Battery story

[Larry1963]

I know I am new here but in my neck of the woods I am know for great stories, so I am trying to match up to @cowpuc a run him a run for his money with stories.

 

This morning I seen two stories about messing with electronics, one with the passing lights the other with putting the battery in wrong.

Well this story isn't a motorcycle story but it still fits with stupid things I have done.

 

There I was...... new in the Air Force (1981), working on the mighty T-38. Anyone that has worked on or few aircraft know that every so many hours they go through different phase inspections. Well being young, new and dumb....... What has changed today I am old and not new LOL

 

Ok back on track we had a jet in for a major phase inspection and we needed to get it out to fly. Well we were in a hurry and getting ready to tow the aircraft out to the flight line for some maintenance checks. Remember I have been in the AF for about 6 months and at this base (Laughlin AFB, Del Rio, TX) maybe 2 months. This guy handed me the battery for the aircraft and told me to install it. A T-38 battery is long, and skinny, 24V with a bunch of amps.

 

Well I did the dumb thing, first I took and hooked up the negative first, second I took a box end wrench with instead of a socket and ratchet. Well I put the lead on the positive side, ran down the nut by hand, and then spun the wrench around and it hit the frame of the aircraft. You talk about sparks, and that long thin 3/8 in craftsman wrench turned bright red and welded it itself to the airframe. I just stood there with my mouth open not knowing what to do. This retired GI/civilian walked up with a hammer and hit the wrench, knocking it off. Then he says "dumbass JEEP (Just Enough Education to Pass)."

 

We had a white board on our dock box, so anytime I had a job he would take a marker and write down "DUMBASS: Safety Rule #1 ......... #2 ..............

 

Lucky other than the wrench nothing was hurt, for good measure we changed the battery out with another one. But I had to do safety briefings every morning for about a month until someone else did something stupid.

 

I have a bunch of AF stories as something comes up I may share.

 

Larry

[cowpuc]

:clap2::clap2::dancefool::dancefool:GOOD STORY LAR!!!:thumbsup: Definitely got class,, LOTS of class!!

 

Also I LOVE being called out,, nothing like a open challenge to steal the nerves and make my writing fingers twitch:big-grin-emoticon: Thinking we need to have us a good old fashion shootout,, mano to mano - pen to pen!! Gonna hammer out a story here to compete,, another real life story to a little.. Thinking we should have a Poll and let the lop eared var,, I mean these tenderhearted - fun loving VR folks decide who's the wiener (that is how they say "winner" down in Texas according to my friend Squidley).. What say ya big guy,, you ready for a nock down drag out contest to see who gets the first Hot Dog for the summer of 2016?

 

By the way,, just so you know,, I already have a real life shorted out battery story in mind to challenge you with,, just want ya to know that my story will also include pictures cause I know that some of the folks who may be voting in the Poll cant read that well.. In the spirit of fairness,, that is something you may want to consider because some of these varmints actually take the :worthless:unwritten forum rule pretty seriously

 

Let me know what cha think

Puc (aka - Doc Holiday) (aka - The VR Chief of )

[uncledj]

When I was young, (early 20s) I worked as a union laborer, and was working on a dam renovation. The backside of the dam was sloped about 60 degrees, and we were tied off with harnesses and would repel up and down the dam drilling holes and inserting rebar that would help hold the new concrete facing on. I was doing my thing when the big guy showed up. (Company owner) He was a real pr**k, and everyone knew that when he showed up you better be busy or be hidden. I was hanging maybe 40' down from the top and was climbing back to the top when he happened to show up. I could tell he was agitated when he walked up to me and asked if the rope I was using reached all the way to the bottom. Figuring this was a safety question, I said yes...He said "Gimme that rope".....which I promptly did. There he was in slacks, dress shoes, shirt and tie and started climbing down the dam. I later found out he was trying to get to the bottom in a hurry to fire an operator he had an issue with. Well, of course...the rope ended about 20' from the bottom...OH S**T...!!! He was in his mid 60s and couldn't climb back up, but had plenty of energy to scream expletives up at me while others scampered to get a rolling scaffold up to get him. I figured I was done, and was scared, but still trying not to laugh as they brought him up where he proceeded to ream me for 15 minutes or so. I was kind of the dumba$$ hero of the day, and at the end of it, he didn't fire me, but went down and fired the operator, who was back two days later anyway. (Unjustified firing,....Union brought him back)...Turns out he just didn't like that guy, and figured he could fire him for some made up reason....didn't work. I knew the operator, and he was an old timer just biding his time until retirement watching over the air compressor. Good guy.

