Walked by my DP yesterday and noticed something dripping from the battery compartment. Opened the compartment and found that one of the house batteries had exploded. Thats right exploded, pieces and acid all over the compartment. The others were fine and power to the house had not been interrupted, everything worked. I am 80 years old and have never seen anything like this in an RV, car, boat, or any other vehicle that had a battery. Looked to me like it could have easily caused a fire. We had not used the motor home since March and hardly a day goes by I don't check on it. It has been hooked to shore power the whole time. What happened?

That happened to us on a car battery. South Florida is very hard on batteries. I am pretty sure that the cells shorted out.Ken

We have a fifth wheel with four 6v deep cycle batteries. We noticed two weeks ago that there was a strong Sulphur smell inside the unit, strong enough to set off the CO detector. When we opened the front compartment where the batteries are stored, it was stronger smelling! Hubby took out the batteries and two were bulging and others were leaking. They were all the same age, over 7 years! We replaced them all and all the smell went away. It's possible they could've exploded which I read online.

Have you been watching the water level in the cells? If the water dries up, and the charger continues to try to charge the dry cells,it's possible to create an arc which can explode hydrogen gas.

Good point Larry but I keep them full of water and the others are full. But no way of telling as the one that exploded has all 4 sides and the top blown away. Must have been some kind of spark to start this mess. Now I can't find a dealer that sells Harris professional batteries. Their web site lists none and so far they have not returned my call.

Try something different, like AGM.

What happened? | Good Sam Community

ReneeG
Explorer
May 25, 2021
We kept our water levels up too.
2oldman
Explorer II
May 25, 2021
Try something different, like AGM.
ferndaleflyer
Explorer III
May 25, 2021
Good point Larry but I keep them full of water and the others are full. But no way of telling as the one that exploded has all 4 sides and the top blown away. Must have been some kind of spark to start this mess. Now I can't find a dealer that sells Harris professional batteries. Their web site lists none and so far they have not returned my call.
larry_cad
Explorer II
May 25, 2021
Have you been watching the water level in the cells? If the water dries up, and the charger continues to try to charge the dry cells,it's possible to create an arc which can explode hydrogen gas.
ReneeG
Explorer
May 25, 2021
We have a fifth wheel with four 6v deep cycle batteries. We noticed two weeks ago that there was a strong Sulphur smell inside the unit, strong enough to set off the CO detector. When we opened the front compartment where the batteries are stored, it was stronger smelling! Hubby took out the batteries and two were bulging and others were leaking. They were all the same age, over 7 years! We replaced them all and all the smell went away. It's possible they could've exploded which I read online.
missnmountains
Explorer
May 25, 2021
That happened to us on a car battery. South Florida is very hard on batteries. I am pretty sure that the cells shorted out.

Ken

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