Batteries, wet cell caution

[arkaussie]

I don't want to be all gloom and doom but I just want to share my experience.

We have all read about the possible danger of batteries but if you are like me you feel that by being sensible and careful then everything will be OK.

I was looking at a electric golf cart the other day. It would only click when the pedal was pressed so I lifted the top and all the electrical connections were fine. I leaned over and tried the pedal with my hand and suddenly a battery just exploded for no apparent reason. It blew the top off the center cell. There were no shorts etc and nothing had been touched. Fortunately it blew the top off, it did not blow the acid out. I was deaf for a few hours as it was REALLY loud.

Just be aware that anything is possible and wear safety glasses when working around your batteries.

[arkaussie]

I don't want to be all gloom and doom but I just want to share my experience.

We have all read about the possible danger of batteries but if you are like me you feel that by being sensible and careful then everything will be OK.

I was looking at a electric golf cart the other day. It would only click when the pedal was pressed so I lifted the top and all the electrical connections were fine. I leaned over and tried the pedal with my hand and suddenly a battery just exploded for no apparent reason. It blew the top off the center cell. There were no shorts etc and nothing had been touched. Fortunately it blew the top off, it did not blow the acid out. I was deaf for a few hours as it was REALLY loud.

Just be aware that anything is possible and wear safety glasses when working around your batteries.

[Gary the Wombat]

Crikey! Thanks for the warning and reminder--it's too easy to get complacent about these things!

I'm going home in July for a visit--want me to bring back some Vegemite for you to get over your shock?

[arkaussie]

Where is Home? Vegemite would be good, Arnott's Mint Slice Biscuits would be better

Just hope it helps somebody.

[Gary the Wombat]

Home is Newcastle. I'm afraid the Mint Slices wouldn't travel--I'd eat them all on the plane coming back!

Seriously, I'm glad you didn't get a faceful of acid. Wouldn't want to ruin those rugged Aussie good looks!

[John_Canfield]

A few years ago I received a call from my wife saying something about the battery in her car exploded when she tried to start it. I was a little skeptical at first but when I looked under the hood, she was absolutely right. The top blew off and we had battery acid all over the engine compartment.

Took pounds of baking soda to clean up the mess

Lindsay is spot-on about taking precautions when messing around batteries and especially when jumping them for a start.

The key is to not cause any sparks on the battery terminals with the jumper cables, so I typically hook up both positives, then the negative on the dead battery (or chassis), and finally and most importantly, connect the negative cable to the CHASSIS of the source battery and NOT to the negative post itself. With this procedure, you will not cause any sparks on the batteries.

[Izzyblueye]

Good Post! It serves to remind us all that we become complacent while working around these complex systems. Thanks for the heads up.

[SargeW]

I had a starting battery explode on me in the MH when is was only a few months old. In the middle of the night, plugged in to shore power.

It is a "maintenance free" starting battery, and it was impossible to tell if anything was amiss until it "went off". I really dislike the sealed batteries as you often have no way to check if the fluid is properly maintained.

In that case the battery had probably been run down hard by the dealer and combined with being left on the dealer lot, the chassis manufacture's lot for an unknown length of time, the condition of the batteries in that "new" MH is questionable at best.

When I need new batteries in the chassis next time, I will go to a wet cell deep cycle marine battery to replace the "starting batteries".
Deep cell batteries work just fine for starting batteries, you just cant use starting batteries for deep cell house batteries.

It just seems to make sense to me that by using deep cell batteries for starting purposes, that they would be much tougher to withstand an occassional deep discharge and come back without damage. And no more sealed batteries. I will add water and inspect as necessary.



Sarge