Battery terminals are the

electrical contact An electrical contact is an electrical circuit component found in electrical switches, relays, connectors and circuit breakers. Each contact is a piece of electrically conductive material, typically metal. When a pair of contacts touch, they ca ...

s used to connect a load or

charger Charger or Chargers may refer to: * Charger (table setting), decorative plates used to fancify a place setting * Battery charger, a device used to put energy into a cell or battery * Capacitor charger, typically a high voltage DC power supply ...

to a single cell or multiple-cell

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

. These terminals have a wide variety of designs, sizes, and features that are often not well documented.

Automotive battery terminals

Automotive batteries typically have one of three types of terminals. In recent years, the most common design was the '' SAE Post'', consisting of two

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

posts in the shape of truncated cones, positioned on the top of the battery, with slightly different diameters to ensure correct

electrical polarity An electric current is a stream of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is measured as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface or into a control volume. The moving par ...

. The "JIS" type is similar to the SAE but smaller, once again positive is larger than negative but both are smaller than their SAE counterparts. Most older Japanese cars were fitted with JIS terminals.

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

, and other

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

manufacturers, have also begun using side-post battery terminals, which consist of two recessed

female Female (Venus symbol, symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ovum, ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the Sperm, male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gamet ...

3/8" threads (SAE 3/8-16) into which bolts or various battery terminal adapters are to be attached. These side posts are of the same size and do not prevent incorrect polarity connections. L terminals consist of an L-shaped post with a bolt hole through the vertical side. These are used on some

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

s, lawn and garden devices,

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...

s, and other light-duty vehicles. Some batteries sizes are available with terminals in many different configurations, but two main configurations are: # positive on left and negative on the right corner # negative on the left and positive on the right corner. Terminals can also be both on the long or short side of the battery, or diagonally opposed, or in the middle. Purchasing the wrong configuration may prevent battery cables from reaching the battery terminals.

Marine battery terminals

Marine batteries typically have two posts, a 3/8"-16 threaded post for the

positive Positive is a property of positivity and may refer to: Mathematics and science * Positive formula, a logical formula not containing negation * Positive number, a number that is greater than 0 * Plus sign, the sign "+" used to indicate a posi ...

terminal, and a 5/16"-18 threaded post for the negative terminal.

Zinc battery terminals

Zinc battery terminals are an environmentally friendly alternative to lead battery terminals. These types of battery terminals were designed as a result of environmental directives such as

Proposition 65 Proposition 65 (formally titled The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, and also referred to as Prop 65) is a California law passed by direct voter initiative in 1986 by a 63%–37% vote. Its goals are to protect drinking water s ...

and

RoHS The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1), short for Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, was adopted in February 2003 by the European Unio ...

. Zinc battery terminals offer advantages over lead alloy-type battery terminals. These advantages include increased electrical conductivity, increased corrosion resistance, and reduced lead removal costs.

SLA battery terminals

The most common sizes of

sealed lead acid A valve regulated lead–acid (VRLA) battery, commonly known as a sealed lead–acid (SLA) battery, is a type of lead–acid battery characterized by a limited amount of electrolyte ("starved" electrolyte) absorbed in a plate separator or formed ...

(SLA) batteries use Faston tabs, but some larger batteries use L terminals, while some very specialized designs use other, sometimes proprietary terminals, such as older

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...

batteries (of the type used for VHS shoulder-mounted camcorders).

UPS battery terminals

Batteries designed for use inside a portable uninterruptable power supply (UPS) typically use Faston tabs, often with an adapter cable between those and the UPS's internal battery connectors. Larger external battery packs use a variety of connectors, including the

Anderson Powerpole The Anderson Powerpole is a family of electrical connectors by Anderson Power Products (APP), although plug compatible connectors are now available from alternate sources. Specific variants of this series of connectors have become de facto stan ...

MultiPole series (as used by

Tripp Lite Tripp Lite is an American manufacturer of power protection and connecting electrical devices. It was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The company employs more than 450 people and maintains a sales presence in over 80 c ...

), which are color-coded and keyed for specific

voltage Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to m ...

s. Very large batteries as installed in

battery room A battery room is a room that houses batteries for backup or uninterruptible power systems. The rooms are found in telecommunication central offices, and provide standby power for computing equipment in datacenters. Batteries provide direct cur ...

s such as are found in datacenters use bolted connections from cell terminals to bus bars or flexible cables.

Dry battery terminals

Most cylindrical dry batteries (such as the AA battery) have a projection at one end (positive) and a flat base (negative). These mate with metal strips or springs in the

battery holder A battery holder is one or more compartments or chambers for holding a battery. For dry cells, the holder must also make electrical contact with the battery terminals. For wet cells, cables are often connected to the battery terminals, as is ...

. Six-volt lantern batteries typically feature two coiled, cone-shaped spring terminals, designed to mate with flat contact plates on the inside of the battery compartment. Some lantern batteries instead feature screw terminals, while still others instead feature pin holes. Nine-volt batteries have snap-on connectors.

Button cell A button cell, watch battery, or coin battery is a small single-cell battery shaped as a squat cylinder typically in diameter and high — resembling a button. Stainless steel usually forms the bottom body and positive terminal of the cell; i ...

(watch batteries) have terminals as both flat sides.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battery Terminal Battery (electricity) DC power connectors