Exploding batteries!

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by yurtle

Me three, but I tried it in puddles next to the pumps.

Hey, everyone knows teenagers are bullet-proof - and/or stupid - especially in the south, at a gas station that I didn't care if I blew up.

Tossing a lit cigarette into Liquid gasoline will put it out, however the same is not true of gasoline vapors.

[cgtech]

Originally Posted by dezrcr822

From what I can tell on the Hydrolink setup I use, the cell cap covers all three cells and vents out of the side of the cap assembly before the fill hose socket. When I get back to work on Monday im going to look at the cap and vent further. I have an old one I can take apart. This is a great thread as I had no idea this could be an issue(multiple explosions due to hose)and no one I have talked to in the industry has mentioned it either,only floats sticking and cells overfilling. Im not a golf cart tech and dont have expirence with other fill systems but I do use Trojan Hydrolink on all my machines.

In the 11 years I been at the Yamaha dealer (now includes several other brands), I have seen lots of batteries with "blown cells", but in that time, I have never seen any that had more than one blown cells that didn't have a fill system. In Those carts that DID have a fill system, most all the lids are blown off all the batteries.

In short, Without fill system = localized to the individual cell, With fill system = all/nearly all blown with whole battery top severely damaged.

Lucky for me, I was sitting on the cart during only 2 of those "incidents", once was only one cell, once every single cell on all 6 batteries. The 6 bombs I was sitting on was Hydrolink, so it's not immune in any way.

[BobBoyce]

Originally Posted by yurtle

Yikes. I used to smoke while filling up cars at a full service gas station, back when we checked tires, oil, coolant, tranny fluid, brake fluid, washer fluid, battery electrolyte, washed windshield, checked head lights, blinkers and brake lights, etc. I was under the impression that a hot smoldering cigarette needed to actually spark, though gasoline needs the proper air to fuel ratio, so maybe I was just lucky. I'm also under the impression that air/hydrogen has a much wider range of ratios - LDL - than gasoline. As you mentioned, since electrolysis liberated the O2 and H2, the ratio inside a battery cell is the perfect ratio.

The flammability range of hydrogen is quite wide, 4% to 74% hydrogen to air. So it can ignite quite easy.

[bobbycason]

Originally Posted by BobBoyce

The flammability range of hydrogen is quite wide, 4% to 74% hydrogen to air. So it can ignite quite easy.

And you usually can't see hydrogen burning unless is dark outside. I did a turnaround on a hydrocracker unit once and they said they used to check leaking flanges with a straw broom because if it were on fire it would burn the broom and not you.

[DaveTM]

Originally Posted by bobbycason

And you usually can't see hydrogen burning unless is dark outside. I did a turnaround on a hydrocracker unit once and they said they used to check leaking flanges with a straw broom because if it were on fire it would burn the broom and not you.

Wasn't that a Wizard of OZ thing?