roddymacp Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Just wondered if anybody else has ever had a battery explode during charging? We are always warned of the dangers, but it is one of those warnings that we ignore. I charged a battery for 24 hours some years ago. When I went to the workshop to check, I knelt beside the battery to disconnect things and touched a lead obviously causing a spark. The battery duly exploded smothering me in acid. Fortunately I had an ouside tap handy and doused myself, clothes and all in, water. I was very lucky as apart from 3 days tinitus, suffered no after effects or damage especially considering that every piece of battery that I found would have fitted into a large matchbox. We are all in a rush, so remember that dangers of maintenance are not confined to wrongly applied spring compressors etc, but mundane tasks can also bite back.-------- Rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRAJ Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 At this years TR register International weekend at harrogate, a battery exploded on a car as the owner tried to start it. Nobody was hurt but those close by were given a fright.Luckily the mess was contained under the bonnet and was immediately hosed out, but it was a very loud bang which we heard clearly some 100 yards away. I think it was on a Triumph Italia or the Triumph Fury.Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT6 M Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 its the build up of hydrogen gas that does it, and when its vented,and a spark gets amongs the gas,and up she goes.I was melting a new terminal onto a batt, had left it for a while , with caps off, but it was inside, no out side where a draft could have blown the gas away,put the mould on, touched the carbon rod onto the post,and up it went, no need to put new terminal on noo. :-/ :-/hydrogen is very explosive in a confined area.ohhhh and word of warnng , DONT ever use salt water to top up an old battery in an emergency at sea., as Brother did on the boat, when it had run dry. as it causes it to give off Chlorine gas.the stink was awfull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc1estate Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 when I was a young man I worked in a breakers yard at weekends, we had a huge pile of batteries in the big shed, one sunday morning charlie gives me a battery tester, points at the pile and says see if you can find me a good un, the first one I tested exploded all over me, I ran into the caravan and washed a lot then spent an hour or so wartching my overalls dissintigrate ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaydub Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Many years back when working on my Herald I leant over the battery to turn the motor over using the solenoid button, bang! Gave me a bit of a shock, ruined my T-shirt, and my hair - but it did clean the graffiti off the garage wall...shame a couple of prospective purchasers were just arriving, they still bought it tho'... Later I found the top half of the battery casing about twenty yards away... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddymacp Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 Good to see that I am not the only one with brown underpants! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 We blew the top off one once while 24v starting a hillclimb Mini..... impressively violent. Fortunately there was a hose handy - could have been very nasty else as one of us was comprehensively spattered. Always turn the charger off before connecting/disconnecting - it matters! This is also why the last jump-lead connected should always be the earth and clipped onto something other than the battery.Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gt6s Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 An old boss of mine had one explode in his face when testing it buggerd his eyesight up, and as an added bonus it cost him his race licence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cammmy Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 What about sealed batteries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TedTaylor Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 796 wrote:ohhhh and word of warnng , DONT ever use salt water to top up an old battery in an emergency at sea., as Brother did on the boat, when it had run dry. as it causes it to give off Chlorine gas.the stink was awfull.This was the reason for the development of NiFe (Nickel Iron) cells for use in submarines. Too many became instant gas chambers if when under attack the batteries got damaged and sea water entered the 'boat'Ted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian 93957 Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 When i was about 17 i charged a pair of big truck batteries for a few hours, as back in the 80`s they came dry charged. anyway after a few hours i took them off charge and then like an idiot forgot to let them settle for a few minutes , and put a drop tester on them to check they were ready. Next thing BANG! the spark of the tester lit the gasses and and blew the top off the battery and showered me in acid. Funnily enough i never did that again...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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