Anyhoo, That was in the mid 80s and that story still goes around all these years later..lol.

[bongobobny]

Yup!! I too learned the hard way about box wrenches and batteries, but nowhere near the spectacular results you had...

[Larry1963]

I never had a Union job I think I am missing out. Well I guess the AF was kind of a union job, only a few people could actually fire you. If you screwed up, they either promoted you, or moved you to the tool room.

[slowrollwv]

Well I have one. I was working for a car detail shop while I was laid off my regular job. Anyhow one evening we went to move a couple cars and the battery was dead so I got the owners jumper cables out to jump the car. When I had one end on the good battery I went to hook up the other end and it was an awkward and place to get to and when I touched the positive to the battery my wedding ring was against the negative side and the ring lite up like a light bulb. I tried to jerk the ring off and when it came off the skin came off with it. It was still glowing red while rolling across the floor. I have not worn a ring since.

[Larry1963]

Well I have one. I was working for a car detail shop while I was laid off my regular job. Anyhow one evening we went to move a couple cars and the battery was dead so I got the owners jumper cables out to jump the car. When I had one end on the good battery I went to hook up the other end and it was an awkward and place to get to and when I touched the positive to the battery my wedding ring was against the negative side and the ring lite up like a light bulb. I tried to jerk the ring off and when it came off the skin came off with it. It was still glowing red while rolling across the floor. I have not worn a ring since.

 

Safety rule #3 . Do not wear rings or jewelry while working with electronics

[Flyinfool]

I watched someone light up a wedding ring once, That was enough to have me not wear one around electricity. It sure looks like it hurt.

[slowrollwv]

I watched someone light up a wedding ring once, That was enough to have me not wear one around electricity. It sure looks like it hurt.

 

I still have the scar from mine and that was almost 30 years ago. Like I said I do not wear rings anymore and if I am working on a car I take my watch off also.

[Chaharly]

My brother decided he wanted subs in his car, so during installation he decided to take a break inside the house. About a minute after he walked in his 12 year old son comes running in screaming at the top of his longs "THE CAR IS ON FIRE! THE CAR IS ON FIRE!!!!" so we ran out there and sure enough the top of the battery was on fire and melting FAST. He reached his foot up and stomped the fire out (which I thought was the wrong thing to do) and upon further inspection, we found that the temporary wire he had running from the battery to the amp got pinched in the door and burned the wire all the way up from the door to the battery and set the car on fire.

 

His dumb a$$ actually started the car and drove it home with a huge hole on the top... talk about dumb!

[videoarizona]

Larry,

 

I've got to tell your story to my buddy who worked on T-38's back when Moses was a Senior Master Sargent! He's retired now and has some stories of his own. He was in Big Springs, Tx.

[beastwood]

My battery story is from the 1970's on a U.S. Army base in Germany. I was assigned to service a battery on a generator towed behind a 2 1/2 ton truck. Well, I did the box end wrench jammed up against the frame thing, and right away the wrench turned red hot then white hot. So I tell the Sarge, and decides to walk to the wash racks to get a big brush with a wooden handle. By the time he makes it back the battery case is bubbling up and down like the cake in the "Spanky and Our Gang" TV show with Alfalpha. Finally he knocks the wrench off and saves the day. The battery was still useable after that.

[bongobobny]

Yah! Small chunk missing from my wedding ring getting it just a little too close to where it shouldn't be...

[SilvrT]

Well I have one. I was working for a car detail shop while I was laid off my regular job. Anyhow one evening we went to move a couple cars and the battery was dead so I got the owners jumper cables out to jump the car. When I had one end on the good battery I went to hook up the other end and it was an awkward and place to get to and when I touched the positive to the battery my wedding ring was against the negative side and the ring lite up like a light bulb. I tried to jerk the ring off and when it came off the skin came off with it. It was still glowing red while rolling across the floor. I have not worn a ring since.

 

Years ago I worked in a heavy truck manufacturing plant. Guy I worked with was connecting the positive post of battery up (24 volt) using a box-end wrench. As he spun the wrench around, the other end hit the battery box frame (which of course is grounded). It turned his wedding ring bright red and he screamed ... his finger balloned up at least 4 times it's size. I grabbed a pair of side cutters and had to snip his ring in 2 places to get it off. Off to the hospital he went and when he returned to work, he said the only thing that saved his finger from being amputated was the spot on the ring that was touching the wrench as it didn't burn that small part of the skin underneath.

