Battery Safety

[Ferroequinologist]

I was 16 and checking some batteries in an old 1962 White road tractor. We had them on charge. I had goggles on (thank goodness) and this old fella I was working with did not. I pulled off a cap to see if it was bubbling, and he goes and plays with the charger clamp. It sprayed the acid all over my face, head and chest. And I was about 3ft above the battery! We had an emergancy shower nearby and I did have my goggles on. One of the things that made it 'better' was they were so dry when we started we added lots of distilled water so the acid concentration wasn't as high as it could have been. I wound up being ok, but it scared me to death and I've had a healthy respect for batteries since then.

 

[Peepaw]

Never seen one blow myself buy a co-worker had one blow up in his face back in the 70's. It blistered his face pretty badly as he was overcharging the battery when it went. Nothing like scalding hot battery acid on the face.
I've worked on cars since the late 60's and have a pretty good grip on battery safety. That being said, it only takes one bad mistake to blind you for life.
Wear eye protection.
Always remove the negative cable first and install it last.
Keep cable ends clean, tight and in good repair.
Keep batteries charged, batteries don't like being dead.
Keep and eye on the water levels, more so in the summer.
Use distilled water.
Respect the batteries, believe it or not, under just the right conditions there is enough stored juice in a 12 volt auto battery to kill you.

 

[OPCOM]

here is a tidbit.. for a few years I have had four 92 amp-hour AGM lead acid batteries in my comms shelter on the back of the truck The truck has "car batteries" and tey have generally done well. These AGMs are not for cranking, but the electrical hookup allows them to be put in parallel with the truck batteries by throwing a couple switches (100A magnetic breakers). This was done for versatility to allow the truck engine to charge them, and/or the power supplies in the back to charge the truck batteries. Well today the truck would not crank. I cleaned the battery posts, checked everything, and connected a charger. Still no joy, but I had not waited long. I do not know why, after 1 month, the truck's starting batteries would go down. The solargizer should have kept them up, maybe it does not. Anyway, rather than wait for the charger, I engaged the breakers and the truck started right away. The AGM batteries had not been charged in about 3 months. Yet they instantly started the truck.

The moral of the story is having a couple good large AGM batteries in your system, if you are going to start adding batteries.

Also, note there has been NO use of knife switches or other items that can weld themselves together. Use breakers, not switches!

 

[73m819]

i have had batteries blow up in my face more then once, but the worse was when i got my wedding ring between the frame on a KW and the end of a wrench that was on the plus post, not sure what hurt worse, the burning of the ring INTO my finger, or cutting it and digging the cooked in ring out

 

[Monty]

Well I was going to start a new post on this but found this one and thought that I'd add to it.

On Saturday I was going to use my skid steer to haul wood from the pile to my boiler, I had plugged it in since it was around 20 degrees outside. I got in it about four hours later turned the key for the glow plugs and after the light went off turned the key and BOOM.

It sounded like someone shot off a 12gauge behind/under me, wondering WTF I started to get the smell of acid fumes. I got out and opened up the rear and found the battery had blown completely up.

I'm go through and check the the cable's and conections every 6months and everything was tight, I think all the bouncing around may have caused the plates to short together and ignite the hydrogen gas.

This post has a ton of great information, make sure your wearing the proper PPE (gloves, safety glasses and or a face sheild, long sleave shirt etc).

I have attached some prints to show the devistation.

Be safe

Chad

 

[Monty]

Second to the last pic shows the case which is split all the way around the other side to this point.

The last pic is a chunk of the battery that stuck in my garage door 14ft above the battery.

 

[steelandcanvas]

Scary, Definetly re-enforces the need for PPE. How many times are we in such a hurry, we don't grab our safety equipment? Glad no one got hurt!

 

[1986Blazerk5]

When my brother was working on our M1009 he dropped a wrench on the battery and crossed the terminals, it wrecked the battery but didn't explode, and fried the starter as well as some wires, not too bad, total damage was around 300 for a new starter, wiring and battery

 

[sarge1]

Newb question. I've searched tons of threads for a lot of info and may have seen this already but didn't retain it. I put in new batteries yesterday. I took the batteries out by removing the connections starting at the front and moving to the back, beginning on the front battery and installed the new ones going back to front. Is this correct? When I was installing one of the post clamps(can't remember which one unfortunately) I accidently had the wrench touch the end of the bolt sticking up through the plate holding the battery down and it sparked, blowing the wrench out of my hand. Battery still works fine and is holding charge it seems. I did notice afterward that my wait light now didn't illuminate when I went to start the truck. I also didn't hear the "clicking" I associate with glowplug operation. Just got the truck and it had been working before, although I question whether any of the glowplugs are functioning. It's still in the 60's here and it starts pretty well, even after this happened.

