battery reversing polarity

[fishinwrench]

12 minutes ago, tjm said:

WOW!!

I would have expected most of that, but not the reversing of poles. I wonder if the wiring meltdown caused a cross wire effect,

All I know for sure is that the battery was ok until it was charged at 40amps for an extended period of time.   Whatever link in the chain of events that caused the battery to reverse polarity is irrelevant, really.     

But I'll stand behind the theory that it wouldn't have reversed polarity if the voltage regulator was doing it's job by cutting off the charge current once the battery reached 14.5 volts. 

[curtisce]

2 hours ago, tjm said:

stupid stuff

So I'm going to check it again tomorrow. I'll take it back but I bought it at Sams so I'm  sure they will have a qualified technician to diagnose the problem 

[tjm]

1 hour ago, fishinwrench said:

All I know for sure is that the battery was ok until it was charged at 40amps for an extended period of time.   Whatever link in the chain of events that caused the battery to reverse polarity is irrelevant, really.     

But I'll stand behind the theory that it wouldn't have reversed polarity if the voltage regulator was doing it's job by cutting off the charge current once the battery reached 14.5 volts. 

Oh, I wasn't disagreeing with your diagnosis, it's just that odd things make me wonder and I sometimes type or speak my thoughts, curiosity like mine can be dangerous thing.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

I've had a bit of experience on the retail side of batteries, from watch batteries Managing RadioShack and to car/golfcart/ heavy equipment batteries at Advance Auto Parts.   While I cant tell you the hows and whys, and I've heard many reasons, I've seen reverse polarization on many sizes of batteries.  Even bought a pack of AA'S from Walgreens house brand had 2 in an 8 pack reversed.  It is not very uncommon.   First hand experience.   

[bfishn]

3 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

...reverse polarity.   As can a dead one that someone just refuses to give up on....and keeps trying to charge it.

My first boat just had a 12v Shakespeare tm, and I ran it flat dead many times. Was using a jump charger w/alligator clips. I must have got them crossed in the dark once, and it was still charging hard the next morning. It was still charging when I unhooked it to fish that evening. Decided to top it off with jumpers and my running pickup's battery at the lake while I roamed the bank looking for shad. Sparked pretty good, so I double checked the cables to ensure they were right before walking off. Happened to glance back... 'what a pretty sunset'... the front of my truck was in flames. Bait bucket  water put it out, and aside from a melted grill, that old Datsun wasn't hurt. Later test revealed -8v.

[gotmuddy]

In fishinwrench's situation I could see that being possible due to the AC voltage being sent direct to the battery.