My first Plasma Event...

There has to be one. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Kinda like learning to ride a bike - you always get a scrape at some point.

I was in the back seat area of the car last night, removing screws from the battery terminals in preparation for installing the cell monitors later. While I was in there I decided to add the cell pack interconnect straps that I just got on Monday. Since the rear batteries are on their sides, gravity is not my friend. There is a trick to sitting awkwardly scrunched up against the seats whilst grappling with little screws and their washers, trying to hold a screwdriver and the interconnect straps as well.

I got one screw into an interconnect strap and was fumbling with the next one, when good ol' F=gmm over R squared decided to step in. Sparks! I discovered that in a situation like that, my mouth lets something out. I don't even remember what it was, at least it wasn't a bunch of punctuation marks. Something like "GAAAK!!" or "BLEAHHH!!" or some such. I know I must have unscrewed the existing screw and then tossed the partially melted strap out of the open door, but I don't really remember doing it.

Darn it, I said to myself, I know better, I'm a friggin' electronics engineer. I've blown plenty of stuff up in my life. I must have gotten complacent. I hate it when I get complacent.

Anyway, out of curiosity, I got the DVM out and measured the cells involved to see if they were affected at all by this. Nope, both still at 3.305 volts, just like when I got them. So infinite amperage for a second or two doesn't seem to harm them. Good.

What about the rat, you may be thinking... he's still gone. Maybe I should go to the pet store and get another?