Has anyone seen the top half of an 8d flying by?

bruceknee · April 05, 2006, 07:18:46 PM

Hooked the charger to 1 of the batteries. Turned on the charger and the other battery blew up. wonder why? recently hooked up a vanner equalizer that had been unhooked, also, the batteries had been going dead since hooking up the vanner. Is there a way to test the vanner?

Nick Badame Refrig/ACC · April 05, 2006, 07:34:44 PM

Bruce,

I had that happen to me on a car batt, when you short them out, they blow!

How high did the lid go?

I would say you have a defective vanner! I don't know how to test them

But I would start by testing every cell of your 8Ds with a hydrometer and see how close the readings are!!

Please, Be Careful!

My wife and I may be comming over the big boat this weekend with the bus, I'll let you know.

Nick

plyonsMC9 · April 05, 2006, 08:26:20 PM

No flying battery parts, but a large explosion. In my case, the cable connecting to the battery post wasn't clean enough, so the cable fused to the terminal during the explosion. LOUD.

Be Careful!!! Best Regards, Phil

gus · April 06, 2006, 08:26:59 PM

I saw a guy at an auction hook two batteries up to make 24 volts. I don't remember what he did but one battery went 20' straight up and sprayed him with a little bit of acid. No other harm done!! An amazing thing, no eye injury from acid or burns from arcing!

Busted Knuckle · April 08, 2006, 10:55:39 PM

Ahhh Ok Bruce now I know what that KkThunkkkk noise on the shop roof was! LOL No seriously fellas use caution when dealing with these ol' buses and there batteries! I've seen quite a few blow up as you describe Bruce! Very scary and potenually dangerous! In most cases the 1 thta blows up was bad in the 1st place! But not always hooking them up incorrectly or just a spark can ignite the gases floating around these big ol' batterys! "Knuckle"

Don/TX · April 09, 2006, 07:08:12 PM

Happened to me a few years back in the 4905. I had two group 31's back near the engine, and I just used a Dayton 24v automatic charger with clips to keep the batteries charged while parked for the winter.
I would start it once a month, and let it warm up to temp, build air and exercise things. One morning I decided to get that out of the way, and the moment I hit the starter: BAM! Battery gassed from the load, clip ons sparked and the rest was a mess. The feel at the front of the bus was that the crankshaft had busted in two!
Funny part was, the guy next to me in a fifth wheel trailer came running out in his underware screaming for everyone to get away, because his water heater had just blown up and was probably on fire.! He got into an arguement with the guy in a 4106 on the other side of me, who maintained his BBQ tank had just blown up. It sure was hard to keep a straight face while they almost came to blows over whose RV had just exploded.

Busted Knuckle · April 09, 2006, 08:07:54 PM

Don that is hilarious! I'm still laughing so hard picturing it with you just sitt'n there watching and try'n not to laff!I'm hav'n trouble typ'n! Reminds me of the time I blew the whole junk yard up in 1 big explosion, while we were "shooting gas tanks off with a torch!" LOL long story but trust me got way more attention then I ever wanted or would ever want again! I had to tell exactly what happened to about 15 different Cheifs, Head of Kentucky Bureua of Investigations (KBI) , State Police,and FBI back ground check run on and the whole nine yards as if I'd blown up the ATF building in OKC and this was at least 10 yrs or better before that happened! I still remember the morning it happened I was in Dallas and my ol' boss called me and asked if I was anywhere near OKC???!!! I just told him to kiss my ya you know what an hung up on him! I'm surprised I didn't get investigated over that 1!