[Russell]

I leave mine loose too, for the same reason. I am constantly doing electrical work on my truck, and want to be able to pull off the battery cable easily when I am working with stuff. I've occasionally had my pole come loose, but typically I notice an increase of voltage on my volt gauge when that happens, along with a serious loss of voltage at an idle as the alternator doesn't charge as well. You can also tell if you go to start the truck and loose all power upon hitting the starter. Just adjust the cable a bit to get a better connection and it is fine after that.