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Overcharging Your Deep Cycle Battery
Overcharging Your Deep Cycle Battery
Exploding batteries are a thing that I have written about several times. Unfortunately, it is something that has happened to me a couple of times in my life as a battery dealer. Consequently, I think it is still worth warning people about.
Explosions caused by Overcharging Your Deep Cycle Battery pose, at the very least, a threat to anyone standing within range of the splattered acid. Also, these explosions can cause a risk of fire in the immediate vicinity.
The explosion of the battery will, no matter what else takes place, render you helpless. Especially if you are close where you are Overcharging Your Deep Cycle Battery. However, wherever you are an explosion has the potential to cause significant damage to the rest of the vehicle or home with solar battery storage.
Here are few Tips to Prevent Explosions Caused by leisure Batteries:
The Correct Wiring
Overcharging Your Deep Cycle Battery can lead to overheated batteries do not always explode. Before smart chargers were available batteries were often left on charge for too long. On a few occasions my staff have gone home at the end of a working day. Leaving a battery on charge by mistake.
Of course, this would lead to the battery overheating and giving off an obnoxious smell of bad eggs. This is caused by sulphur gases, as the acid boils away. This happened recently to my home battery storage unit.
The batteries overheated and gave off the stink of bad eggs. To rectify this I turned off the power to the batteries and when the batteries cooled down the smell went. When I examined the batteries they had ballooned due to expansion and needed replacement.
Battery room is strictly no smoking or naked lights
Because of the dangers that we battery retailers know about, regarding over heated lead acid batteries. Then special precautions have to be implemented in our battery charging room. Including no naked flames, special protective goggles and a full body apron.
This is because, Sparks can be produced by loose connections, and if these sparks are in close proximity to a battery that is giving off hydrogen, an explosion can occur. Before and after each trip, check any and all connections involving 12 volts. Connections should not be so slack.
Importantly, many types of lead acid batteries give off a gas when charging. The secret is ventilation!
Most types of motorhomes and caravans do have good ventilation. This is why we don’t really hear about many batteries exploding. However, it is still important to check for any bad wiring. Worn out wires can of course short out causing a spark which could ignite the gases from a charging battery.
In the event that you discover frayed wiring, covering it with electrical tape can serve as a temporary fix; however, the wires will need to be replaced as soon as possible. All Too Frequent Contributing Factor
An attempt to rewire the battery or connect the wiring to an additional inverter is one of the most common and distressing causes of explosions involving, deep cycle leisure batteries. Electrical work is best handled by a trained specialist, who has experience in the field.
Extra precautions
You should also avoid storing combustible items close to your electrical connections; keep the greasy rags that you use to clean the battery connections away from the battery terminals, and don’t put paper towels in the compartment where the batteries are stored.
Also any metal tools or a tool bag. Should a spanner fall onto the battery terminals and short out the terminals causing a spark or sparks.
Of course some batteries are sealed and without the screw caps that were on most car batteries. These are known as AGM and Gel batteries. However overcharging these batteries could still give you problems. So in my opinion the same procedures should be adhered to as those of the regular types of leisure batteries.
Ignition of Hydrogen for a Variety of Other Reasons
A wide variety of residential batteries give off hydrogen gas when they fail. Any source of ignition near or within an area with accumulated hydrogen presents a risk of fire. You can lessen the severity of this risk by ensuring that there is adequate ventilation all around the battery.
You can also reduce the risk by not lighting a cigarette near the battery and by securing loose hardware so that metal can’t clank against metal and risk creating a spark. Both of these things should be done to prevent an accidental ignition of Overcharging Your Deep Cycle Battery, resulting in an a possible explosion.
The same holds true for the necessity of maintaining a snug fit on vent caps.
It is important to keep in mind that the risk of an explosion posed by propane and gas is comparable; therefore, you should not store either of these fuels in the same location as your battery or any electrical connections. In addition, ensure that they have adequate ventilation, for the same reason that your battery does.
Sparks and Short Circuits Contained Within
On the other hand, sparks and short circuits that occur internally in a battery almost never result in the battery exploding. The one and only exception to this rule is when the plates inside the battery become warped; in this case, a high demand for power can cause the warped plates to come into contact with one another, which will result in a spark.
This indicates that you should not attempt to use the battery if, upon inspection, you find that its plates have been warped. Instead, you should purchase a new battery.
When the posts and cables of a battery are dirty, electrical arcing can occur, which the most common cause of explosions is caused by batteries. The problem can be fixed by regularly cleaning the battery posts.
Inadequate Amount of Water
Of course one of the main problems will come from flooded lead acid batteries. It is possible for your flooded lead acid motorhome deep cycle batteries to lose water (electrolyte) over time if they are not maintained properly.
You should find out what type of battery that you have fitted in your vehicle. Believe me there is quiet a mixture of battery types now on the market. If you can unscrew the tops then these are the batteries that require regular topping up.
Even brand new motorhomes are fitted with batteries that require topping up. If you can’t unscrew the tops then your battery will be maintenance free. These batteries as I have said will be AGM or Gel batteries and are fitted with a safety valve in case of overheating. They are also known as VRLA batteries, (valve regulated lead acid batteries)
The reason why the battery needs topping up is because when you try to charge the battery. Then it might blow up if it doesn’t have enough water (electrolyte) in it.
Free of required maintenance
Even lead acid batteries that are sealed and marketed as “maintenance free” lose water over time. These batteries simply control the release of hydrogen gas and do not permit the addition of water. Do not charge it if the battery indicator is showing a red rather than a green light.
Do not charge the battery if it has any cracks in the casing or if it appears to have leaked for any other reason; instead, dispose of it at your local tip facility, they have a special space for old batteries.
If you charge it at this time, there is a risk that it will explode. The presence of corrosion around the battery terminals as a result of what appears to be an acid leak. So indicates that the battery should not be charged.
Overcharging-Overcharging Your Deep Cycle Battery
In my opinion this is the major cause of battery explosions. If you overcharge your battery, it may catch fire or even explode. If you run too much current through it, the electrolyte could boil, which would lead to an explosion if you continued. Avoid using a low-quality automotive charger that has poor voltage regulation if at all possible.
Chargers for batteries and inverters that are smart.
There is less of a chance of this happening if you use smart battery chargers or smart inverter chargers, both of which have the ability to detect how full the battery is. Find out if the power converter itself is overcharging the batteries if more than one battery has exploded after being charged to its maximum capacity.
A Quick Confirmation and Check
Checking the battery voltage while it is being charged is a simple test that you can perform on your own to determine if the charger is Overcharging Your Deep Cycle Battery. The charger may have faulty overcharge protection, or the sensors that are supposed to monitor it may not be functioning properly.
Overheating
It is possible for a recreational vehicle battery to explode if it gets too hot, and this can happen in a few different ways. One example of this error is making the attempt to charge a battery while the electrolyte, which is composed of mostly water, is literally frozen.
This is usually the case on older batteries that have been regularly topped up with water. In very cold weather this battery will freeze more easily.
You are able to avoid making this mistake by waiting for the battery to become room temperature before charging it, as well as by storing the battery in a location where it will never actually become frozen.
This applies to batteries that may be for your motorcycle of garden mower. The battery will be over winterised. The best place is an outbuilding or garage, where it stays cool but does not freeze. Connecting up a smart charger will ensure that the battery is kept at the correct voltage until it’s time to use it again, in spring time.
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