Well this really sucks.
What's even worse is finding out afterwards how stupid of a mistake it was (and it was all my fault).
I was putting the batteries back in the boat after winter storage. The way my cables are physically routed, it "suggests" placing the batteries in the bay in a certain direction/position. I should have known better - but I wasn't paying enough attention, and ended up putting the leads on the battery in the opposite direction - so I had all the Positive cables on the Negative terminal of the Deep Cycle battery.
I then hooked up the Positive cables to the Positive terminal of the Cranking battery (This one for sure was correct). At this point, everything seemed ok. Thinking I had all the Positive cables correctly hooked up to the positive leads of both batteries, I then proceeded to hook up the 2 Negative cables to what I thought was the Negative lead of the Deep Cycle battery - which of course due to my not paying enough attention, this was actually the Positive terminal. So after a few sparks trying to attach the bolt - I realize the terminal is getting hot, and start to remove the bolt - but by then it was too late. Yeah I know the sparks should have been my first clue something was wrong
op-
I heard, smelled, turned around, and saw smoke coming out of the alternator.:sorrow:
OK - so it took me a while to think through what I did, and then when I went back and took a look, it dawned on me the Deep Cycle was indeed "backwards".
I've got a new alternator on order - but what else might have been damaged in the time the cables were still attached backwards?
What's even worse is finding out afterwards how stupid of a mistake it was (and it was all my fault).
I was putting the batteries back in the boat after winter storage. The way my cables are physically routed, it "suggests" placing the batteries in the bay in a certain direction/position. I should have known better - but I wasn't paying enough attention, and ended up putting the leads on the battery in the opposite direction - so I had all the Positive cables on the Negative terminal of the Deep Cycle battery.
I then hooked up the Positive cables to the Positive terminal of the Cranking battery (This one for sure was correct). At this point, everything seemed ok. Thinking I had all the Positive cables correctly hooked up to the positive leads of both batteries, I then proceeded to hook up the 2 Negative cables to what I thought was the Negative lead of the Deep Cycle battery - which of course due to my not paying enough attention, this was actually the Positive terminal. So after a few sparks trying to attach the bolt - I realize the terminal is getting hot, and start to remove the bolt - but by then it was too late. Yeah I know the sparks should have been my first clue something was wrong

I heard, smelled, turned around, and saw smoke coming out of the alternator.:sorrow:
OK - so it took me a while to think through what I did, and then when I went back and took a look, it dawned on me the Deep Cycle was indeed "backwards".
I've got a new alternator on order - but what else might have been damaged in the time the cables were still attached backwards?
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