Exploded battery...

[Glowgood Jigster]

Back when I first started using an electric trolling motor, I first started using a battery charger. Never had to use one before, just never came up. So the first time I used my new charger on my new deep cycle battery, I had it set up on my front porch, attached the cables, plugged it in, and went in to clean the fish. Suddenly, the sound of seven shotguns rattles the neighborhood and my windows, and I run out to see that my battery is in a hundred pieces around my porch and driveway. Everybody along our street is on their porch looking over at me wondering what the explosion was, and I'm in shock, thanking my lucky stars that our dog was in the house, and nobody was near that thing when it blew. I got all the pieces picked up and cleaned up and all that. The next day I realized one thing I shouldn't have forgotten: All that battery acid had splattered all over the porch AND MY TRUCK, and I didn't hose anything off. My paintjob was ruined by a thousand little black pockmarks, both on the truck and the house. ARRRRGGG!!!!
I think the reason it exploded was that I didn't pop the caps off the battery.
Now it's the first thing I do.

[FishnLine]

Thanks for telling that story. I'm glad to hear no one was hurt. I've never thought about taking the caps off while charging. Does anyone else here remove their caps?

[Barnacle Bill]

I don't think it was the caps as they are vented plus there are sealed batteries with no caps. I suspect you accidently hooked the charger up backwards.

[CrappiePappy]

I don't think it was the caps as they are vented plus there are sealed batteries with no caps. I suspect you accidently hooked the charger up backwards.

been there, done that !! #1 reason for battery explosions, is reverse hookups (hooking postives to negatives). Most occur when jumpstarting a car battery. That's when it happened to me. Got a face/eyes full of battery water. Luckily the battery was near dead, so the acid was relatively weak. A quick flushing of the face and eyes, with water, and no damage done. Also, luckily, the reverse wiring mistake only blew the caps off the battery ... and did not explode the casing. .... cp

[rango]

i had one blow on me once as i reached over it to remove the clamps after a night of charging. you usually get a spark when you remove the battery clamps unless you unplug the charger first, which i dint do. after a night of charging i guess the battery was emittin some strong vapors when the spark set it off. the whole top blew off with a huge explosion. fortuantly all i was hit with was acid. after a quick shower i was ok. to this day i dont see how i missed gettin hurt, but i did. a rule of thumb now is ALWAYS unplug the charger before removing the battery clamps from it. that way you wont get a spark. batteries will blow even if the charger is hooked up right. all you need is the spark and the vapors from a battery.

[cook]

10-4 that ,Rango.Way back in 19dickeydoo,when I was in H.s.I had an olds 88...beast of a car.Stopped at a 7-11 for a soda after school,got back in and turned the key..BOOM!,starter never even had time to engage.Quite the explosion,peeled part of the hood up.Had it towed.....charging system checked out O.k.......guess it was just an old battery giving off hydrogen and the relay ignited it....scared the heck out of me.Put a new battery in and it was fine.The hood and acid etchings just gave it a little more character:D

[Glowgood Jigster]

Boy, never thought I could have hooked the battery up backwards, I knew that red went to + and black to -, maybe that's what happened but I kinda doubt it. All I know is the caps were still on the battery. Wouldn't a backwards hookup have exploded it sooner than a couple hours? I think it was around two-three hours along when it blew up...
I think this is a good place to talk about battery safety and chargeing tho, since so many of us recharge them things... I think too many people are sadly uneducated about the hazards of rechargeing batteries.
Regards, Glowgood

[CrappiePappy]

Boy, never thought I could have hooked the battery up backwards, I knew that red went to + and black to -, maybe that's what happened but I kinda doubt it. All I know is the caps were still on the battery. Wouldn't a backwards hookup have exploded it sooner than a couple hours? I think it was around two-three hours along when it blew up...
I think this is a good place to talk about battery safety and chargeing tho, since so many of us recharge them things... I think too many people are sadly uneducated about the hazards of rechargeing batteries.
Regards, Glowgood

You may have a point .... if the leads were hooked up correctly, and the caps were still on, and it took a couple of hours before it exploded --- there may have been a defect in the battery, itself, or it possibly was reverse charged at the factory (if it was straight off the shelf, and not yet used by you).
Not having the caps blow off, makes me think of two possibilities - problem was in the plates, in the interior of the battery ... or, caps were not allowing ventilation, and battery got hot & expanded to bursting point.
Were you charging with a 12V charger, or a larger one ? ..... cp

[papasage]

a battery will for a gass cloud over the battery and a spark will set it off . this usealey happend in the summer when it is hot and no breeze blowing . you alwayes hook the + to battery and then hook the -to the engi block . it will put offa little spark and when hooking to a battery it is right in the gass . if you have to hook directley to battery do so in a breeze or fan over the battery to blow away the gass cloud .

[S10CHEVY]

My Sears charger has a light, that lights up, if it is hooked in reverse. It is about 10 years old. Have had it light up once, when in a rush to charge it. Doesn't all newer chargers have this feature?