Exploding tractor battery!

[DieselBound]

Is there any possibility of an internal short popping up and causing this?

I once popped off a radiator cap on a car and the contents blew straight into my face. It was luk warm! Never took that approach again!

 

[coast40]

How long did it take Sears to run a check on that Diehard?

I miss Sears. I suppose their lifetime guarantees helped speed their demise along. (I claimed refunds on a computer that my daughter messed up entirely and also on a tire that was my fault. I felt guilty when they closed.)

No, Sears died from mismanagement.Not from tool or battery warranties. The Sears head made out like a bandit. One opinion> https://www.indigo9digital.com/blog/failureofsears

 

[coast40]

The volt meter did not cause the spark. The fact that there was current flow because the battery was a lower voltage than the charger voltage causes current to flow. With current flow, there will be a spark at initial contact.

An ammeter can be a problem; burning wires or sparking. I won't have one in my cars. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/20...n-ammeter-with-a-voltmeter-in-a-vintage-mopar

 

[Chukster]

Gets your attention! It's been probably 60 years since my first blown up battery experience. Seen a number since then. The conditions offered in the comments could be contributing factors, but it's very simple. A battery that is charging gives off hydrogen, which combined with oxygen in the right proportions is very explosive. The simplest example I have witnessed was when I had a garage and we had a battery charging out in the open and an employee walking by brushed against the wire from the charger, apparently causing a spark. All the caps popped off and it cracked the case. After that, we always removed the caps when we were charging batteries to dilute the hydrogen concentration, and also made sure that the batteries weren't where they could be disturbed.
Jumper cable instructions caution that the last connection should always be made to a place away from the battery (just in case there is a pool of hydrogen/oxygen coming from the battery). SMT's battery cable, was probably a little corroded or not tight, so the heavy draw from the starter created a spark. Boom!

 

[EdinLa]

As mentioned above, charging lead/acid batteries develop Hydrogen in the air space above the wet cell. There are multitudes of reasons for the internal space to create a spark sufficient to ignite such an explosive mixture; including many surrounding energies that 'modern' science has no explanation for, and just pretends they don't exist.

The best advise I have had was to let a battery 'rest' for a period of time following charging. ....(or wear a hazmat suit while you ignore such advise!)

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Thought of this thread as I jump started a tractor today.

 

[ChasHM]

where to start is right!
Thank you for all of that VERY helpful information!
•very interesting about the grime! (You are making me want to go out and start looking at all my batteries now!)
•ohhh my!!! How does one know if it’s been ‘overcharged’? (If the digital indicator goes above 12.6 (?)? So, you SHOULDN’T leave batteries charging overnight?

Overcharged?: No easy way to tell. The battery hygrometers will give you a rough idea that it's fully charged. Search the web for info on fully charged, but the rest voltage should be about 12.6 if fully charged after you let it sit a couple of hours. Don't obsess if it's 12.4 instead of 12.6.

What about trickle chargers? (I have a NOCO booster and my friend has a NOCO charger…but to be honest, I’ve never looked to see if there is a digital read out on the charger. Trickle chargers have lower volts/amps/whatever they are called, correct? It will say on the charger somewhere what the power is?
Is it possible to overcharge a battery using a trickle charger? (Like if you leave it on the charger for days at a time?

Battery Maintainers: They're SUPPOSED to be hooked up all the time. The relatively modern ones won't 'overcharge' the batteries. See some of the other posts about comments about older trickle chargers. I'm surprised there aren't 20 posts opining on the relative merits of various methods for keeping batteries charged.
Old-style trickle chargers are OK, but I wouldn't leave one hooked up indefinitely; overnight would be OK. (Old style ones are really stoopid, just send some current to the battery and will, eventually, fully charge the battery and, eventually overcharge it. Probably haven't been sold in 10-20 years.)

•your trickle charger is solar-powered? THAT would be a lot handier than running extension cords out of the barn!! But what happens if there’s lots of clouds & snow? How does it affect the functioning? That’s important - because I live in the snow belt, in a county that was apparently named so because of the weather- Grey County. That’s why I’ve been hesitant about getting a solar electric fence charger- I was concerned that in the winter there wouldn’t be enough sun to power it.) Where did you get the Solar charger? Any particular brand(s) you recommend? Are they more expensive than regular trickle chargers? I wonder if they make dual ones with solar and the option to plug in. Do you happen to know?

