1RM

I recently had to charge my flat battery ( not using car very much at the moment) and when I attached the neg lead back to the battery (with pos obviously already connected) I accidently (and clumsily) touched the ratchet used to tighten the nut between the neg and pos terminals of the battery resulting in big spark and me jumping quite high.

The car has been used since then and everything seems normal, but my question is could there have been damage to the electrics and/or the battery?

Many thanks.

slalom44

No damage done, except possibly messing up your ratchet. All you did was short out the battery for a moment. That doesn't do any harm.

zeroptzero

It's happened to me too. No harm. I once did that at the alternator and ended up blowing a main fuse, but no harm when it happened at the battery.

1RM

Would the ignition need to be on for It to damage the computer?

slalom44

It doesn't matter whether the ignition is on. Electricity takes the path of least resistance. It's flowing between the battery terminals because that's where the voltage difference is.

When you short the battery, you're creating a shorter and bigger path for the current to flow. The ECU isn't in that path.

BTW - don't start two threads on the same subject.

flanders

Wow it's four topics with same question that he started, spam warning.

CoolGuy094

I've accidentally done this once or twice. Besides the embarrassment of squealing like a little girl, no harm done.