Safe handling of Lithium Batteries

 "I installed the Blue Sea terminal stud covers on all positive posts. I had read your comments about them on PKYS and how they could prevent a short, and worse. Although I knew that to be true, my primary intention was to give everything a finished look. After all, I don’t drop tools on electrically hot terminals and am very cautious. Well, just as I completed both positive and negative connections I realized the output post of the battery protect was connected but instructions said it should not be so until programming was finished. I carefully loosened the terminal nut and unbelievably, the socket fell off the ratchet and landed directly on the red boot. The socket being small and unable to contact a ground nothing would’ve happened had the boot not been there, but had I dropped a wrench, screwdriver, bolt, or something else long enough, the results would’ve been very different. Hence, the installation of a battery disconnect switch is next on the agenda."

The fact is that it's only too easy to drop a wrench and if you do it across the terminals of your new lithium battery it could be Armageddon!  A lithium battery contains a large amount of energy and it is capable of delivering it in a very short amount of time so it could be likened to a bomb.  You really can't be too careful when handling these powerful batteries.  At PKYS when we open up a box with a Lithium Battery the first thing we do is cover up the terminals with tape. The tape doesn't get removed until the very end of the installation process.  When the connection is made there is a Class-T fuse in the line and a Battery Disconnect Switch in the off position.  The connections are made one at a time and the finished connection is covered with a rubber boot.  If connecting a battery in an automotive application or anywhere with a metal chassis it is customary to make the negative connection last.