Kaboom! Hydrogen gas explosion!

[Barry Wolk]

Are you going to have to pull the engine out again to fix the damage?

No other way. Even the wiring harness was drenched in acid.

[Egenolf]

Barry,

I am sorry for your bad luck!

What conclusions can be drawn from this story?

I haven't followed this either, but obviously it is dangerous to keep a charger constantly connected to the battery.

It seems to make more sense to charge the battery and then disconnect it from the vehicle electrical system using a circuit breaker.

Anyway, I'll do it that way from now on.

[Barry Wolk]

Barry,

I am sorry for your bad luck!

What conclusions can be drawn from this story?

I haven't followed this either, but obviously it is dangerous to keep a charger constantly connected to the battery.

It seems to make more sense to charge the battery and then disconnect it from the vehicle electrical system using a circuit breaker.

Anyway, I'll do it that way from now on.

That is not always possible. On my old BMWs the battery is under the rear seat.

I don't think it was the charger alone that caused the problem. I think I started with a poorly made battery.

When I bought my car there were no 29NF batteries. There are several available now. I'm told the Die Hard brand is still made and it looks about as close to the original as you're going to get outside an expensive fake tar top.

[Barry Wolk]

[awags]

Cars can be fixed, thankfully nobody got hurt. Could?ve just as easily happened randomly when you/someone was under the hood working on the engine.

I?ve had a couple batteries explode on equipment I was running over the years but I?d like to add a quick similar story to this thread of how things like this can happen and to be cautious. Hopefully keep from happening to someone else.

My boat lift is 24v hooked up to a cheap (not smart) solar charger, so yep it?s always charging. Last year my wife went to lower the boat, I was talking to the neighbor. Of course the batteries are right next to the controls, waist level. She hit the button and the one battery closest to her exploded. Sounded like a shotgun went off. Everything exploded and went in every direction but by the grace of God nothing went towards her, got on her, or worse in her face or eyes. I couldn?t believe it?
Now the charger is always disconnected and only plugged in when we are using the lift and batteries need a charge.
Same goes for my cars, in storage/winter, I just plug in every month or so, once charged I unplug.