Battery Explosion! What Happened?

[Industrial Toys]

A new experience for me. I was at a friends today when a car battery exploded. It was a sealed car battery, and was used to run a 12 volt hydraulic hoist. It had gone dead and a wheeled style charger had been put on it to temporarily run the hoist on "BOOST" setting. It had been forgotten for only a short while.

I was standing around 6 feet away from it with my back to it. I thought it sounded like a 9mm handgun, my friend thought a .270!

Plastic everywhere, and the top third of the battery missing!

Curious what happened?

A few minutes before, my friend asked if I smelled Dog poop. I didn't. Probably hydrogen gas.

Did a spark from the charger alligator clips set off the gas, or did it explode from pressure? I thought all, flooded batteries have to be vented.

This certainly makes me see batteries in a whole new light.

 

[RNeumann]

A bad cell can occur when the plates grow enough scale to touch and short. A dead short creates heat. A "sealed" battery can only release so much pressure. Too much heat and it can't keep up releasing pressure. Pressure builds till battery case suddenly and explosively fails. That's a likely "explosion" scenario.
Good to see Darwin is alive and well. Glad he wasn't hurt!

 

[CADplans]

Charging will make the battery release hydrogen gas,,
ANY spark will ignite it,
hydrogen is quite unique in that it will ignite at almost ANY ratio of hydrogen to oxygen.

My nephew hooked a clamp on spotlight to a battery,, I thought he had shot his .243 at a groundhog.
Acid, and plastic went everywhere, the light clamp touched the battery terminal, and created enough spark.

BANG!!

 

[Oldpath05]

40 years ago I wanted to charge a dead battery, stuck it in my car, hooked up the boost cables, car started than I drove up the road almost a mile when BANG and the car stalled, looked under the hood and a hole in the side of the battery thinking to my self, glad I wasn't standing next to it in the drive way watching, anyways got the car push around coasted back down to the house, a lesson learned the easy way and that dont happen very often either........

 

[jaxs]

Pressure wasn't what burst it,the gas produced while charging a battery is explosive. Chances are a connection broke either at cable connection or inside battery that resulted in a spark,ka-boom. One more reason to slow charge batteries.

 

[Industrial Toys]

So am I to guess, that one never sees the flash? The intention was to momentarily run the hoist, not charge (I mean blow up) the battery.

 

[kthompson]

Been years ago but we had one to blow up in our car and all my wife did was hit the key to crank it. No charger nothing changed in the installation for months. Was told they will do that some times. Do not remember blowing parts of battery but that was about 30 years ago.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

A few minutes before, my friend asked if I smelled Dog poop. I didn't. Probably hydrogen gas.

Nope. Hydrogen is odorless. You won't know it's there.

It's theoretically possible you could have smelled a faint whiff of sulfuric acid in the air, as the overcharging boiled it off. Or maybe not.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Or maybe, he really just stepped in it. Googled hydrogen gas a little while ago, yes you are right, no smell.

Any thoughts on acid covered clothing? Is rinsing in water, within a short time enough? What happens to sulfuric acid diluted with water when it evaporates? Are you left with the sulfuric acid?

This REALLY is something I hope I never experience again.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Any thoughts on acid covered clothing? Is rinsing in water, within a short time enough?

Usually, no. That stuff works quickly, especially on cotton. Depends how quickly you got to it and how thoroughly you rinsed it, of course. At this point, it is what it is. You'll know for sure when you wash it. That's when the holes will show up. Or not.

What happens to sulfuric acid diluted with water when it evaporates? Are you left with the sulfuric acid?

Yep. Just waiting for some water to activate it again. It needs to be flushed with lots of water to get rid of it. Follow up with baking soda to make sure you get the last of it neutralized.

This REALLY is something I hope I never experience again.

I hear ya! I've had one blow up on me, and I would prefer to keep it to just the one.

 

[PILOON]

A friend once had a battery explode in his small aircraft.
He had boosted to start the engine, taxied for take off after doing all his checks etc.
Shortly after take off 'BOOM' ---his battery exploded.
So did his shorts!
He never flew again!

The take was that he probably had a dead cell hence low voltage and the boost got him going.
From there the generator was probably overcharging the 5 good cells and creating hydrogen which ignited---and boom.
Any bodies guess as to what sparked the 'boom'.

