BEWARE WHEN CHARGING BATTERIES!



This morning we have a 33' Sea Ray in the shop and we had to run the anchor up and open the engine hatch and the batteries were dead. So I hooked a charger up to one battery for a hour, then I went to hook the charger up to another battery.



When I did I noticed a faint smell of sulfer, the smell when a battery charges, a battery emits gasses when they charge and Im sure some of you have smelled this smell before. I had the charger on trickle charge and everything seemed fine, before I went to get off the boat I wanted to make sure the charger was making contact with the terminals so I went to wiggle the negative clamp to insure it was making contact because the post was partially underneath a portion of the deck.



All I remember then is a flash of fire and smoke and acid coming in my face. The ******* thing blew up right in my face and on my hand.



Reason was the faintest spark ignited the hydrogen fumes that the battery emits when it charges, and a little spark is all it takes! Thankfully I didnt get any in my eyes, at least I dont think I did, and just had acid all over my face and hand.



Be very cautious this time of year, I know alot of us dont drive our cars over the winter and charge our batteries when we need to start them so be carefull.

THAT SUCKS!!!

Doesnt the acid burn yor skin if it touches?

dont worry he cant get any uglier. lol im glad youre ok.

yea. sounds like you should be seekin medical attention, and not posting.



but yea, thanks for the warning. hope you are okay.

Damn!! Glad you are OK Just another little warning for winter time. If you are going to charge a dead battery in winter, pull the vent caps off and make sure the water did not freeze. A frozen battery will explode when charged becouse the expanded frozen water will short out the plates inside!!

damn batteries are so dangerous.. heres a tip for everyone thats easy to follow... ask a random stranger off the street to put on the battery charger for you

i hope you are ok rob. yes batteries emit gasses when they are charged, the best thing to do is charge it in a well ventilated area, even so you run a risk. i personally hate batteries and try to stay as far away as i can.



mike

Well i guess this explains why i always had to put the charger on all the semi trucks batterys

https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/dunno.gif

yeah that happened to my benz before. im sure okay rob. and thanks for the warning

wow **** rob your lucky! i thought i was gonna read, " im blind now". Yes batteries are damn dangerous, I will keep this in mind next time i charge mine.

glad to hear you are ok. i had that happen once like 10 years ago

Once again, glad to hear you are ok and warning everyone else. Damn shame those things can't take AA batteries!

It happened at 8am, im fine, my hand is fucked up from the blast but ok.

The acid is bad in your eyes, I went home and took a shower right away, I showered within 20 minutes of it happening and I washed my face and ears and **** right after it happened in the sink at work.

I threw my clothes out.



The boat has been inside for like 2 weeks, it wasnt frozen, and it was a well ventilated area, caps were off and the water/acid was full in all the cells, not low. Hydrogen gas is very flammable ( like the Hindenburg Airship that went up ).



I guess its just one of those 1-1000 things, oh well.



Just play it safe and if you ever smell those fumes let it clear out for a while, the fumes werent even THAT strong, but they are lighter then air and can be deceaving.

You should go home for the day, tell them I said it was ok https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png



Glad you are alright, that is on of those deals where it is hard to tell if it hurt more or scared the **** out of you more.



But yea the acid doesn't burn right away takes a few. I got some on my clothes one time and didn't even know it until I threw them in the wash and my pants had about 20 holes in them.