Every car owner should have a multi-meter, besides voltage, measuring amps and ohms is also useful and they're like $15 at Sears.

Or you can try hooking up some jumper cables to the questionable battery. Take off your shirt, wet your nipples then touch them with the other ends of the cable. A weak battery will only tingle, if it's fully charged, you'll know.

 

I had the same issue when I replaced my battery. Make sure your terminals have a good connection and remove any corrosion (or whatever the white powder is called) to ensure a good connection. I didnt have mine tightened down enough and had some corrosion from the old battery. You can use steel wool or a metal brush to clean the inside of the circular connection to the battery terminal just incase that is the problem. I would rent a battery/ alternator tester (free of charge) and Autozone or Oreilly's, and check both to make sure they are good.

 

The positive side is slightly larger than the negative. Did you feel that you had to open up the negative terminal more to get it on the battery post?

Double check the posts to make sure you didn't get the wrong battery and you reversed polarity. Just compare to the batter that you just pulled out.

Like others have said you may have gotten a dead battery off the shelf but it is rare that they are 100% dead.

 

This is a fool proof test right here.


I just put a new battery in yesterday mine finally died after almost five years, hooked everything up started right up. Sounds as if you may have gotten a bad battery.