Battery explosion

Do you have a meter? If so, your converter should be outputting 13.6 volts or so with no battery connected. You want to put one test lead on the positive (+) connection and one test lead on the negative (-) connection.

To accurately test the converters output, a battery or load should be connected to it and amperage should be measured. The converter may start in bulk mode at 14-14.8 volts with a large amount of amperage, then go into absorb mode. In absorb mode amperage will lessen as the battery becomes charged. The final mode is float and that should be low amps with voltage around 13.6 or less volts.

As was posted previously, if you will state what brand and model of converter you have, you'll get some better advice. Some converters have known issues and if you have one of them, you'll want to replace it.

Who can tell me how to check the on-board converter (without a battery on the trailer), for possible over-charging? I'm thinking the battery may have been over-charging while plugged into shore power, setting it up for failure on my trip home. Again, the trailer is a 2009 and the converter is 3-stage. I appreciate all the answers.

Humm, you did say it exploded going down the road. I wonder if that has anything to do with it's failure

I figured I would post a quick update for you all.....I took the battery back to my locak Wal-mart (the prior owner had bought it in 4/2013, so just april of this year.

Wal-mart stepped up and exchanged it for me for a brand-new one at no charge! I told them I really appreciated them doing the right thing for me and standing by their product. I'm not sure why it failed at this point, as my converter does not appear to be over-charging. I'll have to keep an eye on it though.

-Greg

Thanks for the replies....the top of my battery case was all cracked and the caps were off the cells...it was low on water which is why I suspect it over charged form being hooked up to shore power for several weeks....in 89 I don't think the chargers had a float mode.

Ledger65 wrote:

westend wrote:
Most converters will allow you to check the output voltage without being connected to a battery.
13.2 ->14.5 V would be a good range for a converter but I don't know what you have.
You also need to know how much current is being output to the battery and for how long. If you have an old power supply type converter, those that are a single stage, I would suggest getting a newer four stage converter.

About the explosive failure: Did the top of the battery's case stay intact but the sides exploded and fragmented? Just curious.

To answer your question, the top of the battery is broken in two and the caps were blown off; the sides are essentially intact. The sides of the case were blown out possibly because the top had a woven strap holding it down. The trailer is a 2009 and has a 3-stage converter.

Thanks for the reply. I had a battery case explode, once, and it had the same aspect, top blown off and case sides intact. What happened was that the positive terminal had a dead short to ground. You may want to look at your positive cable and make sure it hasn't broken the jacket and is against the frame.

My vintage 2006 WFCO 3-stage converter failed by getting stuck in boost mode.
Battery was boiling pretty good for almost 24 hours before I caught it.
Even if the voltage returns to normal after arriving home it is still suspect.

westend wrote:
Most converters will allow you to check the output voltage without being connected to a battery.
13.2 ->14.5 V would be a good range for a converter but I don't know what you have.
You also need to know how much current is being output to the battery and for how long. If you have an old power supply type converter, those that are a single stage, I would suggest getting a newer four stage converter.

About the explosive failure: Did the top of the battery's case stay intact but the sides exploded and fragmented? Just curious.

To answer your question, the top of the battery is broken in two and the caps were blown off; the sides are essentially intact. The sides of the case were blown out possibly because the top had a woven strap holding it down. The trailer is a 2009 and has a 3-stage converter.

Switch to Agm and forget about battery maintenance. I have a spare optima yellow deep cycle that maintains a charge for several months with no charger connected. No hydrogen fumes, no corroded terminals or cables, no adding water, no worries of explosion, and they can be mounted in any position (I currently have 2 Duracell agm 's mounted on their side on our TT) they last longer than wet cell batteries, too.

markandkim wrote:
You over filled the cells.

Um, I'm not expert but, I don't think so. That would just have cause the caps to pop off. There must have been something really wrong for it to explode. I could be wrong though.