To sum up:

1. was my order of removing/reinstalling the cables right?
2. truck starts with neither using ether or the wait light coming on. You think my wait light just got ruined during the spark I mentioned and glowplugs might be working or could the truck still be capable of starting without glowplugs or ether being used. Sorry for the long ramble.

 

[Clay James]

Make sure to keep the rats out of your vehicles. They got into my truck and ate the entire corner of the battery.

 

[kastein]

i have had batteries blow up in my face more then once, but the worse was when i got my wedding ring between the frame on a KW and the end of a wrench that was on the plus post, not sure what hurt worse, the burning of the ring INTO my finger, or cutting it and digging the cooked in ring out

Good lord, that must have hurt. That is one of the reasons I stopped wearing my college class ring when I really started working on my vehicles frequently, just seemed like a bad idea wearing a conductive object that could easily snag on a moving part as well.

I voted "trying to move past the basics" and "have witnessed a battery emergency." It was around ten years ago, don't remember exactly when. A friend of mine and I had just procured a ride-on lawn mower at a yard sale that we were going to turn into a go-kart. The battery was in a box under/behind the seat. We tipped it up on its back wheels to check the undercarriage and driveshafts/linkages and this is where things went into slow motion, I can still picture it today. I heard a CLUNK which turned out to be the battery tipping over, then a lot of arcing and some angry bubbling and hissing. At this point I realized what was going on, and that I had very little time to either make tracks or defuse the situation. Fortunately the seat was not in the way, grabbed the carrying handle on the battery and ripped it out of the mower without even disconnecting the wiring (adrenaline gives you some crazy strength!) The battery still worked but not very well. Had it been anything other than a motorcycle/mower battery, the outcome probably would have been very different.

So to add to the suggestions... make sure your batteries are properly secured! Especially if you off-road with your vehicle. A bungee cord does NOT count! A battery bouncing up out of its box and welding to the underside of your hood or cab will make for a real terrible day.

 

[donalloy1]

great info thanks...

 

[m1010plowboy]

I had a battery go dead after I cleaned it so I'm bumping a "Safety" thread with a bit of a puzzle.

Pops showed us that mixing baking soda and warm water, then aggressively pouring it on an acid covered post will clean it. I've done it a hundred times.

Yesterday that action killed a battery so is it possible that some 'soda' got in the battery and neutralized it?

Hilarious, everything was fine until I started to do maintenance.

 

[John S-B]

I had a battery go dead after I cleaned it so I'm bumping a "Safety" thread with a bit of a puzzle.

Pops showed us that mixing baking soda and warm water, then aggressively pouring it on an acid covered post will clean it. I've done it a hundred times.

Yesterday that action killed a battery so is it possible that some 'soda' got in the battery and neutralized it?

Hilarious, everything was fine until I started to do maintenance.

I was taught to gently sprinkle baking soda on the battery, then gently rinse. After that, any dirt could be cleaned with soap and a stiff brush (NOT a wire brush)

 

[Jeepsinker]

I've gotten to where the only thing I use to clean a battery is the battery cleaner in aerosol can. Stuff sprays yellow foam and turns red on contact with acid. Cleans off all acid and corrosion with a soft rinse. Well worth the money.

 

[o1951]

I had a battery go dead after I cleaned it so I'm bumping a "Safety" thread with a bit of a puzzle.

Pops showed us that mixing baking soda and warm water, then aggressively pouring it on an acid covered post will clean it. I've done it a hundred times.

Yesterday that action killed a battery so is it possible that some 'soda' got in the battery and neutralized it?

Hilarious, everything was fine until I started to do maintenance.

Yes.
Some refillable batteries no longer have raised fill necks.
On batteries with removable fill caps where the top is flat, and does not have a raised fill neck, fluid can seep into the fill openings. If enough baking soda leaks in, the acid will be neutralized and battery performance compromised.
I have restored the battery by emptying out the neutralized electrolyte and adding fresh electrolyte, making sure that when fully charged, the specific gravity in that cell was not higher than 1.265.

I am not telling you to do this.
Sulphuric acid requires appropriate safety precautions.
Legal Disclaimer: My comments are based on my personal experiences and life lessons. I speak as a private party. Don't try this at home. Past performance does not reflect actual capability or intelligence, and often doesn't reflect reality. I'm off my meds. Don't listen to a darn thing I say, you've been warned!