Battery Near Miss

[metalspinner]

When heading out on my urban logging adventures all the typical stuff gets thrown in the back of the truck - chain, cant hooks, tool boxes, chainsaws, winch battery, etc.

At the end of the day, my trailer was full of cedar and I was gathering all of my stuff and placing it into the back of the truck.  After placing the machete I used to delimb lots of small cedar poles into the pickup, I turned and headed for the back of the trailer when my buddy askes,"What's all that smoke in your truckbed?"

I ran back to look and the machete was laying across the two wing nut poles of the battery I use for the winch. Quickly I pushed the tool off the battery and stepped back for several minutes.  When things looked like they cooled off, I stepped back in to check it out.  Both screw terminals had melted off the battery with one practically welded onto the machete.   I have a pic, but the gallery is down at the moment.  Will post soon...

I'm not exactly sure what could have happened had I not been given the heads up by my buddy.  Could this thing have exploded?  1/2" holes were melted into the battery top where the screw posts once were.

Anyway, I got a little complacent and got out of it unscathed - other than the 100 bucks to replace the battery. 

Watch out for all the stuff we throw in the backs of our trucks!

[Jeff]

I have a pic, but the gallery is down at the moment.  Will post soon...

I'm wantin to see it but it's going to have to wait.  :-\   We are in PHASE ONE.

I've seen how hot a 6 volt lantern batter can get in just moments. Glad you noticed the smoke in time.!

[SwampDonkey]

Kinda scares ya a bit about buying an electric car. ;D

[Ianab]

Could this thing have exploded?

Possibly, you have hot metal, sparks, hydrogen gas and boiling acid all mixed in together, it can get exciting real quick.

I would be looking to make a little wooden box for the battery, maybe with some handles to make it easier to carry, and a LID

Another neat battery trick is when you put your cellphone in your pocket with your keys, and they bridge out the charging terminals on the bottom of the phone. 

Ian

[metalspinner]

Ianab,

I was thinking about some sort of cover for the battery, but the wooden box is a good idea.  I'll go with that.

[whiskers]

We were taught in driver school to never use box end wrenches on battery terminals, that a dead short could ignite the hydrogen gas and explode the battery. Saw a lot of damaged batteries in wrecked cars and car fires over the years but never saw one that had exploded.

The neutral rule, always first off last on.

[twobears]

years ago,one of my old logging bosses had a  battery blow up in his face it was in a skidder and it shorted out.he was trying to get it out to save his skidder.when,i was working for him my skidder shorted out and he told me to just let it burn then he told me why.when,his battery shorted out he ended up with acid in his eyes and he was blind for awhile.
if i remember right his battery shorted out on the inside..something must have broken loose inside.on mine the hot wire from the battery got caught between the edge of the hood and another piece of the skidder.the battery ended up with several holes melted right thur it.i ALWAYS!! keep track of the battery and wires now.

delbert

[RSteiner]

I had a battery blow up once.  The battery terminals wear a little oxidized and I should have cleaned them, but.  We were at my sister's house geting ready to leave and the car wouldn't turn over so I got my pocket knife out to hepl with the connection.  I had done this on numerous occasions, stick the knife in between the post and the clamp and have someone hit the key. 

My wife was in the driver's seat I had my head just over the battery as I looked through that littel space under the hood and told her to hit the key.  The next thing I knew I was covered in liquid and my ears were ringing.  What sounded like a shotgun blast was all I remember.  I looked at the battery and it was in pieces.  My sister had a hose near the car, I grabbed it, had her turn it on and flushed my face and eyes with water.

There was enough hydrogen gas around the top of the battery that when she hit the key the knife blade made a spark between the clamp and post and it exploded the whole battery.  God was good, no lasting physical damage.

The same thing can happen if you are not careful when you connect the jumper cables to jump another car or just reconnecting the car's battery cables.  Batteries need good ventilation.

Randy

[sawguy21]

Yes, you were lucky. That could have been a lot worse. An auto class  student at a trade school I attended got hurt when a battery blew up in his face. He had the charger on HI and was checking for bubbling electrolyte.... with a cigarette in his mouth.  Pieces of that battery were scattered all over the shop.

[Ron Scott]

I had a battery blow up on me while jumping a dead battery in another vehicle. Remenber the date quite well. New Years Eve 1970. It made a believer out of me. ;)

[Banjo picker]

I have never had any problems with a bat.  but a buddy of mine has had two blow up in him face...one on a backhoe and once while helping jump a car off....no harm done...he's just lucky I guess....or maybe not....depending on how you look at it...Tim

[Bibbyman]

I had a battery blow up in our old Dakota PU.  It was hot in the summer and we had been to town.  I had pulled up in front of the sawshed to unload something and turned off the truck.  Got back in and hit the ignition and BAM! the battery blew.  Sounded like a 12 gauge going off.  Blew the whole top off the battery.  I quickly hosed down all the acid that had blown out over the underside of the hood and the outside of the finder.  Then I changed my underwear (just kidding).  But I sure have a lot more respect or fear of batteries every since.

The neutral rule, always first off last on.

I heard that too and try to remember it - even when attaching jumper cables.

[sawdust]

We went out to a tack/stable building fire yesterday. Appears that a rechargable battery got hot and lit the blankets on the shelf above.
sawdust

[sandhills]

wanna talk about complacency? a few years ago I was trying to get irrigation wells going, running from one to the other and had a 100 gal fuel tank in the back of the pickup. got one well going grabbed a battery through it in the back and headed for the next. I'm sure you can see where this is going, but after hitting a ditch and flipping the battery over it was welded to the side of the fuel tank (which was full) luckily it was deisel. The battery didn't blow it was pretty weak but I have a freind thats had them blow in his face twice, two trips to the eye doctor  :(

[Corley5]

A friend of mine had his 8N tractor battery blow up in his face when he was hooking up jumper cables.  He didn't have any water at the location but had two two liter bottles of Dr Pepper, left over mix from the previous nights drinking adventure.  He splashed that in his eyes and said it burned less than the battery acid.  His girlfriend took him to the Dr who flushed him some more and his vision was fuzzy for few days.  If it wasn't for the Dr. Pepper it would've been really bad.  I always work on a battery at arms length and never put my face directly over one. 

[Ron Scott]

I've had that experience and won't forget the date, New Year's eve 1970. I was jumping a battery for one of my young workers in the office parking lot when my car battery blew up all over me. Did a quick wash down, but had skin burns and ruined my evening clothes.  :'(

I also handle batteries with extreme care after that experience.