 

As for this saying "JEEP (Just Enough Education to Pass)" ... LOVE IT !!! never heard that one before but I sure know where and when I can use it hahahah

[Larry1963]

When you first come in the AF, you are a rainbow. Because you march around until you get your uniform. Then you are just whale snot or something. When you graduate technical school they call you a JEEP, Just Enough Education to Pass. A lot of places had a jeep model on a wood plaque, if you did something stupid enough, you had to carry the JEEP everywhere, and I do mean every where you went. If they caught you without the jeep it cost you. However, you carried the JEEP until the next person did something stupid enough to warrant the JEEP. Then there would be a ceremony of passing the JEEP. It was all stupid stuff, but a lot of fun, designed to build the unit up and keep people looking and thinking about what they were doing.

 

It would be funny, a guy would leave his jeep in the car and never tell his wife he got it, then someone would see him at the mall without the jeep on his time, in civilian cloths. Well the guy caring the jeep would get told on and have to carry it longer.

 

Again all in fun to help keep your head out of your ass. I think today they call it harassment.

[SilvrT]

Again all in fun to help keep your head out of your ass. I think today they call it harassment.

 

pun intended ??? LOL

[videoarizona]

 

There I was...... new in the Air Force (1981), working on the mighty T-38. Anyone that has worked on or few aircraft know that every so many hours they go through different phase inspections. Well being young, new and dumb....... What has changed today I am old and not new LOL

 

Ok back on track we had a jet in for a major phase inspection and we needed to get it out to fly. Well we were in a hurry and getting ready to tow the aircraft out to the flight line for some maintenance checks. Remember I have been in the AF for about 6 months and at this base (Laughlin AFB, Del Rio, TX) maybe 2 months. This guy handed me the battery for the aircraft and told me to install it. A T-38 battery is long, and skinny, 24V with a bunch of amps.

 

Well I did the dumb thing, first I took and hooked up the negative first, second I took a box end wrench with instead of a socket and ratchet. Well I put the lead on the positive side, ran down the nut by hand, and then spun the wrench around and it hit the frame of the aircraft. You talk about sparks, and that long thin 3/8 in craftsman wrench turned bright red and welded it itself to the airframe. I just stood there with my mouth open not knowing what to do. This retired GI/civilian walked up with a hammer and hit the wrench, knocking it off. Then he says "dumbass JEEP (Just Enough Education to Pass)."

Larry

 

Larry, spoke to my buddy...he was a crew chief on the T38's as well. I told him your battery story...He laughed and said "Been there, done that"!

 

So guess it's a normal event with the T38!!

He got a good chuckle about the memory...

Thanks,

david

[Larry1963]

Larry, spoke to my buddy...he was a crew chief on the T38's as well. I told him your battery story...He laughed and said "Been there, done that"!

 

So guess it's a normal event with the T38!!

He got a good chuckle about the memory...

Thanks,

david

The battery is under a panel and you have to lift in up and into its hole. Easy to do if you are being a dumba$$

[Edbo]

When I was in my teens I worked on a sweet potato farm down here in the south. One day the owner of the farm was doing maintenance on one of the trucks, so he was checking fluid level in the battery but he couldn't see down inside very well so he toke his lighter out of his pocket and procceded to light it up and shine it down into the holes, it didn't take long for it to flame up and burn his eye lashes and the hair on his arm. Fortunately it didn't explode.

[Flyinfool]

If he goes to check the level in the gas tank RUN!!!!

[Edbo]

If he goes to check the level in the gas tank RUN!!!!

 

 

I goes to show that older is not always wiser

[Sailor]

Replaced the battery in my bike. For some reason could not get it right. After a very frustrating time I finally figured it out. When they built the battery they put the top on backwards. I connected the negative to what was labeled the positive and vice versa and it worked.

 

A friend came over to visit and we sat on the veranda having a couple road pops. We had been sitting there for a while when I noticed smoke coming out from under the hood of his car. For some reason the wiring shorted out and started a fire.

[flyday58]

I worked C130 maintenance for 22 years, engines and props. Dumbest thing I ever did was trust someone else. We had to inspect fuel filters every 30 days during home station check, so power has to be off the airplane while it's done. Forget the procedure, but the fuel to the engine had to be shut off from the tanks before removing the filter, actually a strainer located in the fuel heater, the first stop after leaving the tanks.

