Mysterious exploding battery
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- Minor Fan
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Mysterious exploding battery
Enquiring on behalf of fellow club member. His traveller had a suspected blown head gasket or valve, carried out compression tests which flattened somewhat the seven year old Halfords battery, refitted the plugs & attempted restart, suddenly the battery exploded causing a complete end to blow out, acid everywhere. The terminals were tight so no spark there or anywhere else that we can think of. Can only assume an internal battery short, any ideas please as I've never heard of a battery exploding in that manner before ?
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Charlie.
Charlie.
Re: Mysterious exploding battery
I take it that you recharged the battery after flattening it,probably still gassing off hydrogen from the recharge,then bang.
Re: Mysterious exploding battery
Maybe it was a 'pressure' explosion rather than a 'flammable' explosion due to build up of gas from the intense use - that couldn't escape because of a blocked vent. The important thing is to flush with plenty of water, and then neutralise with a mild alkali such as sodium bi-carbonate.
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- Minor Legend
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Re: Mysterious exploding battery
Hope you are ok and didn't get burnt from the acid. Can only think it was a build up of gas as mentioned earlier.
Richard
Opinions are like people,everyone can be different.
Opinions are like people,everyone can be different.
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- Minor Legend
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Re: Mysterious exploding battery
the batttery was not recharged it was running down , nobody got hurt but very strange .
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- Minor Maniac
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Re: Mysterious exploding battery
i have heard of batterys exploding when charging
Re: Mysterious exploding battery
The battery will 'gas' when being heavily discharged... But a compression test shouldn't make great demands on the battery....the engine should be hot, so relatively easy to turn - and all spark plugs removed..... Was it, and were they ?
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Re: Mysterious exploding battery
This sounds to me to be the most logical explanation. Thank you all for the input, I will pass it on to my friend.bmcecosse wrote:Maybe it was a 'pressure' explosion rather than a 'flammable' explosion due to build up of gas from the intense use - that couldn't escape because of a blocked vent. The important thing is to flush with plenty of water, and then neutralise with a mild alkali such as sodium bi-carbonate.
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Charlie.
Charlie.
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Re: Mysterious exploding battery
No, this happened immediately after compression testing with just enough power left to activate the starter.kennatt wrote:I take it that you recharged the battery after flattening it,probably still gassing off hydrogen from the recharge,then bang.
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Charlie.
Charlie.
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Re: Mysterious exploding battery
I expect it was cold as the car had broken down the day before, plugs were removed. My own experience of repeated compression tests does hammer an old battery.bmcecosse wrote:The battery will 'gas' when being heavily discharged... But a compression test shouldn't make great demands on the battery....the engine should be hot, so relatively easy to turn - and all spark plugs removed..... Was it, and were they ?
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Charlie.
Charlie.
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Re: Mysterious exploding battery
From the description it was the 'trying to start' with a run down battery that makes me think of a blocked vent. I've not come across a blocked vent myself but anything is possible.refitted the plugs & attempted restart
If engine does turn over you get an initial big current spike which then reduces as the starter motor speeds up.
If the starter motor isn't spinning - you get max current continuosuly (not a good thing!) and the current is limited only by the motor windings (which heat up quickly due to the current!).
Assuming this caused the battery to gas-off again, the pressure can pop a battery spraying acid etc..
Ray. MMOC#47368. Forum moderator.
Jan 06: The Minor SII Africa adventure: http://www.minor-detour.com
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Jan 06: The Minor SII Africa adventure: http://www.minor-detour.com
Oct 06: back from Dresden with my Trabant 601 Kombi
Jan 07: back from a month thru North Africa (via Timbuktu) in a S3 Landy
June 07 - back from Zwickau Trabi Treffen
Aug 07 & Aug 08 - back from the Lands End to Orkney in 71 pickup
Sept 2010 - finally gave up breaking down in a SII Landy...
where to break down next?
2013... managed to seize my 1275 just by driving it round the block
Re: Mysterious exploding battery
My dad had a halfords battery explode in his traveller as well, he was however under the bonnet when it went! That was also on start up, he must have used the solenoid push button to start. He had a big coat on and a hat on which covered him up. Still got the coat and hat somewhere bearing the holes from the acid... I've kinda been weary of batteries exploding ever since.