Wednesday 26 October 2011

I switched polarity on my car battery and now it wont keep a charge what could I have done? I changed the alt.

I used an in home battery charger and couldnt tell which was neg or pos. any how, now the gage on the van shows the battery voltage at 8 and it should be at 14 and after about 10 or 15 minutes it dies. it is a new alternator and a new battery.. can someone give me some ideas of what it could be.I switched polarity on my car battery and now it wont keep a charge what could I have done? I changed the alt.Might have also fried the voltage regulator.
I switched polarity on my car battery and now it wont keep a charge what could I have done? I changed the alt.
get someone to look at it. something got screwed up. you could have shorted out the battery and its no good anymore. Or you could have screwed up the alternator. Its any bodys guess from where I sit.



some one later down the line said to take off the battery cable when the car is running. You cannot do this kinda thing anymore. It will fry the electronics on newer cars.

That was an old test for cars in the 1950's.
I switched polarity on my car battery and now it wont keep a charge what could I have done? I changed the alt.
You shorted the battery out, also happens when they go dead. The only thing to do is buy another battery. The old battery is junk. The only way to tell if you took the alternator with it is to get a new battery install it, and start the vehicle. When it is running take the positive terminal off the battery, and if the car stalls the alternator is junk to.
it is no good now ,it will never hold a charge again
You fried the electrical system. Time to buy a new car. I'm serious; by the time you replace the computers and other polarity-sensitive equipment, you will literally have spent more money than it would cost for a replacement vehicle.
take the battery to Autozone or another parts store. They will test the battery for you for free(they will test your whole car if you can get it up there). You can do that with the alternator too. If the battery is good, have them charge it. Takes about an hour, or you can hook it up to another vehicle like you are jumping it and leave it for a while. It will charge it up, assuming it will even hold a charge. The third think I would check/replace before I started to panic is the voltage reculator. They are cheap and very easy to replace. Then if all else fails, find a way to get it to the store to have them test your electrical system together in the car. If that fails, you have a serious problem.