Sparky!

Tonight, I was tightening up the last few screws. It was looking really, really nice. I thought it was about time to call it quits for the night, but I wanted to make sure all of the screws were tight.

These batteries had Allen screws. The Allen wrench is an awkward tool. I was being very careful not to drop it. Unfortunately, I did. I immediately saw the profile of the wrench in bright white light. I jumped back and covered my eyes. When I realized that I could still see, I grabbed a pair of vice grip pliers. The sparks subsided, and I saw a wrench lying across two battery terminals. I grabbed the wrench with the vice grips and pull it from the terminals. Zap! I saw the bright light again! I tried a couple more times. The wrench was finally molten on both ends so that I could pull it away from terminals.

I caught some of the action on my home surveillance system overlooking my driveway. The constant bright light is my work light. The sparks flying are really sparks flying. Notice how my neighbor's house lights up on the first and second rounds of sparks.

The voltage is still about the same on all of the batteries. I guess I deserve the nickname "Sparky".

I learned a valuable lesson tonight: Wrap tools in electrical tape!

Here is a link to some different formats: iPhone - Quicktime, MP4, WMV, Flash