Battery

[Ivan49]

I had something happen yesterday that made me think more about battery safety. Last nite I pulled a 6 volt battery from one of my tractors and brought it inside to charge it up. The charger was set up for 6 volt 2 amps and was hooked up right. I always hook the battery up first and then plug the charger in. I figured I would leave it charge overnite. We had a storm go thru during the night and I heard a big boom so I just figured it was the storm. Well I went out this morning and guess what. The battery top was blown off. All I found from the top was the caps and one piece of plastic about 2 inches square. Just wanted to post this as a reminnder to be careful and maybe get an idea of why this happened.

 

[Coyote machine]

Probably a power surge/ spike that got past the charger and 'smoked' the battery. A battery is basically a small b o m b waiting for just the right mix of hydrogen gas and spark or too much juice being shoved into it by a charger that becomes a path of least resistance for a spike from a storm surge/ lightning, etc. looking for a ground.
Be careful in cleanup, there will likely be a bunch of battery acid everywhere it could have sprayed when the battery exploded.
Use gloves, and baking soda and water to neutralize any acid damage/liquid you find in the area. Don't let any dogs, cats etc. in the area either.
Glad no other damage occurred.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Low water level in the battery. Lots of proccesses in charging a battery, including heat and chemical reactions. Throw one element off and BAM, acid bomb. I would check your charger as it could be a lightning issue, but if nothing else in your house is effected it was your battery itself more than likely..

Lots of scary stories floating around, people having their heads over the battery when hooking them to chargers, facial acid burns, lost eyes.... blah blah blah..

 

[J_J]

I lost a golf cart to a battery fire. I had set the charger to timed charge. It was under a fiberglass panel roof. I left for the night and came back the nest morning to a pile of ashes, and a hole burned in the roof. It appears that battery gremlins did it. Apparently hydrogen gas, and a spark set it off, and it burned until it melted a hole in the roof, and a pile of wet leaves smothered it out. Things happen at the worst times. I was going to use it to spread mulch that day. I had built a truck bed on the back. D*m the luck.

 

[Soundguy]

yep. could have been a gas buildup.. and then a power failure then power back on and spark.. some chargers use a sealed bulb breaker.. but not sure if all do that..

soundguy

 

[RonMar]

If the electrolyte level was low, low enough to expose the top of the plates, it could have sparked internally with the normally applied charge current and set off a fuel(hydrogen) air explosion. Since hydrogen is lighter than air, as it excapes from the vents, it gulps air back in to replace the volume expelled. Perfect recipe for a big boom...

 

[BrentD]

About 10 or 15 years ago my grandmother was driving around town running errands on a hot summer day. She stopped at a red light, waited for it to turn green and right as she hit the gas there was a loud BOOM from under her hood and the car rolled to a stop. Fortunately there was a service station on that of the intersection and a couple of guys came over and pushed her car in. (After getting up off the ground and dusting themselves off from diving for cover when they heard the boom.) They popped her hood to see what the heck happened and her battery was completely gone. The only thing left was about a silver-dollar sized shard of plastic around each of the battery posts. There wasn't even any liquid battery acid left anywhere, like the explosion must have flash-boiled it all. Never did find out exactly what caused the explosion, but I've always just assumed that the exceptionally hot day coupled with the car running for hours and an old battery accelerated the acid evaporation and hydrogen production. When she hit the gas either the motion of the vehicle caused something to shift inside the battery and caused an arc or the sudden surge from the alternator caused something to spark and that blew the battery.

 

[ultrarunner]

If the electrolyte level was low, low enough to expose the top of the plates, it could have sparked internally with the normally applied charge current and set off a fuel(hydrogen) air explosion. Since hydrogen is lighter than air, as it excapes from the vents, it gulps air back in to replace the volume expelled. Perfect recipe for a big boom...

This would be my guess... had a battery blow up in my face once and it impacted my hearing for a while.

I was 12 years old helping out at the family car business and hooked up a 30 amp charger to the battery in a 1970 Caprice... the charger meter wasn't registering a charge so I wiggled the clamp and KABOOM...

Lucky for me I was looking at the charger so the acid bath got the side and back of my head and I had enough sense to hose myself off within seconds... a few minutes later my shirt down to my waste was in shreds as well as the pocket on one side of my jeans...

 

[tallyho8]

When I was 16 my battery exploded the second I hooked a jumper cable up to it after I had killed my battery by cranking it too long. I was extremely lucky as I was looking right at it and up close but I don't think one drop of acid hit my face though I did have some clothes eaten up by the acid.

Needless to say, I have never hooked up the cables to the dead battery last anymore. Always hook them to the dead battery first and then to the jumper battery and ground.

 

[dmccarty]

Thank you for this conversation.

I knew batteries could be dangerous but I never knew how they could go boom. I knew about hydrogen but I figured the spark would be from me hooking up the jumper cables not an internal spark in the battery.

We have a new used Toyota. Seems to be a nice SUV except the ergonomics stink. They only way we know how to turn off the headlights is by locking the car. If you don't lock the car the lights stay on. For awhile. Then the battery dies. No buzzer when the door opens to tell you the light is on. No relay to turn off the lights IF THE ENGINE IS NOT RUNNING! My Ford can do these things. Seems like cars have been doing this for a few years now... Hmmmmmm I won't even talk about the hidden clock and crazy windshield wiper controls....

Either we can't find the headlight switch or something is broken. We have drained the battery TWICE. I don't think I have ever left the lights on to drain a battery. Until this car.

For some reason I have a battery charger. Don't know why I have it but I do. Good thing too. I use it to charge the car battery instead of jumping the battery. Its a bit easier to use the charger since I don't have to mess with another vehicle to do the jumping. Plus I don't plug the charger into the outlet until the charger is connected to ground and the positive battery terminal. Then I hide behind the SUV and plug in the charger.

I know batteries can go boom. They scare me. Thus I hide. Now I know why batteries go boom. I will still be hiding.

Thanks,
Dan