 

[JRobyn]

I have not been able to figure out what happened to this one in my electric ATV. It stayed on a six-stage charger mostly continuously. At most times on just trickle charge. It was still reading over 12vdc! The vents were clear and open. There was no "boom" that we were aware of, but it's possible that it blew while we were away. It did not freeze. It appears to have been a relatively low-energy event; no explosion. It didn't splatter acid all over the inside of the battery compartment, but sure did a number on my freshly-reconditioned and coated battery trays. I believe it happened days or even weeks before I discovered it.

 

[gwstang]

"hydrogen is quite unique in that it will ignite at almost ANY ratio of hydrogen to oxygen."

Hmm, did not know this. I do know that H2 is very explosive but in a large amount is what I've always believed. I have a hypochlorite generator at work. One of the gasses it releases as it splits the salt molecule...is Hydrogen gas. I will pay more attention to the fan motors that are for moving this out of the building.

 

[gwstang]

"Any thoughts on acid covered clothing? Is rinsing in water, within a short time enough? What happens to sulfuric acid diluted with water when it evaporates? Are you left with the sulfuric acid?"

Be sure to toss them in the washer with your wife's good clothes and tell us how it turned out....if you are still alive afterwards...lol :laughing: Oh, and take pics of her reaction when she finds out.

 

[2458n]

Most often ruin my new and expensive Carhart jacket dragging them around in Nov. Got one running in recondition setting tonight. Checked battery in Kubota and it had a finish charge of 14.7 volts. Seemed high-but the tractor always starts. Tomorrow the Ford diesel with two batteries gets the charger on it while I replace a brake line. With only one eye you become extra careful doing this stuff.

 

[Industrial Toys]

My clothing seem to be OK. I had dropped by to have my friend do a little lathe job and I wasn't in my work clothes.

I don't get it. The battery was mounted around six feet up, with the poly tank of the hydraulic pump just a foot above it. The tank doesn't appear hit at all, but a B&S motor on the floor had the battery terminal assembly puncture the plastic fuel tank. It's like the blast went downward yet the top third of the battery was gone leaving the lower two thirds there.

This makes me quite nervous about charging my 48 Volt Gator. It quite often gets topped up, over lunch or whatever, so you unplug it while still charging and drive it away. Sparky relays and brushes! Surprised it hasn't gone kaboom!

 

[RjCorazza]

Nope. Hydrogen is odorless. You won't know it's there.

It's theoretically possible you could have smelled a faint whiff of sulfuric acid in the air, as the overcharging boiled it off. Or maybe not.

Actually a normally charging battery will produce hydrogen at the end of its charging cycle. Over charging a battery, or one with shorted cells creates hydrogen sulfide gas that does have a characteristic rotten egg smell. It is also explosive, and toxic.

 

[V65ozzie]

Many years ago, I worked for Sears Automotive, back in the day when they had an auto catalog(dating myself here) If sears sold it, we installed it. Engines, transmissions, luggage racks.......everything.
We had an electric forklift we used in the shop for whatever we needed, it was always parked, on the charger, at the back wall. One day there was a huge explosion, we all looked over in time to see the forklift about a foot in the air, the whole building shook. Apparently a new guy was cutting up an old exhaust system for the scrap bin, and a shower of errant sparks ended up spraying over the forklift. Management wasn't happy with the repair bill, and the fact they had to have a shelter built outside to store it in from that point.
Couple of years ago my kids took my electric golf cart offroad(they never listen......sigh) one of the batteries broke loose, arc'd and blew, luckily the seat base took the brunt of it. I had to replace the battery, a solenoid and a bunch of wiring, as well as repair the battery tray.

 

[drizler]

A friend once had a battery explode in his small aircraft.
He had boosted to start the engine, taxied for take off after doing all his checks etc.
Shortly after take off 'BOOM' ---his battery exploded.
So did his shorts!
He never flew again!

The take was that he probably had a dead cell hence low voltage and the boost got him going.
From there the generator was probably overcharging the 5 good cells and creating hydrogen which ignited---and boom.
Any bodies guess as to what sparked the 'boom'.

Must have been an internal short set that off. There's way too much air blasting around a light plane batter and box to allow hydrogen to build up. Aside from scaring **** out of him it most likely would have done no serious damage aside from tearing apart the box . It sure wouldn't have knocked out the engine and those things run fine even without any battery . It sure would cause some serious pucker factor if it happened in the air.

 

[buickanddeere]

Starting battery is not the proper design for the application. Should have been a deep cycle or at least a marine battery.