still not right.

[northeastmopar]

I just tried to hook my battery cables to my battery. Got the positive on the battery which also has the big red wire from the msd6 box and also a direct 10 wire from the alternator to do the mad ammeter change over to a volt meter. When I tried to install the negative cable to the battery I got sparks big time? My starter relay had the big battery cable red 10ga going to the large stud. Then there is a black cable coming from the small nut on the starter which I placed under the small nut on the relay. The yellow ignition wire is plugged onto the small angled push on terminal. The other push on terminal is undetermined as to which wire goes there, so it presently has not wire hooked to it. My ballast wires blue and brown have been cut away from the ballast, but I have yet to tie them together which I understand also needs to have the red from the msd box tied into them as well. Presently these are not wired together yet. I was hoping I could hook the battery and then have power to test wires but I got sparks? I am trying to figure out why this would happen. Could it be because some of the wires are not yet together. I also did not have the large black from the msd box hooked to the negative battery cable. Maybe that was a good thing with sparks flying. Don't want to harm the msd box or the msd distributor? Any ideas???

 

[TrailBeast]

Depending on what bigtime sparks are you need to solve a short or current draw problem first thing.
Make sure everything is off on the car including a possible interior light.

Not yet connected wires is not going to cause this.

I get little sparks because my stereo has memory settings and has to be connected to full time power.
It's possible the MSD box is drawing power (try disconnecting it's power lead to the battery and try it)

Are your sparks making ANY visible marks on the terminal when it sparks?
If so, you have a fair short to ground or a big amp load for some reason.

 

[northeastmopar]

Depending on what bigtime sparks are you need to solve a short or current draw problem first thing.
Make sure everything is off on the car including a possible interior light.

Not yet connected wires is not going to cause this.

I get little sparks because my stereo has memory settings and has to be connected to full time power.
It's possible the MSD box is drawing power (try disconnecting it's power lead to the battery and try it)

Are your sparks making ANY visible marks on the terminal when it sparks?
If so, you have a fair short to ground or a big amp load for some reason.

Yes, My first thought was the MSD box, so I disconnected the wire on the positive post and as stated earlier the negative msd was not connected anyway. But the sparks were almost like welding? I have taken many cables off cars and really never saw sparks fly like tis. Maybe a little spark as the connection was being made, but not like these?

 

[67Dart273]

When you make changes, it's difficult for any of us to guess what you did

1....ALWAYS figure a way to protect. A great way is to get a large wattage bulb, I use (at times) an old stop/ tail lamp socket, and sometimes a headlamp. With a stop / tail, twist the two wires together and connect to them and to the socket shell. That gives you a high--wattage lamp. Hook that IN SERIES between the ground cable and the battery NEG. That way, if something is shorted, the light will show you there is current, and the lamp will protect against damage

2...With the lamp connected an lit, go round and make sure everything is off, and pull fuses one at a time. If that doesn't work..................

Then start unhooking "stuff" one at a time. Don't discount anything!!!. The starter relay might be defective, shorted, as might be the starter solenoid. You might have a corner of a terminal or a small strand of wire "caught" behind a connection and grounding. Might be a defective alternator, or parts missing in the output insulator.

On a factory setup with ammeter (example) the ammeter terminals might be shorted to ground. Use you head. Think about what's hot, what does not go through a switch or the key.

AND CHECK THE BATTERY WITH A VOLTMETER!!!! There has been cases of batteries reverse charged, that is, the NEG post becomes the POS. You look at the connections. It's "obvious" the battery is hooked correctly. But if reverse charged, it's actually wrong!!!

 

[MOPAROFFICIAL]

Voltage gauges usually have a pos and neg, unlike a amp gauge which the current flows through in one end and out back to + current/battery. Maybe you wiring it like an amp gauge.

 

[TrailBeast]

When you make changes, it's difficult for any of us to guess what you did

1....ALWAYS figure a way to protect. A great way is to get a large wattage bulb, I use (at times) an old stop/ tail lamp socket, and sometimes a headlamp. With a stop / tail, twist the two wires together and connect to them and to the socket shell. That gives you a high--wattage lamp. Hook that IN SERIES between the ground cable and the battery NEG. That way, if something is shorted, the light will show you there is current, and the lamp will protect against damage

2...With the lamp connected an lit, go round and make sure everything is off, and pull fuses one at a time. If that doesn't work..................

Then start unhooking "stuff" one at a time. Don't discount anything!!!. The starter relay might be defective, shorted, as might be the starter solenoid. You might have a corner of a terminal or a small strand of wire "caught" behind a connection and grounding. Might be a defective alternator, or parts missing in the output insulator.

On a factory setup with ammeter (example) the ammeter terminals might be shorted to ground. Use you head. Think about what's hot, what does not go through a switch or the key.

AND CHECK THE BATTERY WITH A VOLTMETER!!!! There has been cases of batteries reverse charged, that is, the NEG post becomes the POS. You look at the connections. It's "obvious" the battery is hooked correctly. But if reverse charged, it's actually wrong!!!

GREAT, thanks Del.