The dumbest thing I have ever done. Please let me know what you think

[Alpinewhite]

Hi All,

Yesterday I had to help my brother on jumpstarting his car. By mistake I connected the Red lead to negative terminal on his car and the black lead to car body (one shiny bolt). And other red lead to positive post of my 530i and black lead to a shiny bolt. It was a big short circuit and the jump start cable started to melt. Immediately I realized something was wrong and removed the cables. Then I conected it right and started his car. I checked different things in my car and things were normal.

Today I hear a little crackling noise in the rear speakers. I am just afraid that I might have made some parts weak. Anyone know what will be the effect of this blunder. Isnt there some kind of fuse which should have blown and prevented this? What things should I check immediately?

Thanks
Arun

[Tiger]

You did not achieved 24V as if all the wires were reversed... The only thing you did is shorted your battery. Most likely your battery will die soon. Take a look at your battery and make sure it is not warm or hot... if it is, better yank out that battery away from your car.

[whiskychaser]

Confused:D But whichever car got the wrong connections on it probably got the alternator fried

[Bill R.]

ground bypassing everything else on your car then the only thing that would get damaged is your battery, and if it starts fine then you didn't hurt it either. The fusible links typically only blow if your shorted through them or in their circuit, since all you did was short your battery directly to ground it would only hurt the battery if anything.





Hi All,

Yesterday I had to help my brother on jumpstarting his car. By mistake I connected the Red lead to negative terminal on his car and the black lead to car body (one shiny bolt). And other red lead to positive post of my 530i and black lead to a shiny bolt. It was a big short circuit and the jump start cable started to melt. Immediately I realized something was wrong and removed the cables. Then I conected it right and started his car. I checked different things in my car and things were normal.

Today I hear a little crackling noise in the rear speakers. I am just afraid that I might have made some parts weak. Anyone know what will be the effect of this blunder. Isnt there some kind of fuse which should have blown and prevented this? What things should I check immediately?

Thanks
Arun

[Rick L]

Don't feel bad as I have done the same thing. Lucky nothing noticeable happened to you but I fried my alternator on my Mas.:(


Hi All,

Yesterday I had to help my brother on jumpstarting his car. By mistake I connected the Red lead to negative terminal on his car and the black lead to car body (one shiny bolt). And other red lead to positive post of my 530i and black lead to a shiny bolt. It was a big short circuit and the jump start cable started to melt. Immediately I realized something was wrong and removed the cables. Then I conected it right and started his car. I checked different things in my car and things were normal.

Today I hear a little crackling noise in the rear speakers. I am just afraid that I might have made some parts weak. Anyone know what will be the effect of this blunder. Isnt there some kind of fuse which should have blown and prevented this? What things should I check immediately?

Thanks
Arun

[Alpinewhite]

Hi All,

Thanks for the answers. I feel better now. I was afraid that I would fry some electronics in this car. This board defenitely is one valuble place for me to turn to when I am in need of answers.

This issue could be different then: Whats wrong with my radio. There is crackling sound in the rear speaker even when the volume is fully low. Could it be only the speaker or the whole radio unit. Any steps to diagnose?

Thanks
Arun

[Ross]

Me too, only the sparks ignited the gas in one of the batteries which made a nice pop when it blew it's top off and sent acid everywhere.

[GJPinAU]

Mine did the same thing intermittently for a couple of years.
I tried spraying the volume control etc (search), which seemed to work for a while until the unit died

Maybe time to look for a new head unit.