So my son and his wife were at our house and the battery in their van died. My husband gave them a jump starter and told them to use it to jump the van.
They’re outside and we hear this high pitch squeal. I look outside and there are sparks. So turns out they had put the wires on the wrong terminals. The jump starter was completely dead.
Sooooo… we stupidly hook up the car to the van using jumper cables. The jumper cables started smoking, sparking, and melting. I turned the car off immediately but the cables continued to spark and smolder. My husband took a plastic snow shovel and knocked the cables loose from the van.
The car and van both appear to be fine. The jumper cables are not and my nerves are shot for the rest of the night!