Boiling battery

[Aernan]

A friend Oliver just put in fresh batteries and drove his truck to burning man. When he got there he sent a photo (thermal) of a very hot front right battery. We believe it's overheating.

I checked the voltage regulator and it was alternating green before the trip. We checked the output voltages and say 14, 28. I think that's what they were.

Can anyone explain what is going on and do we need to change/fix anything?

 

[NDT]

Will need pictures of the battery box with a naked girl pointing to the battery in question. Too hot usually means overcharging. Have him recheck voltages.

 

[Aernan]

 

[NDT]

The FRP battery tray is just as hot as the battery. Looks like he does not have a cover and the sun has been shining on the battery.

 

[gimpyrobb]

What is the ambient temp where he is located?

 

[Ronmar]

yea, lots of hot stuff areound in that pic, you also forgot the girl...

That battery should be in paralel with the one next to it. Would be odd for one to boil and the other not to if it was a charging issue, unless there is a connection problem or an internal shorted cell. I would lift the leads and measure each battery voltage isolated from the other batts as a first look. At rest each should measure around 12.6 or above if the battery is OK and has a reasonable charge. If the front two are both low, I would suspect an issue with the hot one and it is pulling its parallel brother down with it

14.5 and 29 are the target voltages respectively for a lead acid vehicle charging system...

 

[Aernan]

I will relay the information. I hope to get to the bottom of this problem/

 

[scottmandu]

It could be a defective cell in the battery