 

Well, my partner said he shut off the fuel and pulled the appropriate breakers to make sure it stayed off. Imagine my surprise when I removed the clamp, gave a healthy tug on the end cap and had JP-4 pouring out like a busted water main! I still don't know to this day how I managed to get the cap back in against the onrushing fuel and the fear of becoming a human candle.

 

I sat in my car in my undies for the drive home, my wife wouldn't let me wash the clothes, had to toss 'em. After that day, I always did the fuel shutoff procedure myself, by the T.O. But I was also always gun-shy pulling those end caps off!

 

Also left the pin out of the toilet seat one time after installing a new prop, but that's another story. 54H60 guys know...

[cowpuc]

Been sand baggin here trying to get some computer issues resolved (its coming, gotta be patient) and am stuck back on this beater Desktop.. This just means I am going to have to violate our forum rules and not post pics,,, I KNOW - I KNOW - BAD FORM but,, this seems to be a pic free thread so I should be safe LOL LOL, a violator yes - but a good hearted one according to Tippy...

Sticking with the non-fiction context of this thread, I first must admit that I am no Veteran like most of the folks who are contributing herein. I would however like to thank ALL of you Veterans for you service in the effort to keep the rest of us free - you folks are the GREATEST! THANK YOU!! I am totally enjoying reading your previous posts and, even though I have no clue about the Military lingo of which each of you Veteran's have earned the right to use, I still find great pleasure in your stories because I do understand the basics of a battery and its potential to cause interesting things to happen..

My battery story revolves around a much younger Puc where he finds himself in the era when CB Radios were all the rage, a moment in time when CB Radio Clubs were flurrishing and I was an avid participant.

Our CB Radio Club was fairly well attended by members who, unlike myself, seemed to have no other interests besides chatting on CB radio's and attending Club events and they had some awesome CB Radio equipment. I, on the other hand, had many other intersts. My interest in chasing girls and riding motorcycles back in that era caused me to place CB Radioing somewhere lesser in my priorities and therefore, I CB'd on a fairly slim CBing Budget..

Most, if not all, of my CB Club friends had these things called "Base Unit" CB's with super powered devices called "Boots" to give their CB's a boost in output power. They also had things like "Power Mic's" (pronounced Mikes) that gave them even more of an advantage over the poor little CB Radio in my Jeep CJ that I did all my talking on. Then of course their were these massive stationary attenna's that the big guys used,, things called "Beams" and "Parallels".. One of the obnoxious members in our club even had a very expensive unit called a "Browning" that would give a strange "ping" sound everytime he keyed it up.. I was more envious of that dag nabbed "ping" sound than I was of his ability to talk to someone way beyond the reach of my measily little mobile unit and it was actually that ping that formed the basis for this story.

One day I got an idea of how I too could have a base unit and a ping at a fraction of the costs of my CB Club fellow member.. I too could ping with the best of them and become one who all would envy. I would no longer find myself sitting in my parents front yard in my little Jeep during the winter time wrapped in two sleeping bags and still needing to scrape the ice off the Mic on my mobile unit..

A good friend of mine who was a truck driver had decided to upgrade the entire CB unit on his semi and he offered me his left over unit at a very reasonable price, it came with dual antennas which would become my beams. I went out behind my parents house and selected a fairly straight Poplar tree that would become the mast for my beams. I paid almost as much for 200 feet of coax and fittings as I had given my friend for his old radio outfit but was still well within my budget. One of the members of our club loaned this thing called an "SWR" meter and showed me how to use it,, basicially its a device that tunes the antenna to the radio which I did to great success..

I wired the whole mess into my little bedroom and stole the 12 volt battery out of my boat to power it up. After laying the battery on a garbage bad at the end of my bed and plugging in a battery charger to keep it charged, I ran a hunk of an old extention cord under my bed and over to the 2 milk crates that served as the foundation for the CB base unit that would now be located right next to my pillow supported head. I connected the extention cord to the battery with a couple of battery connectors that I had aquired at one of our local junk yards during a car parts scavaging exploit and secured them to the power leads coming out of the back of the radio. Then I went into the kitchen cupboards of my bachelor pad and found all the glass bottles and glasses I could find and toted them into my bedroom.