A solar trickle charger/battery minder (& a solar electric fence module) don't need sun every day, all day. They've got batteries. I'd go swipe the snow off after you've done your plowing but otherwise they work just fine when sunny or cloudy. If you're compulsive, you'll set the angle of the solar panel to "optimum" based on your latitude but in practice it probably doesn't make any difference.
I picked up my solar battery minder from Northern Tool a decade ago. Still sold by them, but the price has gone up and you have to buy the solar panel separately (which they also sell). The battery minder module is about 2x $ the wall-plug version; I have both, use the wall-plug in the garage for the lawn tractor in the non-winter and in the basement for both the real-tractor and lawn-tractor batteries in the basement in the winter. The solar charger is for the real-tractor when it's warm out.
I learned the hard way that my tractor won't start with a cold battery but starts just fine when the battery is 55+ (basement temp) degrees.

•okay! So it sounds like that is the problem- the alternator (or generator) is too small. So how does one fix that? Can you just put a bigger alternator on? (My dad the mechanic is likely rolling his eyes right now! )
If you can’t put a bigger alternator on, what do you do? Is there a way to have enough power… or is it easier just to take the lights off?

Yes, you could put a bigger alternator on, but will require jiggering or a lot of shopping to mount and maybe a change in belt length depending on the pully situation.
BUT first get it tested. A Steiner is a decent small tractor, it ought to have an alternator capable of driving all the electrics. You don't need to take the lights off, just not turn them on!

 

[RalphVa]

Had one explode once in an old pickup we had. Lead acid batteries give of hydrogen gas. If it cannot get released (very light; wants to rise quickly), it can stay and be ignited by a spark or too much heat.

 

[Boss 302]

It's a nasty explosion and it effects your hearing short term for at least 3 days, long term it's hard to say cause that's all cumulative.

 

[MotoDan]

Well that was bloody scary.

I charged the (not entirely flat) battery on my Fordson Super Major overnight and came to start it this morning. Big spark, huge bang, smell of battery acid and battery fluid dripping all over the barn floor.
Everything had been done properly. Correct polarity. It just seemed to happen out of the blue.

Any idea how best to clean the battery acid off the tractor and floor? Hose pipe?

What is is likely to have been destroyed? Alternator? Anything else?

Thanks for any advice

The so called “acid gas” that was mentioned is actually Hydrogen. Surprised no one has pointed this out. Hydrogen is always produced when charging (or discharging) a lead acid battery and is a very real and potentially dangerous situation - especially in confined and/or poorly ventilated areas.

 

[RickB]

The so called “acid gas” that was mentioned is actually Hydrogen. Surprised no one has pointed this out. Hydrogen is always produced when charging (or discharging) a lead acid battery and is a very real and potentially dangerous situation - especially in confined and/or poorly ventilated areas.

More than a dozen replies specifically mention hydrogen.
Surprised you didn't notice.

 

[Gord Baker]

Vented Batteries produce Hydrogen when being charged/overcharged. Internal spark is highly unlikely. Be very careful when connecting/disconnecting charger. Always unplug it from AC first.
Charge in a ventilated area. You were lucky.

 

[ultrarunner]

For battery to explode it would seem electrolyte would have to be low to allow for hydrogen to accumulate in confined space...

 

[rv7charlie]

Thanks for that bit of information about the RG! Very interesting! So, in non-sealed batteries I am ‘assuming’ that there is a tiny amount of air leakage, which allows some of the hydrogen to escape, thus reducing the amount of water that is able to be reconstituted, which will eventually lead to dry cells.
Is that right?
Someone on here said that even in sealed batteries, you can have dry cells??? How can that be if there’s nowhere for the hydrogen to escape to?? (Or have I misunderstood something along the way??!? )

Sorry to be so late in replying; I don't get email updates on my 'active' threads here and just saw this.
RG batteries go by many names; RG, SLA, AGM, VRLA, etc etc. Big thing to remember is the dividing line between 'flooded cell' and the Absorbent Glass Mat technologies. Most automotive/tractor batteries are still 'flooded cell' designs, even though they're all 'maintenance free' and *appear* to be sealed (they're not). They still have lots of liquid acid, and will vent hydrogen & oxygen if overcharged.

The AGM designs don't have any free acid; it's all absorbed in the fiberglass 'sponge'-like material between the plates. The 'VR' in VRLA is 'Valve Regulated'. they all have a port (valve) to the outside world, but the valve is a 'pop-off' valve. It only opens if the battery is abused by drastic overcharging. If AGMs are overcharged, the excess gasses will eventually force the valve open to relieve the pressure. So you can have a dry cell with either technology.

