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B. PERSONAL PRECAUTIONS AND SAFETY
1. WARNING: Wear complete eye protection and clothing pro-
tection when working with lead-acid batteries.
2. Make sure someone is within range of your voice or close
enough to come to your aid when you work with or near a
lead-acid battery.
3. Have plenty of fresh water and soap nearby for use if battery
acid contacts skin, clothing, or eyes. If battery acid contacts
skin or clothing, wash immediately with soap and water.
4. Avoid touching your eyes while working with a battery. Acid
particles (corrosion) may get into your eyes! If acid enters
your eye, immediately flood eye with running cold water for
at least 10 minutes. Get medical attention immediately.
5. Remove all personal metal items such as rings, bracelets,
necklaces, and watches when working with a lead-acid bat-
tery. A lead-acid battery can produce a short-circuit current
high enough to weld a ring (or the like) to metal, causing a
severe burn.
6. Take care not to drop a metal tool or other metal onto the
battery. Metal may cause sparking or short circuit the bat-
tery or another electrical device. Sparking may cause an
explosion.
7. Always operate battery charger in an open, well- ventilated
area.
8. NEVER smoke or allow a spark or flame in the vicinity of the
battery or engine. Batteries generate explosive gases!
C. PREPARING TO CHARGE
1. Make sure you have a 12 volt lead-acid battery. Check ve-
hicle owner manual to make sure.
2. Clean battery terminals. Take care to keep corrosion from
coming in contact with your eyes.
3. If required, add distilled water in each cell until battery acid
reaches levels specified by battery manufacturer. This helps
purge excessive gas from cells. Do not overfill. For a battery
without cell caps, carefully follow manufacturer's recharg-
ing instructions.
4. Study all battery manufacturer's specific precautions, such
as removing or not removing cell caps while charging, and
recommended rates of charge.
5. Be sure area around battery is well ventilated while battery
is being charged. Gas can be forcefully blown away by us-
ing a piece of cardboard or other non-metallic material as a
fan.
6. If necessary to remove battery from vehicle to charge, al-
ways remove grounded terminal from battery first. Make sure
all accessories in the vehicle are off, so as not to cause an
arc.
CARS / LIGHT CCA R C
TRUCKS 315-550 60-85 2.5-3.0
550-850 85-150 3.0-5.0
MARINE OR MCA AH
DEEP CYCLE 350-600 60-70 4.0-5.0
600-935 70-104 5.0-6.5
CCA: COLD CRANKING AMPS RC: RESERVE CAPACITY
MCA: MARINE CRANKING AMPS AH: AMPERE HOUR
*Based on battery at 50% charge.
BATTERY
SIZE
RATING
RECHARGE
TIME-HOURS*
7. A marine (boat) battery must be removed and charged on
shore. To charge it on board requires equipment specially
designed for marine use.