disconnecting battery on toak

[dajudge]

COULD SOME ONE TELL ME WHICH TERMINAL TO DISCONNECT ON MY TOAD WHEN TOWING? IS IT THE NEGATIVE OF THE POSITIVE, AND WHY?

[Joe-K]

As a rule, when disconnecting a battery, you always disconnect the negative terminal first, and when re-connecting a battery, you always re-connect the negative terminal last. In your case, where you only need to disconnect one terminal, you should disconnect the negative.

The reason is that in today's negative ground vehicles, the negative terminal is connected to the metal chassis of the vehicle. If you accidently bump your wrench to any metal part of the battery when disconnecting the negative terminal, nothing happens. On the other hand, if you were disconnecting the positive terminal first while the negative terminal was still connected, and the wrench accidently touched a metal chassis part while on the battery terminal, you would directly short out the battery. Once the negative is disconnected, you no longer have that concern.

[Our Time]

Why do you want to disconnect the battery? If it is going dead a product called Toad Charge will cure that problem, so you don't have to disconnect. You can also buy a battery disconnect switch to isolate the battery. Both products are available at RVupgrades, a sponsor of this forum. If you have to disconnect, you would remove the negative cable.