fee Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Hi all i have been van living for some years now .my van is my permanent home a small transit ,and never had a problem living next to 2 110v lesuire battries .i was lucky i was in the front driving when it happened . I heard a very loud bang from the inside of the back of my van so atopped as quick as i could .i opened the back to to be greeted my a wall of smoke and carnage acid everywhere .my battrie had blown a hole through the side of the cell . i had cables attached so i could charge my stuff .in the explosion it compleatly chard and burned through the whole cable, catching everything where the cable was touching causing all the smoke. .there was a circut braker in the system but that seemed to do nothing to help prevent it as it was all burned up .lucky i got to it quickly .i have now brought another battrie and new leads and a fire blanket that i have sat the 2 battries on and lightly draped it over them as am now really scared it could happen again .the battrie was not very old i would say within the last couple of years. without any problems .i had charged the battrie in the day with the usual charger and it was some hours after it had come off charge that it happened . I had not noticed anything a miss with the battrie before hand but i never know anything about exploading batteries so may not of seen the signs . Thinking back i seem to remember a couple of years ago when it was brand new on its first or second charge when i disconnected it it was standing in a pool of liquid, no one seemed to know nor was anyone worried when i asked about it so i carried on with it , never happened since and all charges have been fine for 2 years .maybe this was the start of the problem a long time ago causing the blow out now .I want to prevent this ever happing again any tips to keep me ahead of game re battries i would be greatfull for .thanks fee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums. The first thing to do is to confirm that your vehicle’s battery-charging systems are working correctly - that neither the alternator nor the on-board mains-powered battery charger is overcharging. Vehicle batteries can explode (though it evidently doesn’t happen that often) and there is a good deal of on-line discussion about it that it would be worth you reading https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=exploding+battery+car&revid=532797478 I recommend that you also replace the other leisure battery. As 'Battery One’ has exploded and (presumably) was connected to ‘Battery Two’ when this happened, there’s a risk that the battery that did not explode has been harmed. Besides which, if you don’t replace the other leisure battery, you will (probably) be parallel-connecting a brand-new battery to one that’s several years old, a procedure that is generally advised against. Starting off with a brand-new matching pair of batteries would be best. If your batteries are ‘ventable’, they should be fitted with vent-tubes leading outside the vehicle to prevent potentially damaging high pressure gasses accumulating within the battery. If your batteries are ‘maintainable’, their electrolyte-level should be checked regularly and topped up if necessary. Realistically, I don’t think you can do much to guard against the same thing occurring again. I suspect that it won’t be a practical proposition to relocate the batteries so that they are outside your van’s living area and trying to build some sort of ‘bomb proof’ enclosure around the batteries might do more harm than good. Your fire-blanket ploy sounds like a good idea, but many (most?) motorcaravans have their batteries within the vehicle’s living area (under cab seats, in seat lockers, etc.) where they could just as easily cause the type of damage you experienced if a battery exploded. As long as you confirm that your van’s charging systems and batteries are OK, and follow good practice, the chances are very low that this will happen again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fee Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 Hi there many thanks for your reply .i feel alot better now ow everythibg is all cleaned up . My battries are not conected to anything they are 2 stand alone ones that i charge with a mains charger each week . I have a strong feeling looking back that there was a problem with the lead i made up the lead a couple of years ago and put a little circuit braker but i think the lead shorted out and caused the lead to burn then the battrie to then go pop .the other battrie seems all good i have put caps and covered the termals so that nothing can fall onto them causing a short .i am glad its not something that happens very oftern . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duetto owner Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 reminds me of our first caravan an Eriba had a dreadful smell on fisrt trip, phoned the dealer said it was just primer burning off. smell got worse then once night heading fizing noise checked battery and it was bubbling as a result of over charging. later told had we had a naked flame we would have blownup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 When you wrote above, "in the explosion it completely chard and burned through the whole cable, catching everything where the cable was touching causing all the smoke", I read that as "the cable shorting out, getting Red hot, melting the insulation, etc". Acid would not have caused charring and burning of Plastic cable Insulation. Especially in such a short time. The big current draw of the Short circuit was most likely too much for the battery (probably a Gel as they react more aggressively under extremes?) which overheated/Gassed heavy and exploded. We have seen an increase of exploding Gel batteries used with Inverters as a 3000watt Inverter can draw 280amps, pretty close to short circuit current, and well beyond the capability of most Gel batteries. Gel batteries are designed to deliver small amounts of current over a long period. Fast charging or heavy current draw leads to overheating/gassing and risk of explosion. It is not true that Gel batteries don't Gas, they don't gas under NORMAL use, but have a lower tolerance to extremes than a Wet battery, reacting more aggressively to extremes like over charge or high current draw. It is very important they are protected with appropriate fuses. Better still don't install them, they were ok 20years ago when there was nothing else, but have been surpassed in the last 3 years in almost every area by better solutions. I agree wholeheartedly with the first advice, especially in relation to a matched battery pair. Same age, size and technology. But I would also suggest you have fuses added as close to the Battery terminals as possible on every feed wire, probably 20amp?? If you already have fuses, suggest you think about lower rated ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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