In electronics, knowing which terminal of the battery should be the positive and which should be the negative can be very important. If you do not know which terminal is which, you could damage the circuit you are working on or even yourself!
The common mistake is to have the negative terminal of the battery as the point in connection with the point. This is wrong, and can cause major problems for the circuit or device. How do you prevent this? How do you know which point is which?
Electronic circuits typically use two points to represent a positive and a negative. These points are called poles, and they can either be an electrode or a node within the circuit. Most circuits only use one node to represent a negative pole, whereas most electrodes are considered positive poles.
To figure out which point should be positive and which should be negative, look at what material makes up the electrode or node and what material it connects to. The opposite material makes up the other pole.
The positive terminal should be closest to the plug
This is the most important rule to remember when wiring your battery. The positive terminal of the battery should be connected to the point where the wire enters the vape device.
The negative terminal should be connected to the part of the device that touches the herb or liquid, and the middle terminal should be left disconnected.
Why is this so important? If you attach the negative terminal to the point where the wire enters the vape device, then you have created a direct connection between your battery’s negative terminal and your vaporizer pen’s internal components. This will immediately short out your device and prevent it from working.
If you attach the positive terminal of the battery to the point where the wire enters your vape pen, then you have created a situation where all of your internal components are negatively charged, which will not work for your device.
The negative terminal should be closest to the ground
In lithium ion batteries, the negative terminal should be closest to the ground for two main reasons. The first is safety, the second is efficiency.
Safety is a big concern with electric vehicles. If the battery is damaged and leaking liquid electrolyte, then having the negative terminal closer to the ground will cause a short, stopping the car from moving.
Having the negative terminal on the top of the battery pack like Tesla does can also lead to trouble. If the battery starts to fail and melt, then having the negative terminal up top could lead to an electrifying surprise for whoever tries to remove it!
Secondly, having the negative terminal closer to the ground will help with energy efficiency. When charging an electric vehicle, you want to hook up the positive connector first, then later switch it for the negative connector. Having the negative terminal closer to the bottom of the car will make it easier to connect and disconnect these cables.
The ground should be connected directly to the earth
In electronics, the term “ground” refers to a voltage reference point. All other voltages in electronics are compared to this ground voltage.
All electronic components have a positive and negative side. The components operate based on the flow of electrons between these sides.
The ground serves as a reference point for all the voltages in your device. How do you know which side of the ground is negative then?
Well, you cannot have two grounds in your device- one must be positive and the other must be negative! To solve this problem, all you have to do is connect your device’s ground to the earth (or any other external source of electricity). Then, your ground will be considered negative.
Your internal components rely on the internal ground being neutral.
Voltage drops when current passes through a conductor
When you hold the positive and negative terminals of a battery in your hands and press the battery to a metal object, like a coin or a nail, you can see that the side of the battery that touches the coin or nail loses its shine.
This happens because there is a current flowing from the battery’s positive terminal to the outside object, i.e. the coin or nail.
The outside object is a conductor and allows the current to flow through it. This process requires some voltage to be dropped, or lost, which leaves the battery’s positive terminal less powerful than before.
Battery testers are very smart instruments that test both points of voltage on a battery, not just one point like many people think.
Current flows from the positive terminal to the negative terminal
Most electronics are designed to work with a negative terminal as the ground, but some are designed to work with the point A as the ground. In these cases, point B should be the negative terminal of the battery.
The reason for this is that most electronic components are designed to receive power from a negative terminal. This means that they are designed to take in energy from the outside and use it, which requires a negative input.
If you put a positive input into a component that is designed for a negative one, then it will not work correctly. This is why some electronics have special batteries that have a positive terminal, they need a positive input into their internal components to function correctly.
General tips: always check your electronic device’s instructions or specs sheet to see which point should be the ground (-) terminal and use that one as your battery’s negative terminal.
Use the same polarity for batteries in series
When you are building a battery out of several individual batteries, you should connect the positive terminal of one battery to the negative terminal of the next.
This way, all the batteries add up to a higher voltage. The total volume of electricity is higher, which is what you want!
It is a common mistake to connect the positive terminal of one battery to the positive terminal of another. This actually results in lower voltage, as one battery drains its energy into another without any resistance.
Series wired batteries should have the same polarity on their terminals, so it is correct to use either the positive or negative terminal as the common connection point for two batteries wired in series.
Use different polarity for batteries in parallel
Now let’s talk about the opposite case: When batteries are placed in parallel, or with the negative terminals connected, the total voltage is the same, but the total amperage increases.
This is called “direct-current” power distribution, and it is the standard for most electronics. Most electronics are designed to handle a certain voltage, so this is not something that you would want to mess with.
The current flows easily between the batteries that are in parallel, which is why the amperage increases. The opposite battery terminal becomes the negative terminal for the whole system of batteries in parallel.
You should always make sure that your individual battery terminals are protected so that they do not touch one another or anything else that could cause a short. This will prevent your battery from being drained too quickly by your other batteries in parallel.
Neutralize batteries before charging
It is important to remember that batteries can be dangerous, so it is best to be careful when charging them. One way to increase safety while charging batteries is to make sure they are neutralized before placing them in the charger.
There are two types of batteries: disposable and rechargeable. Disposable batteries contain a finite amount of energy that can only be used once, while rechargeable batteries have a higher energy capacity that can be reused.
Disposable batteries already have an exposed metal terminal which makes it easy to know which point should be the negative terminal. Rechargeable batteries, however, do not have exposed metal terminals so it can be confusing which point should be the negative terminal.
By testing out your battery before disposing of it or recharging it, you can ensure that both types of batteries are neutralized and safe to use again.
