battery bang!

[John Brink]

I arrived at my boat today to find the top of one of my batteries completely blown off. Battery acid running under the aft sleeping area and into all the storage compartments. What would cause this? I replaced the battery and battery box but am hesatent to fire up the charger. Could the charger be to blame or maybe the perco switch? The red and green lights on the charger both light up when it is turned on. Is this normal? The charger is a Charge Pro 10 amp.

 

[Don Alexander]

Explosive Mixture

Hi John,If a battery is left on charge until it overcharges it releases two volumes of hydrogen to one of oxygen.This mixture of gasses is an excellent explosive.May I suggest that your charger caused this and a tiny spark from a loose connection somewhere near did the rest.Having been present on two occasions when this type of explosion occurred I can confirm it is quite something.Regards,

 

[Paul Akers]

Me Too, once

The same thing happened to me a few years ago. The problem was a 12v accessory plug that I had wired to the house battery. A connection parted and sparked and POW! I wasn't aboard at the time, but the cleanup wasn't fun.

 

[Bryan C.]

Shorted cell?

How old was your battery? Could have been the battery failed. If a cell shorts, the battery capacity now becomes 10.5 volt (2.1 per cell x 5 cells). The charger tries to bring it up to 14.1+ volts, causing it to over charge -- result is thermal runaway and/or explosion.