SUBJECT: Battery cables and power packs

Submitted by T Byrd (205.188.199.48) from ALABAMA on

I finally did it this time: hooked up the battery cables backwards on my 96 25 hp Merc. Had the pos on the neg post and when I touched the neg cable to the pos post the sparks tipped me off that there was a problem. Hooked it up right and the motor started and ran fine in the barrell. Went fishing this weekend and after running about 6 miles at 3/4 throttle the engine bogged down and acted as if it was running on one cylinder. It would run slowly but when you gave it throttle it would sputter and die. Changed gas tanks and it acted the same. Got back to the ramp but very slowly. When I was in sight of the dock I gave it the gas and it ran just fine. I was always told that hooking up the battery backwards, even for an instant would fry the power pack. I was hoping that since the motor started, I got lucky. What do you all think? Thanks for reading this sad tale.