Why did my battery explode? Bring it….

[Zednotzee]

Originally Posted by AfterHoursNLCT

How did it get all over everything other than having some sort of explosion???

We have a pretty large vehicle fleet at work, & some of them are parked for long periods. If the battery freezes without splitting open (our industrial batteries never seem to), trying to boost the truck can produce some truly spectacular results. This usually involves arc welding with the jumper cables, but who knows?

[transmitterdan]

What AGM battery has inspection caps? That doesn't look like an AGM to me. It looks like a regular flooded cell battery. If it is FLA but you thought it was an AGM and never checked the fluid level that could explain the problem.

[jongleur]

Dan:

Here's the only link I could find re: Varta Hobby batteries:

12V 110AH Deep Cycle Battery VARTA HOBBY Leisure Caravan Marine Boat Solar Wind | eBay

Apparently they are not AGMs.

[sabray]

Sure looks like their lead acid battery. Their Agm batts don't seem to have the caps. Maybe it got cooked with the wrong charge and no water added. What other batteries are hooked up? How are they being charged? If the same you might want to check the inspection caps less you cook more battery's or worse.

[Zil]

My first thought also. They are flooded lead acid. Caps and you can see the plates. The damage looks like expansion from freezing.

[socaldmax]

OK, I'll tell you the truth, but you may not like it.












Two of them were British, one of them was Irish. I'll let you figure out who was who.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

OK, I'll tell you the truth, but you may not like it.



Two of them were British, one of them was Irish. I'll let you figure out who was who.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[leftbrainstuff]

Perhaps an internal short. If you have a good forensic look thru the remains you should find the smoking gun.

Temp cycling in the range you mention won't lead to this type of catastrophic failure. Batts down to -55 deg don't explode from freezing they just go to sleep.

[pstadt]

OK, once again, thanks to all. The answer I was looking for, and that several of you correctly pointed out, was: I was the problem.

Upon replacing the one ex-battery today, the technician verified, as many of you have properly identified, that my three house batteries are indeed flooded cell and not AGMs. My bad battery had apparently run low on liquid, and you know the rest… My original jump to them being AGMs was the view I had through the side of the exploded battery of condition of the plates and the material between them - it looked like glass matting and never having seen the inside of one, well….

The technician load tested the remaining "good" batteries to find them fairly weak and suggested I don't insert a good one with the two weak ones (and definitely not an AGM with two flooded cells).

As the battery box is in a very confined location (and I'm apparently no good at servicing them anyway) I opted for the AGMs. So, no food for the kids for the next several weeks but there are now three new batteries in place.

Just kidding about the kids.

[socaldmax]

Spring for the LiFePo4 batteries and tell the wife "sorry, no tennis bracelet for Valentine's day."

[s/v Jedi]

I couldn't find the video that shows somebody shooting an AGM battery and no acid coming out of the hole.

ah, here is one:

NorthStar engine start battery gets shot but still works - YouTube

[glenn.225]

Don't know if I would put much faith in that video, looks like the battery is still in the truck and is that black booster cable clamp on the outside of the post.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by glenn.225

Don't know if I would put much faith in that video, looks like the battery is still in the truck and is that black booster cable clamp on the outside of the post.

I don't believe it still works unless I'm there with my Fluke. I posted it to demonstrate that the acid in AGM batteries is all absorbed in glass matt en will not come out like the OP described happening to them.

[roland stockham]

Could also be a charger fault. If have had problems with leaving batteries on charge even with a good charger. After a long period the voltage can climb to aroud 15v. On a vented lead acid you just lose water but with an AGM any gassing will lead to an overpressure event. The battery should cope with this (but the water loss will kill it) however in very cold weather the vent could fail (temp was outside it's design spec) either by increasing the pressure needed to open the vent or possibly plugging with ice. I have had a smilar event with a sealed cell (cyclon) which shorted. Clouds of white 'smoke' (hydrogen) and it sounded like it exploded. Actually that is another possibility, did somthing get dislodged and fall on the terminals causing a short. Thank goodness there where no sparks at the time...

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by jongleur

Dan:

Here's the only link I could find re: Varta Hobby batteries:

12V 110AH Deep Cycle Battery VARTA HOBBY Leisure Caravan Marine Boat Solar Wind | eBay

Apparently they are not AGMs.

That is a bit of a shame after just 3 years. Varta are well regarded this side of the pond and I have a pair of 110 AH as a house bank. Replaced the previous Varta Hobbys a couple of years ago. They lasted 5 years before a worn battery master switch failed to disconnect and took out one so replaced the pair.

Pete