What do you think would cause a car battery to explode? My SO’s car battery was dead and was reading 6.5V before I put it on the battery charger a few days ago. When I left it, my small 6A charger was reading 3A. I came out to the garage today to put the battery back in her car and this is what I found. Now I need to find where to dispose of an exploded battery…
Overcharging with high charging voltages generates oxygen and hydrogen gas
by electrolysis of water.
The buildup of pressure would cause the lid to pop pretty violently
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On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 7:08 PM, Steve F wrote:Stevemopolis https://talk.vanhack.ca/users/stevemopolis Keyholder
March 17What do you think would cause a car battery to explode? My SO’s car
battery was dead and was reading 6.5V before I put it on the battery
charger a few days ago. When I left it, my small 6A charger was reading 3A.
I came out to the garage today to put the battery back in her car and this
is what I found. Now I need to find where to dispose of an exploded
battery…</uploads/default/original/2X/4/45a171c6754277c609158e9089773089f8683e53.jpg>
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Not an expert on car batteries by any means, but I do know that the chemical reaction caused by charging generates H gas. If this gas could not vent effectively because the vents were blocked, or if it got ignited by a spark or short circuit somewhere, I can imagine this would be the result.
wow! looks like something from MythBusters
I done that before, but with six recycled car batteries in a sealed shead. Charging
batteries released hydrogen and if the batteries are not in a well
ventilated area can explode.
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On Mar 16, 2016 7:33 PM, "Keenan Tims" wrote:ktims https://talk.vanhack.ca/users/ktims
March 17Not an expert on car batteries by any means, but I do know that the
chemical reaction caused by charging generates H gas. If this gas could not
vent effectively because the vents were blocked, or if it got ignited by a
spark or short circuit somewhere, I can imagine this would be the result.Visit Topic
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Thank God nobody was nearby when it popped !!
And
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Put it all (the lead parts) in a bag and take it to wherever you buy a
replacement battery and you will get a rebate for the lead on the old one.
Assume its not all deposited on the wall of the garage :>
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On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 7:08 PM, Steve F wrote:Stevemopolis https://talk.vanhack.ca/users/stevemopolis Keyholder
March 17What do you think would cause a car battery to explode? My SO’s car
battery was dead and was reading 6.5V before I put it on the battery
charger a few days ago. When I left it, my small 6A charger was reading 3A.
I came out to the garage today to put the battery back in her car and this
is what I found. Now I need to find where to dispose of an exploded
battery…</uploads/default/original/2X/4/45a171c6754277c609158e9089773089f8683e53.jpg>
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https://talk.vanhack.ca/t/what-would-cause-a-car-battery-to-explode/4010/1
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Judging by the lack of scorch marks, there does not appear to have been any pyrotechnics. The black debris you see in the photo is mostly shrapnel from the battery casing. If it exploded from hydrogen buildup then thankfully it didn’t ignite. The battery was sitting about 2 feet away from my beloved '67 Mustang and there was (thankfully) no damage to the car.
My battery charger, like most, is supposed to go into a trickle charge mode once the battery is fully charged so I would be surprised if overcharging was the cause of the explosion. However, I’ve had that battery charger since about 1978 so it’s possible that it is no longer functioning correctly. If the future, I won’t be charging batteries in the garage!
Thanks for the recycling suggestion, everyone.
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Glad you weren’t around for the big pop Steve. I’ve seen batteries crack, but I’ve never seen one go like that before!
I have a spare charger if you want it. It has to be newer then 1978. By how much no idea.
Its possible that your charger was working properly. Just takes a very small spark to light hydrogen. static electricity perhaps? There’s the good example why despite how much better hydrogen gas is over gasoline we still don’t use it.
“…My battery charger, like most, is supposed to go into a trickle charge mode once the battery is fully charged …”
The battery was not rechargeable anymore, too old, too discharged. The charger is most likely fine, it just never saw the changes telling it to switch mode.
There are modern chargers out there that will detect a badly sulfated battery and attempt to fix it before going into charge mode. Sometimes it works, sometimes the “intelligent” chargers tells you to get a new battery. These chargers are well worth the $85 or so .
Never bother to attempt to recharge a nominal 12V battery if the voltage dropped below 10V. It D-E-A-D, chemically non-reversible, I guess…
And you should never put a pre-70s Mustang in jeopardy like that… 80
Glad you both are OK!
“…despite how much better hydrogen gas is over gasoline…”
Gasoline pros: High energy density, high storage density (liquid), cheap to extract from Nature, production infrastructure in place, distribution infrastructure in place, burns visibly, easily weaponized (Molotov), easy to contain both in a liquid and a vapor form, smells good…
Cons: EXTREMELY flammable, very polluting when spilled, air pollutants generated even when burned properly, requires an engine interface to make electricity, limited quantity available on Earth.
Hydrogen pros: Gave us the clip “Oh! The Humanit-ee!”, hard to ignite (proper gas ratio must be attained), burns very cleanly, makes batteries work and plenty of other chemical reactions, unlimited quantity available in the Universe.
Cons: Low energy density, low storage density (gas), costly to extract from nature, production infrastructure not in place, distribution infrastructure not in place, burns invisibly (fire trucks carry a broom to detect this fire), very hard to weaponize (H-bomb), hard to contain both in a liquid and in a vapor form, odourless.
Hydrogen is not much better than gasoline, just different, and for another time. This said, I use it ALL the time, since I’d die without water… 
I like how you put ‘hard to weaponize’ in the CONS category!
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My personal philosophies/beliefs let me do stuff like that. I sure hope yours line up with mine!
Late to the party, but when charging motorcycle batteries 10+ years ago, I always made sure to unscrew the caps on top, so the gas could vent. Is that no longer a concern? 