The nice thing about AGMs is that as long as you don't have some sort of 'vampire load' (something that's always drawing power even when the vehicle's switch is off), they can go for literally months (in some cases, over a year) without needing to be recharged. Their 'self discharge' rate is *much* lower than typical flooded cell batteries. If you never hook up a charger, there's never a risk of overcharging and cooking out the liquid. ;-)

Hope that's helpful,

Charlie

 

[patti24]

Thanks Charlie! Yes, that information is helpful.
I had no idea there were so many types of batteries.
I will be sharing this info with my friend who has the ‘battery-that-constantly-needs-to-be-recharged-if-you-use-the-lights’
Patti

 

[CADplans]

I was washing my car at the farm one day, my two 12 year old nephews were going "groundhog" hunting with a '49 Chevy pickup.
(I am sure the two were going after the deer in the bean field,, as the sun was going down)
The battery was located under the floor on the passenger side,,
Well, the truck was stopped 100 yards from where I was washing the car,,
I hear a noise, and I think it is one of the boys shooting the .243 Winchester that I knew they had with them,,
My first thought was they were kinda close to me to be shooting that .243,,,

Nope, one nephew decided to connect the spotlight to the battery,,
the light switch was in the "ON" position,, the cable clamp created a spark in the battery box,, BOOM!

I next see the two boys walking towards me, one with battery acid in his eyes, and all over his face,
he was leaning right over that battery when the hydrogen blew the battery, from the clamp spark.

I ran over, picked him up, and ran back to the garden hose that I had been using to wash the car.
I turned the hose on, and sprayed him right in his face, and kept doing it for close to a half hour.

We were over a half hour away from a hospital,, back then, I doubt there was even a rescue squad,,

After the half hour of flooding his face and eyes,, him complaining the whole time,, we all 3 jumped in my car,
off to the hospital,,

we only make it about half way, the acid REALLY starts burning the boy,, he is screaming,,
the other nephew is in the back seat, he starts crying, because his cousin is screaming,,

we get to the hospital, they start irrigating his eyes, again, and they do it for over 4 hours,,
After I called their families, probably over 20 family members show up at the hospital to see how the boy is doing,,

WOW, what an ordeal,, almost 50 years later those two still talk about the day the battery blew,,

 

[patti24]

OMG!!!
Did the acid do any damage to his sight or his face???
If not, he is one lucky little bugger. What a blessing you were there- and WITH a running hose at that. BIG lesson learned that day huh? Hope he was okay. Scary stuff… I ALWAYS move away from them. My mom was a nurse and coming off midnights she lent her cables to a guy who needed a boost. He connected them backwards (I think) - and same thing- BOOM! Acid sprayed all over her nursing uniform but thankfully didn’t touch her body anywhere.
There’s a lot more horror stories out there than I ever would have imagined.

 

[CADplans]

OMG!!!
Did the acid do any damage to his sight or his face???
If not, he is one lucky little bugger. What a blessing you were there- and WITH a running hose at that. BIG lesson learned that day huh? Hope he was okay.

No lasting problems,,
The boy was "blessed",, it seemed like once a year something like this would happen,,
a year later he rolled one of the farm cars (an old Nova, IIRC) on its roof, the same cousin was with him.
There was not a spot on that farm over 12 feet above sea level, he found an embankment ,, accidentally.
the only one on the 1,000 acre farm, IIRC,,,

A couple years earlier, he walked in the house and asked his mother for some band-aids,,
He had stuck a hatchet in his leg!!
Before that, he fell off of a swing set, broken arm.

At about 15 years old, him and another cousin was hunting deer, he was skinny, and had never worn a belt in his life.
That day, he put on a leather belt, so he could carry a sheath knife,,
Him and another cousin was standing on the ground, under the tree stand they were supposed to be in,,
My brother fired his 3 1/2 inch Magnum single "0" buckshot lever action ten gauge right at them both, accidentally.
The buckshot pellet hit my nephew right in the belt, He had a big purple mark.
If he had not been wearing the belt?,,

Then there is the story about shooting off his big toe, with a muzzle loader, at about 30 years old,,
I am sure I told that story before,,

And his story still continues,,

 

[rv7charlie]

Would be hard to decide whether to keep that guy near me, or as far away as possible...

 

[grsthegreat]

I would not get anywheres near this guy…..especially in a lightning storm.

that cat is running out of lives.