Battery explosion [RE-wrenches]

Allan Sindelar allan at positiveenergysolar.com
Thu Dec 2 11:11:32 PST 2004


 

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Dean and Wrenches,
My message about the exploding battery was incomplete, and meant for the
"save drafts" folder, but went out. This was not a storage battery that
exploded, but a small 12V starting battery of maybe 600 CCA at best and when
new. It was in a generator "closet" that was part of an unheated workshop
and well vented to the outside. The starter contacts were about 3' away from
and above the starting battery, so it's hard for me to accept that the
battery could have produced a hydrogen gas stream of sufficient density to
explode from a starting spark at that distance, as Bruce and Dan suggested.

Here's the best I can figure: She had had a 10A automotive charger on it,
that included a "manual" switch setting. It may have been left on that
setting, and that setting may have allowed the battery to get well within
gassing range. It was an old starting battery with little capacity left. I
suspect either a gas explosion with an undetermined internal trigger (as Jay
suggested), or possible a spark at one of the cable terminals.

Now, at her request I added an AC receptacle on the AC output of the gennie,
to allow recharge of the replacement battery only when the gennie is
running. She will set the charger to "automatic" rather than "manual"
regulation, but I still don't trust that unit. I will recommend that a 5W PV
module with a Sunguard regulator be added and used instead of the automotive
charger.

And after two weeks, her hearing is still notably weaker. Let's hope it
returns fully. She's 73 years old, and still building passive solar homes...

Allan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dean T. Newberry" <deant at dcn.org>
Hi Allan,
When charging any lead acid batteries etc, there is always gassing, ie=20
hydrogen and oxygen mixing above the battery. Any loose connection near=20
the gas can cause a spark when a load is applied. The bad connection=20
could be internal to the battery, or the post to clamp, or loose or=20
corroded wire in the clamp, or possibly the start switch itself if nearby.

Your customer will recover most of her hearing within a week. I have a=20
pretty good case of tinnitis from the military and construction, so I=20
can't tell if the harmless demonstration had a long lasting effect on my=20
hearing, but I remain very respectful of battery gas.

Battery banks should be installed in a clean, well lighted, ventilated=20
space, the following is the code section on Batteries, in my experience=20
all of these requirements make good sense.



>On a related note, several weeks ago this client went to start this gennie
>after having run her automotive charger (Shumaker homeowner-grade 10A
>automotive charger) for several hours off of system (inverter AC) power.
>When she hit the start button the battery exploded. The battery was under
>the generator and that protected her from acid, but her hearing is still
>partially gone. We weren't there, and she couldn't explain in detail what
>happened. It concerns me, as I can't explain why this battery exploded.

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