# Which battery terminal to connect first? the one connected to the red wire?



## buccaneer (Mar 3, 2005)

Hello everyone 
Our emergency light is dead. I think the battery has given up its ghost. It is a 6V 4.5 Ah battery. I just took apart the light in my own clumsy way and I am going to try and get a new battery tomorrow or so. The thing is, this battery has two wires soldered onto its two terminals. A red one and a black one. I suppose I could remove the wires and re-solder them onto a new battery's terminals? However I am not sure whether to connect the red wire or the black wire first. The battery now in the light has no clear indications as to which terminal is which. I am hoping that a new battery will have color coded terminals or at least a + and - sign on its terminals. I googled a bit and if I gathered it right, I should connect the red wire to the red/+ side of the battery and then connect the black wire to the black/- marked side of the battery? Did I understand that correctly? Also, is there a chance of anything going wrong if I try my clumsy hand at soldering the connection to the battery? I mean, if the terminal gets too hot is it gonna go off with a bang or something? I think the batteries I have looked at online stores of the 6V 4.5 Ah spec are all lead acid batteries. So will the heat be a problem when soldering? I will probably have to be quick with soldering it in place right? I hope someone will have some advice regarding my qualms.


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## oscer1 (Jan 27, 2010)

First make sure power is turned off to light then what I would do is if new batter has spade terminals I would just cut the wires to old battery and crimp new female spade terminal to each wire. Back is negative red is positive. Not sure what style battery your getting and dimension of it but this is what I am talking about spade terminals https://www.amazon.com/4-5AH-Sealed...words=6v+4.5+ah+battery&qid=1628111650&sr=8-3


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## SpywareDr (Jun 15, 2013)

And yes, connect Red (+/Positive) first, and then the Black (-/Negative).


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## buccaneer (Mar 3, 2005)

Oscer1, thank you for the reply sir. Oh so those things you slide onto the terminals are called female spade terminals. I didn't know the name of those things hehe. Now you know the shallowness of my knowledge sir, and yes, I got a battery similar to the one shown in the link. However I didn't buy the female spade terminals to crimp onto the wires, didn't actually know they were sold separately. The old battery just had the wires soldered right onto the battery terminals. The electronics stores in my tiny city is located a few kilometers away from me which is where I got the battery from. I should have asked them about the spade connectors. 
SpywareDr, thank you for the reply, I am glad you cleared up that little confusion about which terminal to connect first sir. 

So the next question is, is it okay if I just solder the wires onto the battery terminals? Or is that a tad too risky?


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## oscer1 (Jan 27, 2010)

You can solder the wires to the battery not going to hurt anything I just mentioned the terminals cause it would be easier then soldering them.


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## buccaneer (Mar 3, 2005)

Thank you sir, I did go out and get the terminals, and attached the wires to them and connected to the terminals of the battery. The light is now working, but there is a slight deviation from its original behavior. There is a little red LED on the side of the light which only used to light up when the battery was being charged from the mains. But now I just observed it blinking slowly while the light was switched off and the mains supply switched off. I never got an user's manual with the light, so I don't have a clue what the slow blinking red LED means. I just hope the battery won't explode in the middle of the night or something. Right now, I have the light connected to the mains and charging the battery, hoping that the blinking LED meant battery charge was low. I am sure I connected the terminals correctly and I didn't do any tinkering with the emergency light other than replace the battery. The emergency light is a brand I never heard of before: Nolta. I guess it is a local brand, not very famous perhaps. If someone knows what the red LED blinking on an emergency stand by light, when the light is switched off and the mains connection to the light is switched off too, please do tell me


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## oscer1 (Jan 27, 2010)

I can only suggest looking up your light for a manual that might tell you what blinking light means


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## buccaneer (Mar 3, 2005)

Hmm I will try googling then sir. Thank you again.


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## oscer1 (Jan 27, 2010)

Battery needs to be charged 24 hours then test it


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## buccaneer (Mar 3, 2005)

Oh 24 hours? Okay, I will do that then sir. Thank you for your pointer sir.


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