I will never forget my first night on that little makeshift base unit. I listened carefully each time my rival would key up his Browning base unit as I sat there tinking the side of glass cups and stuff with a spoon trying to find the perfect tone match to his high end unit.. After a very short time I found the perfect match in a small wine glass.. I then duct taped the base of the wine glass to my lower milk crate in the perfect position where I could reach out with my Mic while laying in bed and hold it next to the wine glass and, with a little practice, I was able to produce the perfect "ping" every time I keyed up.. What a GREAT winter that was!! I would sit up for hours giving directions to truckers passing by on the highway and yapping with our local CB Club members on my new PINGING Browning CB. It worked AWESOME!!

One of thing I was soon to discover was how flimsy milk crates when standing on their sides to be used as a CB Base shelf can be. I would also discover why electricians use fuses in electrical systems and just how much potential energy there is in a 12 volt battery.

One night while I was laying in my bed pinging away my hand inadvertently hit the duct taped wine glass with a little to much force and the make shift cabinet decided to cave in. My Browning came crashing down next to my bed and the wiring on the back of it came undone and shorted out. This caused the several foot long piece of extention cord laying under my bed to begin the process of melting its rubber insulation coating all the while filling my bedroom with the most acrid smoke one could imagine. I instantly jumped out of bed, ran over and grabbed the wire I had connected at the battery and gave a yank to disconnect the wire from the battery. As I was yanking on the wire I felt a burning sensation between my thumb and index finger. I looked down and noticed the exposed wire I managed to burn itself into the skin on my thumb. The acrid odor of the electrical wire now included a smell that, as I recall, had the slight sniff of chicken cooking on a grill.

While I danced around holding my right hand between my legs and trying to open the window in my bedroom with my left hand to let the smoke out of my bedroom the thought occurred to me that my pinging days had probably come to an end.

[Venture n Dixie]

I am familiar with that smell & the sensation on the hand. When I was 15 & 11 months dad let me buy a 63 MGB that needed a little TLC. The plan was I could be doing bodywork & upholstery until I got my license. I successfully installed beautiful black carpet from Warshawsky, recovered the worn out door panels with black Naugahyde and applied the 1st gallon of Bondo to the rear end. I thought working 2 inch deep craters of Bondo was an "art form" and I was Michelangelo. I was pleased with my effort and decided to reward myself. Everyone knows that the most important part of any vehicle is the music so I rode my 67 CB450 to Lafayette Electronics, bought an 8 track deck, speakers & wire. Carried them home in my newspaper bag. Get home & I'm so excited I cant wait. I run the power wires under the new carpet to the batteries that are behind the seats. Can't wait to hear my beautiful (to me) car scream Led Zeplin II, groove to The Rascals and philosophize Let It Be. To heck with mounting everything. Let's just get it hooked up with the deck & speakers laying on the concrete driveway. GOTTA HEAR THIS MACHINE MAKE MUSIC NOW! Well I'm rockin out & I see Dad down the street driving the Rambler home from work. I'm STRONGLY suspecting he ain't gonna like me squandering my money & effort on this crappy stuff I call music so I've gotta hide everything quick! Yank the cart out of the deck to quiet things down. Grab everything... tapes, deck, speakers, wire & boxes. Throw it in the as of yet unupholstered floorboard behind the seat & throw leftover carpet over it to hide the evidence. Meet him at the car, show him some of my expert carpet installation & escort him away & in to the house as fast as I can. I come back outside to a new strange smell I've never encountered before. There's blackish/grey smoke pouring out of the MG (top is down). I run to my poor baby & the smoke is coming from that pile in the floorboard & the new carpet on the driveline hump! I reach in and grab what used to be my brand new power & speaker wires that have now magically transformed in to toaster elements! The monsters have cut my brand new black carpet in half. I learned that if a wire is hot enough to cut carpet it's also hot enough to brand you. I also learned that 63 MG's have a positive ground and all normal electronics have a negative ground. I also learned that "ground" means ANYTHING metal on the vehicle is ground and that includes THE FLOORBOARD! I learned a lot that day but it cost me a new $50 tape deck, carpet & burned hands. I look back on it now & think kids brains have a short circuit. I was spending MY money on MY car. If I'd been playing something Dad liked he would have probably helped me finish the job properly. Instead I bought a hot LEER 8 track deck, wrapped it in an inner tube & mounted it with plywood. Every time my keys hit it sparks would fly! Puc I hope we never meet. They'll lock us up on the 3rd floor of the rest home for sure!