Battery Explosion. pics.

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

overcharing is significantly worse than a dead short. It causes excess hydrogen and oxygen gas inside the case. There isn't a much more volatile pair of gases to be combining under pressure.

I've seen an alt with a bad regulator that charged up to 18v. That can definitely lead to a battery exploding.

The byproducts of discharge are lead sulfate (not flammable) and water.

 

[edzy 10+ year member]

ya, thats gotta ****. I understand it was not insured too, so its a complete loss.

Now if a regulator fails and does charge to an excessive voltage, what safty features should have stopped that? if Any?

And is there one that could be installed as a failsafe on a battery incase of something like that happening in other dodge vans? ( Mine in particular)

like i said, the reg is inside the ECU, I had to replace mine before due to under charging. And those ECU's are not cheap.

 

[goingdef 10+ year member]

I had a subaru a while ago that I tried to jump start a tractor with and it burned out the regulator , and it over charged the battery to the point of swelling and ballooning out about 1/3 larger than normal I realized there was a problem when the low beams look like hid high beams.

 

[smoka 10+ year member]

ya, thats gotta ****. I understand it was not insured too, so its a complete loss.
Now if a regulator fails and does charge to an excessive voltage, what safty features should have stopped that? if Any?

And is there one that could be installed as a failsafe on a battery incase of something like that happening in other dodge vans? ( Mine in particular)

like i said, the reg is inside the ECU, I had to replace mine before due to under charging. And those ECU's are not cheap.

You can monitor the voltage or the temperature. The voltage should never go over upper 14's and the temp of the batt should never go over ~125 degrees.

Seeing those pics are scary because it could happen to anyone no matter how careful we are. I'm not sure if a fuse will protect it. I'm not an alt expert, but since an alt is basically just a generator, I would assume that at a higher voltage the current output would drop since there is no change in load. So I don't think a fuse would help an overcharging batt.

They make plenty of products that will disconnect the batt when the voltage gets too low, I'm suprised that I couldn't find anything that does the same when the voltage gets too high?

Here is one failsafe solution, but its not too cheap.

You can get a dc process voltmeter that has setpoints such as this:

http://store.redlion.net/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=2227

You can connect the (relayed) output to a high current solenoid which can disconnect your battery such as this: (the setpoint can be around 15v to turn on its output)

https://www.discountcarstereo.com/detail.aspx?ID=569

Just pieced this solution together, not sure if I would do it. You could monitor the voltage yourself for alot cheaper, but this would be an automatic system....

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

why waste money on a pcm, you can get an external regulator for $15

 

[spacegear 10+ year member]

this happened to my car. Mitsu spacegear. alternators' built in reg went crazy giving out more than 13.8 volts. it blew all the lights that were on and my new headunit. good thing its still under warranty and the fuse going to the battery blew thus not overcharging it.

 

[audioarsonal 10+ year member]

Kinda like the Batcap that exploded at finials last yearOver charging is bad em kayy.....