Battery Terminal Melting

[mutant]

lock washers may lose their spring(ability to apply tension) by heat created with resistance...

also-lock washers fail in a number of other ways which will certainly cause a problem....

[yamahaguy97]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I disagree with YamahaGuy97 on the use of lock washers. I maintain a fleet of Golf Course and members carts. I have seen many melt down because of them rusting and or corroding and getting thinner and letting cables get loose. If you use stainless washers that may be OK but I would not use them. Trojan Battery Company says Do Not Use Lock Washers. I do agree with retorqing them a week or so after installing new batteries or cables.
Harry

I agree that they can lose their ability to lock, and when they corrode they add to the issue. We do only use stainless steel ones, but I can only speak for the experience where I work and what I deal with. I have seen many cars with rusty lock washers too, but I can't say I've had to change any battery or batteries due to a rusted lock washer causing the terminal to melt or being the cause of some kind of failure. Most carts that come in my shop with a melted terminal or broken cable is usually because they did not tighten the cable enough in the first place...or they crashed and the batteries flew around and broke a cable/terminal.