In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
It would require some 'skill' to disconnect the battery while the starter
was turning...


Not really. You are playing with what you suspect is a dodgy terminal.
You yell to someone in the drivers seat..'try that' and give the
terminal a wiggle and momentarily break it and get 400v between the
hand on the live terminal and the chassis which your other hand is
grasping as you lean into the engine compartment.

You might. Others would have more sense. High current flow is likely to
burn your hand if nothing else.

You have set up the perfect conditions for a cardiac arrest. One hand to
the other, both firmly in contact with the applied voltage. Both
gripping hard, and probably sweaty.

Have you no self preservation tendencies?

This story will turn out to be the usual urban myth. Where they've left
out the faulty mains battery charger he was connecting - or whatever.

I would say its almost certainly true. The inductance in a starter motor
is massive as are the currents. The flyback pulse would be very energy
rich. It PROBABLY would do a lot of damage in a modern car. And there
may well be snubber networks these days, but an old car...yes.

So where is the evidence of a 'helper'? 'No-one knows what happened' would
be the clue.

--
*No hand signals. Driver on Viagra*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.