Chevy K5 Blazer military diesel with 12/24v system. Replacing the dual batteries and need to know battery cable pos/neg terminations. Cross connect cable looks like a frame ground. Had it connecting both neg posts and it smoked with ignitition on start.

The underhood connections can work by themselves...POS to POS, and NEG to NEG...sometimes dirty/weak connections do not allow the power to transfer fully from the underhood connections...if this is the case then you need to connect directly to the battery in trunk for full power charge...again POS to POS, and NEG to NEG...hope this helps

If the battery is good you will need to follow flow. Test light is the easiest to use. First hook light to ground and touch pos terminal,lights good next touch pos battery cable end, lights good. Next follow pos cable to starter pos terminal,lights good. Next hook test light to bat pos teminal,touch neg terminal,lights good. Then touch engine block, lights good ground. Next move test light clamp back to ground/neg side and touch alt pos terminal,lights good.if all that tests good, if all good move inside and check for power at ign switch pos term if at any time you dont find power you have wiring issue that needs to be addressed. Let me know what you find. Russ

Almost all car batteries have 2 pos and 2 neg. More precisely, 1 pos post and 1 side connector, 1 neg post and 1 neg side connector. You only usually use use one set or the other depending on what connectors are on the end of your cables. You can connect something else to the side posts if you need to, but generally only pair is used.

If all you are doing is changing to a side post battery, just connect all the positive cables from the old pos post to the new pos holder and all the neg ones to the new neg holder. If you've already cut them all off and not sure where each wire goes, all the reds are positive, all the blacks are neg. To make sure use your continuity meter to test. Connect one meter lead to any good clean metal part on the car and test between each black wire in turn, the neg ones will show a circuit, the pos ones will not.

Bad connection on cable ends or where they connect to battery. Quick check is if you have a good set of jumper cables, use the jumper cable as a replacement for what maybe the defective one. Hook negative cable good to battery neg. post and then put other side on neg cable to engine ground on block. See if it cranks, if it does than the trouble is on the neg. cable. If not then put positive cable on pos. post of battery. Then put other side of pos. cable on the starter post, try to start. If it cranks then the trouble is on the pos side of cable. Hope this helps.

if you have access to a digital multimeter, connect the meter (set to volts) across positive and neg. terminal of the battery, should read roughly 12.6 volts, close to 10 volts, battery may be going out, also test the alt output, disconnect neg term and place negative lead to battery neg post and positive lead to neg battery cable (make sure meter is set to amps) should read near the rating, if both those, then you'd want to do a resistance test, (set meter to Ohms) disconnect battery and connect meter neg to either pos cable terminal or where the pos cable connects to the alt and connect positive lead to opposite of neg, should read next to 0, the check resistance of the ground by connecting meter between batt neg cable and body of alt.

- Spenser

Right . its not all bad.
When you have zero electrics , its a major componant failure ie; battery cables , battery fuse links, earth strap ot body etc. A set of jump leads would be helpful. Check battery is charged, check voltage at battery terminal conections and NOT the battery posts as they may be corroded and dirty but look sound (+ and -) bridge Battery neg to metal of engine . This eliminates earth connection (NEG) failure. A simple circuit tester check of the major connections (under dash) and links attached to the POS + terminal at battery should solve the problem. Remember your looking for large connectors (look on bulkhead also for fuse links) and not fuses in interior fusebox. (too many circuits down to be a single fuse type problem.

pos to pos and neg to neg for 12 volt but if your system is 24 volt thats a different story it will be pos to neg.and pos to neg

Battery cables can be purchased at any auto parts store. Always remove the Negative cable first. The positive cable connects to the solenoid to the starter. After removing both cables, connect the positive cable to eh solenoid to the starter, and route it up to the battery. If the new battery has protective caps on it, leave them on for now. Connect the negative cable to the ground. Connect the positive cable to the battery (remove the caps) Once secure, connect the negative cable to the battery (be very careful not to touch anything metal) IMPORTANT: Make sure the Positve cable is connected tot eh Positeve battery terminal (indicated by the + sign. The Negative cable connects to teh Negative post indicated by the - sign. I hope this answers your question fully and best of luck to you!
Greg

you will need a 8 mm wrench or a 5/16 wrench to remove the side terminals on the battery. you must disconect the neg. first, then the pos.....when putting the new battery in , you must connect the pos. first, then the neg.
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Rob...