What causes an exploded battery?

[galacticmonkey 5,000+ posts]

What causes batteries to explode? I ripped out my batteries yesterday and found that 2 HC2400s were exploded/melted. We checked the voltage and they were sitting at 13.5v, which is just fine, and my alternator is charging just fine. Ive seen batteries bulged out before, but never like this. Anyone ever see the Kinetiks explode/melt before? Ive heard from one other person that it was either like an 800 or 1200 that melted. Anyone have any idea to why these batteries randomly melt?

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[mazzasec 5,000+ posts]

I thought you had real bad voltage problems? So how are they resting at 13.5 thats really high for just a regular alternator charging them.

 

[soloXgt 10+ year member]

C4

 

[groundpound4200 5,000+ posts]

did it melt at the terminals or all over?

 

[chaunb3400 10+ year member]

pics

 

[99grandprixGT 5,000+ posts]

it was the extreme bass

 

[galacticmonkey 5,000+ posts]

Yeah, Ive seen batteries bulge from overcharging by like 4-5 volts, but .5v wouldnt cause this. Ive NEVER seen a battery do this. It got so hot it melted the battery next to it.

Ill have a pic in a second.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Ive actually heard of some Kinetiks doing this, never seen a pic of one though. You say the batts 'exploded'... but still read 13.5 volts? If the batts exploded, at least one cell in each should be drained, and wont produce voltage anymore, thus dropping the over all battery voltage. So Im guessing they didnt explode yet, merely bulged. If they had actually ruptured, you would probably be telling us about needing to replace your carpet, and possibly even some sheet metal. My point is it sounds like it could have been much worse.

Are these the only two batts in your system, or are there more that do not appear damaged? I ask because if it has affects all your batts, its likely an over charging problem. But if it only affected some batts, it may be defective batts.

 

[galacticmonkey 5,000+ posts]

I have 10 HC2400s. There were only 2 messed up. One was just bulged out, but this was was HUGE.

Pic in 1st post.

 

[bhsdriller 10+ year member]

**** that things huge...you're lucky it didn't exploded they can do some damage

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

it seems to happen a lot with Kinetiks...you should've went Batcap or Odyssey/Hawker...i guess an expensive lesson learned....//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/greedy.gif.5a53e6246569d7ab79867170f3b06629.gif

 

[etznova 10+ year member]

wow I have never seen a battery bulge that much and not rupture that thing must have gotten hot to get the plastic to stretch that much and yet not break a seam

 

[galacticmonkey 5,000+ posts]

Na, I got those ones crazy cheap. Still sucks I cant resell them.

 

[ssackett 10+ year member]

Man that would have been a nasty mess to clean if it did break thu the case..

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

stupidity