Exploding coach battery!

[Geocritter]

I need some battery help. I opened up the coach battery compartment to check and see if any of the batteries needed water and found this mess.





Apparently, the rear battery exploded, I don’t know when it happened so I suppose it might’ve happened when I was out and about.

I've been parked for the past two months hooked up to shore power.

Does anyone have any idea what may have caused this?

Steve

[Geocritter]

I took out the three coach batteries today, one is still good (the black one in the photos). I rinsed down the compartment with a mixture of water/baking soda, sprayed it down with oil and reinstalled the remaining good battery. BTW the black battery was full up with water and showed a good charge but the remaining older battery was full of sticky white goo in two of its cells and only showed a partial charge. Ain't this fun!

BTW after I hooked up the remaining battery and plugged in the charger it really didn't show hardly any increase in power at the battery. Unfortunately, all I have is an analog voltmeter so I don't have any precise readings.

[Falcon35]

I had a coach battery blowup when our coach was no more than six months old. I called Forest River manufacture. There warrenty department manager told me to thoroughly wash down the battery compartment. He then had A dealer bring out A pair of new batteries and had them check out the converter/ charger to be sure it was not overcharging. We also stopped in at the factory Service Center on our way Home from Texas that spring. They checked out the charger and also found out it was okay. They then decided it must have been A defective battery. The coach is now three and a half years old with the same batteries and they are fine.

[Acampingwewillg]

Had a 4 D battery explode a few years ago on New Years day.....heard a big boom, went outside and didn't see anything. Thought about it a few minutes, went back outside, looked at the underside of MH and observed the dripping. Fortunately, no damage other than a big wet clean up with lots of baking soda. I now check my batteries at least once a month. The RV does have a Freedom 2500 inverter/charger(older model) but I believe its still a viable three stage charger?

[Geocritter]

Some good information here thanks all y'all! I think for now I'll shut the system down, I don't need it at this time. This year has been a shakedown journey and now I have one more thing on the list to buy (kaching!), dang!

FWIW I had a battery blow up in my face when I was a kid. I tried to jump start a wet engine at a car wash. Fortunately, I was able to hose myself down and also had fast enough reflexes to jump back and shut my eyes as the top of the battery case flew up into my face. I learned then, when jumping a car battery, to attach the ground wire cable to the car frame, far from the battery.

[Old-Biscuit]

IS this in your 1994 33' Holiday Rambler Vacationer?

Time for:
3 new house batteries.......possibly more (check coach battery)
New converter. Your old 1994 vintage converter needs updated to a good 3 stage model.

[J-Rooster]

I can't help you Steve, but I did see a battery explode one time it was 1968 and I was working at a Signal Gas Station in West Seattle, and my shift partner went to check on a battery that he was charging, and he was smoking a cigarette and bent over toward the battery to see how it was charging and his cigarette ignited the battery fumes. No one was hurt in the loud explosion, he was wearing safety glasses, but the overalls he was wearing were ruined from battery acid. We had to use baking soda to clean up the area. Sorry to hear about what happened to you!

[powderman426]

Also I see a lot of corrosion on the connection to the battery that blew.

[wa8yxm]

Which is better six volt in sereies or parallel 12 volt?

Well, one of the bullet points in that discussion (And no, this is not going to answer the question by itself) is what happens with one or more likely two cells short in ONE of the 12 volt.

in teh case of six volt in series, the converter limites max charge rate and the non-shorted cells swiftly boil dry.

But in your chase all the other batteries basically DUMPED on it.. Way too fast, boiled it dry, created a spark and much as I'd like to say "BOOM". POP is more the word (not much of an explosion)

Now at the beginning I promised I would not answer the opening question. here is why...
If you run FOUR six volt in a series parallel configuration... Same thing can happen. No difference, thus it is only a valid poing if you only have 2.

I run a pair of sixes in parallel with a trio of Group 29's. Both sides have suffered a shorted cell, but there is enough wire (and a pair of fuses) between them so nothing really bad happened. Save for a blown $60.00 fuse (OUCH)

[RoyB]

A reason for over-charging is most often related to using a single mode converter/charger setup that constantly puts out 13.6VDC charge voltage. This amount of DC VOLTAGE is right on the edge of making a battery boil out the battery fluids if left on charge over time. When the fluid levels drop below the internal cores than the battery is prone to shorting out and really drawing alot of DC current which may result in an explosion.

If you have such a converter/charger it behooves you to check your battery fluids on a regular basis, A good fix for this is to purchase a good smart mode converter/charger setup for your 1994 MH.

Just a thought here....

Roy Ken

[time2roll]

It needed water yesterday. Could be a shorted cell caused the water to boil out quickly.

[powderman426]

Because it was just the one, I would say a shorted cell. If that was it, you lucked out that it must have opened when it blew otherwise it would have put a dead short on the converter and taken that out as well.

[rgatijnet1]

The battery was over charged and the outgassing of Hydrogen caused the battery to explode. Happens when the battery is being charged in a compartment without enough air circulation.