Battery oops damage question

[Wayne M]

I took my battery back to shore to charge. On the trip back I was transporting the battery back in my aluminum rowboat I use as a dinghy. When I got back to my boat I noticed that one of the terminals was melted. What happened is I placed the terminals next to the aluminum seat and on the trip out they shorted on the seat The battery is a 27series deep cycle manufactured March 2008 how much damage did I do to the battery? I checked it with my volt meter and it still registered a full charge. Did I shorten the life? I have only 1 battery on the boat and it is used for lights and radio should I rely on this battery?

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Congrats on inventing the first electric boat Wayne!

Kidding aside, if it holds a charge, the specific gravity of all cells is both good and uniform and the terminal(s) are still functional, no problem. If you can't check all the above, have someone load test it.

 

[r.w.landau]

If it holds a charge that is great news. Like Don said.

The thing I would make sure of: it probably got pretty hot. Check the battery housing itself for damage. If it is, can it. If it isn't, tell me what brand!
Question, did it fry the rivits in the dingy?
What was the voltage when you checked it?
r.w.landau

 

[Wayne M]

The plastic

housing was ok. I got the battery from work it is a Carquest brand manufactured by East Penn. I dont remember the exact voltage but it was around 12.5 volts. I will have to check the rivets on the dinghy.

 

[Bob Poff]

How long was it shorted?

If it was just long enough to burn the terminal, I wouldn't worry too much.
If it stayed shorted for a longer time, then I'd wonder about the mechanical connections inside the battery.

Probably would be a good idea to clip a good load (like a car headlamp) across the battery and watch the voltage for half an hour or so.

 

[Wayne M]

Thank you

for your replies. What I am going to do is wait until I take my boat out of the water which is in 2 short weeks:cry: and load test it and take it from there.

 

[ITMaster]

Did you check the polarity of the battery?

I would check the two posts and ensure that the positive terminal is still positive and the negative is still negative. I have heard of the battery reversing polarity when something like this happens.