motorcycle battery accidental short

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Winnipeg, Manitoba
so i was putting a pigtail connection for my optimate3+ computerized charger on my bike last night, and after i had it all connected, i wanted to adjust the eye terminal on the positive side... while carefully doing so, or so i thought, for a split second the end of the wrench touched the exhaust heat shield and there was a single brief spark. anyone think the battery is damaged? the bike started fine, multi meter showed 13.25 v, and the optimate goes through its programs and shows the battery as testing good (i believe its a 30 min voltage retention test)...

i ask because i just wanted some opinions, i don't want to take a ride thinking everything is fine and have to push start a couple hours later!
 
Nope.

I doubt you did anything more than suck the double layer capacitance and some ions "floating" in the electrolyte.

Short it for a long time and the internals will actually soften and melt.

DO it too may times and you'll see impedance rise and degradation.

Once for a split second isn't anything to worry about. Just be more careful, it can be a pretty powerful discharge!
 
Thank you for the replies.

I have a nice little pinhole in the chrome finish of the exhaust shield and likewise on the box end of the wrench...
 
Nothing like a little box end welding, no harm to the battery, don't know about the heat shield.

Smoky
 
It'll be fine.

When I was 10 years old I shorted out my dads brand new car battery with a bread knife just to see if it was charged. Except for a bit vapourised off the end of the knife he would never have known it happened.
 
I agree with the other replies. We have all done what you did, and the batteries were fine.
 
When installing the battery on a Dodge Intrepid 3.5 I made the mistake of installing the ground/black wire first. And afterward accidentally hit the red/positive to some metal and had a 'jolt'. Well, everything went fine but there was always this ticking from there on out. I think it increased with rpm like a lifter tick.
 
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