self-destructing battter

[rec]

So one of our marine batteries exploded! Well, not exactly "exploded" -- but we came home one day this week to discover something liquidy and corrody leaking from the battery compartment -- and when we pulled the battery out, the casing had cracked wide open in a half-dozen places. Any thoughts at all about what could have caused this?

We've not had any electrical issues that I can remember -- and the battery was only 2 years old. The only thing I can think of is that we disconnected and then reconnected the main kill switch in our 1989 Excella a while back when we re-did the couch -- but that was last July, and we've traveled all around the country since then with no problems.

I'm hesitant to buy a new battery until I can pinpoint the problem -- whether it's something with our internal electrical system or something having to do with the power source from the park connection or something about the battery itself. Please help! (Thanks!)

[paiceman]

They crack if they freeze? Would this have been possible? Also, overcharging can cause a crack as can over heating, which can be caused by overcharging. They tend to boil over and then crack. I ran a golf car company for years and in our electric golf cars we had 4 - 12v deep cycle batteries just like we have in our AS. Although I really never worked on the cars I did have a number of technicians who did and we used to replace the batteries all the time due to overcharging.

Bud

[perryg114]

Check the voltage when the battery is charging. Usually, anything over 14 volts is considered overcharging. You can measure this with a cheap digital volt meter. Batteries can short internally or the plates can swell as they age and fall apart. A bulging case is a sign of a really old battery with plates that are swelling from age. Batteries age faster the more they are used. Sometimes they have a defect that causes a short etc. I have not seen a case bust unless there was an explosion but I am sure it can happen. Batteries release hydrogen while charging which is very explosive. A spark can ignite the hydrogen blowing the top off the battery. If this happened, I would think you would know.

Perry