Lucky no fire

eddiepotts · December 19, 2010, 04:47:05 PM

We had a couple of cold night here so I thought I would put the batteries on the charger to keep them warm. My smart charger did good on the two start batteries but I had a 4 amp charger on a spare battery that I had. I noticed the Christmas lights were not working so I reset the plug in the garage and all has been good. Today I went out to take the bus out for a Sunday stroll and found this. Notice the sink drain pipe broke. It would have not been good having the propane tank in there too. I cleaned it all out and used allot of water and rinsed for as long as I could trying to get all the acid out. I would have never guessed a 4 amp charger would have done this to one of these batteries.

luvrbus · December 19, 2010, 05:05:25 PM

You got a spark from something like the battery charger when it recycled.That looks like my bay when the Lifelines AGM decided to vent what a mess head for the dollar store for soda you are going to need a bunch

good luck

Jriddle · December 19, 2010, 05:08:11 PM

Might spread some baking soda around to see if you got all the acid up. I had a battery blow in the airplane once and used soda to neutralize the acid. What a mess.

John

eddiepotts · December 19, 2010, 05:18:30 PM

Good idea thanks. I will go to dollar store tomorrow. I am just glad I did not turn it into a big toaster. It was a big leason learned

Nick Badame Refrig/ACC · December 19, 2010, 06:21:10 PM

Hi Ed,

I think you can bring that battery back to life!

NOT!

Here is information from our tech archive section on battery sulfation.

Lead sulfation occurs when a lead sulfate compound is deposited on the lead electrodes of a storage battery; this is a problem if the lead sulfate compound cannot be converted back into charged material and is created when discharged batteries stand for a long time. When the state-of-charge drops below 80%, the plates become coated with a hard and dense layer of lead sulfate, which fill up the pores. The positive plates will be light brown and the negative plates will be dull off-white. Over time, the battery loses capacity and cannot be recharged.

12.1. Light Sulfation

Apply a constant current from one to two amps for 48 to 120 hours at 14.4 VDC, depending on the electrolyte temperature and capacity of the battery. Cycle (discharge to 50% and recharge) the battery a couple of times and test capacity. You might have to increase the voltage in order to break down the hard lead sulfate crystals. If the battery gets above 110° F (43.3° C) then stop charging and allow the battery to cool down before continuing.

12.2. Heavy Sulfation

Replace the electrolyte with distilled water, let stand for one hour, apply a constant current of four amps at 13.8 VDC until there is no additional rise in specific gravity. Remove the old electrolyte, wash the sediment out, replace with fresh electrolyte, and recharge. If the specific gravity exceeds 1.300, then remove the old electrolyte, wash the sediment out, and start over with distilled water. If the battery electrolyte rises above 110° F (43.3° C), then stop charging and allow the battery to cool down before continuing. Cycle (discharge to 50% and recharge) the battery a couple of times and test capacity. The sulfate crystals are more soluble in distilled water than in electrolyte. As they are dissolved, the sulfate is converted back into sulfuric acid and the specific gravity rises. These techniques will only work with some batteries.

Merry Christmas
Nick-

bobofthenorth · December 19, 2010, 07:07:49 PM

I had a guy working for me have a battery blow up in his face. He was OK but it scared the crap out of him. So be glad you weren't there when it blew. It could always be worse.

belfert · December 19, 2010, 07:50:06 PM

I'm wondering why you have a turkey burner connected to a propane tank in your bay?

Busted Knuckle · December 19, 2010, 08:31:33 PM

Quote from: belfert on December 19, 2010, 07:50:06 PM
I'm wondering why you have a turkey burner connected to a propane tank in your bay?

For frying batteries?

BK

eddiepotts · December 19, 2010, 09:14:46 PM

Because it takes up to much room in the bus

I had it in there from cooking chili last weekend at a party we went to.

boxcarOkie · December 20, 2010, 02:49:38 AM

Quote from: luvrbus on December 19, 2010, 05:05:25 PM
You got a spark from something like the battery charger when it recycled.That looks like my bay when the Lifelines AGM decided to vent what a mess head for the dollar store for soda you are going to need a bunch
good luck

When I charge mine, I usually pull the caps. It is pretty hard to build up pressure with the caps off.

BCO

Jeremy · December 20, 2010, 03:53:29 AM

Quote from: boxcarOkie on December 20, 2010, 02:49:38 AM
When I charge mine, I usually pull the caps. It is pretty hard to build up pressure with the caps off.

BCO

It's not pressure that causes the explosion - it's ignition of the hydrogen by a spark

Jeremy

PS. This thread is a lesson for me - I wouldn't have guessed that a 4 amp charger on a big battery like this could have caused it to vent enough for this to happen

bevans6 · December 20, 2010, 05:53:09 AM

Batteries vent a lot when they are up to charge and the old style charger doesn't back off on the voltage to reduce the current. I have one old style charger left, I threw the rest out so no one could use them when I wasn't around. some smart chargers won't start to charge if the battery voltage is too low, so I keep the old guy around to wake them up a bit so I can use the smart charger on them. I had a disaster with my 8D start batteries last winter, I managed to drain them to less than 1 volt each. This helped my recover them, I am still using them.

Real shame what happened, I am very glad you will be able to clean up and go!

Brian

Jeremy · December 20, 2010, 06:30:08 AM

By the way - is that battery an '8D'? That thing is huge - way bigger than anything I've seen used on trucks and buses here. And yet the plates inside look quite basic and comparatively small - lots of unused space inside.

Jeremy

eddiepotts · December 20, 2010, 07:18:30 AM

Jeremy, To be honest I don't know what they are. I know the name brand is CAT. They came with the bus and I have not had a problem with them to look into it much. The one that blew was a spare. The PO bought a new one thinking it was bad until he realized the alternator was not working. A couple of weeks ago I had to charge the batteries for about 20 minutes to fire her off. I thought great I will be fine by the time I shut her down they will be charged. Well I made it about a mile before I popped the clutch at a light and killed her. So in my quick thinking I disconnected the batteries and put the charger on one and the jumper cables to the generator battery. After the cops showed up to block traffic I just pulled the spare out and stuck it in. It fired right off and we were going again. I tossed the battery in the bay there just to get going. It has been sitting hot on the other side of the bus. That is really the only reason I put the charger on it because it was so convenient. I would have never guessed the 4 amp would have done this but like they say it had to have sparked but I would think I would have had some kind of fire or soot somewhere. The gas that was being put out must had been to high for the oxygen in the bay to light off. Who knows, I am just glad I am still in the bus game.

luvrbus · December 20, 2010, 07:34:34 AM

I have never saw a fire from a explosion on a battery guess it could happen but I never saw one just a quick burst of energy for a second or two.
My service man had a bad habit of charging batteries on equipment with a welding machine till he did that one time and hit the starter switch and the tractor had a loose cable that sparked it blew him off the tractor and he never did that any more

good luck