the lighter socket, cut the juice at the battery, and used a semi-sharpened pencil to reposition the gizmo within the well of the lighter that came with the CASCO charger device. I turned the power back on, there was a loud pop and suddenly I had a cockpit full of smoke in a matter of seconds, I mean seconds. Since I was right on the spot I quickly used the battery disconnect switch to cut the power but the wires continued to smoke and simmer for what seemed forever. When things settled down, I realized I had the fire extinguisher in my hand, the pin pulled, but I totally forgot to pull the trigger. I guess I must have been waiting to see flames.

The bottom line is I am convinced my car would have burned to the ground and probably the garage too if the battery power had not been quickly removed from the equation. Others say have a wrench handy, but take it from me, there is no time for a wrench. I don't care how close at hand it is.

I was lucky that I was in the car with the hood up when the short occurred because I know being close at hand saved my car from severe fire damage. When I disassembled the lighter I found evidence that my lighter caused the short, not the CASCO part. Since the cigar lighter wire was encased in the wiring harness that ran over the top backside of the dash several wires closely associated with it in the harness also suffered insulation melt down along with the lighter wire. I've since pulled the cigar lighter wire out of the harness, replaced it, and I work to repair the insulation on the other wires. I chose not to encase the new cigar lighter wire in the wiring harness, instead I elected to isolate the wire as much as possible to reduce future risk. As added protection, I installed a 15amp inline fuse on the new cigar lighter wire AND I ran a dedicated ground wire from the new cigar lighter and BOLTED it to the backside of the dash.

I didn't think such a thing could happen to me, but it did, and it can happen to others too. My advise is to Install the battery quick disconnect AND use it. By the way, the owner at The Clock Works, Eagle River, WI. advised me to use a battery quick disconnect because it prevented the car clock from running continuously, and consequently will last much longer, that according to him.

That's my story--it's true, and I ALWAYS cut the power to the battery when the car is parked in the garage. It's a sensible and safe practice.

[Haz567]

Wow tnswt12! Glad everything turned out OK!

Will 15 amps operate the lighter?

[ICON 1956]

Wow what a story, glad you were able to be there when it happened...To my car I called the builder to ask him if there was any issues with the wiring. He told me that the entire car has been rewired with new wiring harnesses. I also confirmed this on the paper work that came with the car when I bought it. I guess I can sleep well at nights.

[tnswt12]

Will a 15amp fuse be sufficient? Most new cars use that configuration today. That is what I used as a gauge. I still work to verify the wiring on the wiring harness so I haven't thrown the power back on the car yet to verify the 15amp reliability.

Regarding a new wiring harness, my car received a body off frame restoration and new everything including the wiring harness 10,000 miles ago. After my close encounter, I still chose to protect the cigar lighter circuit with a fuse and isolate the circuit outside the wiring harness as added protection.

With these new cigar lighters I don't see any fuse protection on them and the circuit to the cigar lighter is fed directly off the headlight switch from terminal B--constant hot.

[tnswt12]

I want to say it also: " My battery has shipped!" This according to Battery Central. I ordered and paid for it April 20, 2018. I probably did not have to wait as long as some.

[tnswt12]

An additional point about the battery disconnect switch is that it goes to the negative battery post--not positive.

There is an excellent tutorial on YouTube that is extremely helpful and answers why the negative battery post is used for the disconnect and the video has other useful information about this very important safety device.

I don't know about the installation instructions with all kill switches, but the knife kill switch I used specifically stated to use the negative battery post for installation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPI3f3edL9U

[ICON 1956]

As what was told is correct never on the positive terminal, When anyone that works on their car/motorcycle any disconnect is always to first undo the negative side of the battery first.....