My battery blew up

[37chief]

I wanted to use my MF 231 today. It has always started. Just some solenoid noise today. I checked the battery, the top blew off. I put a battery charger on it about 3-4 days ago and forgot about it. My charger usually cycles down when the battery is fully charged. It has been super hot the last few days. Don't know if that had anything to do with it. I have forgot chargers in the past with no problems. Next trip to Cosco I will pick up another battery. Ever had that happen from charging a battery? Stan

 

[used red MN]

It blew up in front of you as you were investigating or it was blew up sometime before?

 

[wore out]

I wanted to use my MF 231 today. It has always started. Just some solenoid noise today. I checked the battery, the top blew off. I put a battery charger on it about 3-4 days ago and forgot about it. My charger usually cycles down when the battery is fully charged. It has been super hot the last few days. Don't know if that had anything to do with it. I have forgot chargers in the past with no problems. Next trip to Cosco I will pick up another battery. Ever had that happen from charging a battery? Stan

Since you have needed to charge the battery, was it an old battery, or does the tractor have a defect that drains a good battery?

If an old battery they can develop poor internal connections and also "gas" when charged, BOOM, just be glad it didn't happen when you were near it.

If battery discharge has been an ongoing problem with this machine, may I suggest finding and fixing the cause, or installing a battery disconnect, or at the very least, disconnect a battery cable after shutdown is it's doing to sit unused beyond overnight?

 

[Bob Bancroft]

I wanted to use my MF 231 today. It has always started. Just some solenoid noise today. I checked the battery, the top blew off. I put a battery charger on it about 3-4 days ago and forgot about it. My charger usually cycles down when the battery is fully charged. It has been super hot the last few days. Don't know if that had anything to do with it. I have forgot chargers in the past with no problems. Next trip to Cosco I will pick up another battery. Ever had that happen from charging a battery? Stan

Went on a service call once where a new battery was not doing its job. I was trying different things. Finally had it hooked back up and tried to wiggle one of the cable ends while putting a load on the system. BOOM! Blew a hole in the top of the battery. Fortunately I didn't take a direct hit, as the battery was well down in its place- (AC 170 tractor, for anyone who is familiar with it) Apparently there was a poor internal connection. But also apparently a good enough connection to charge the battery up in the first place. This was back in the day when our batteries came in dry and we put the acid in them, then put a charger on them.

 

[37chief]

It blew up in front of you as you were investigating or it was blew up sometime before?

It had already happened before I got there. Stan

 

[Brownie450]

I had a 300 CCA battery on the 3 Amp charger down in
the basement, & forgot about it for a few days. Finally
remembered it & took it outside to use it on an auger.
Got busy with something else & heard a loud bang.
Looked at the battery & it had the entire top blown off.
So, yes it happens.
Jim

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

I had the battery on the family car blow up. Wife went to start it after a few minutes in the bank and it blew, so it happens. My charger is a deep cycle type. 6 or 12 volt with a timer so I can set it and leave.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

Igniting the hydrogen gas all it takes is a spark. I’ve never had it happen to me on hundreds of batteries but one of the kids at school wore a sweatshirt he was wearing when one blew up you could see all the little drops of acid eating into it. He washed it with baking soda or real washing soda actually if I remember right pretty quick to neutralize it and wore it after that fairly regularly. It’s why some of the newer trucks where they are putting them in the cab have to be AGM. It’s also why they tell you the last connection to make jump starting your tractor is to the rubbed shiny spot on the 4440 step with your negative cable.

 

[JMOR]

Better than the Teala truck that took 50,000 gallons of water and an airborne water bomber, as used in forest fires, to put it out.

 

[Blackhole49]

About a year after I finished redoing my Funk, I went to start it one day and the battery blew up. My son in the other barn though I cut the 12 ga. loose. We dragged the tractor to a garden hose and got it washed off right away. Unfortunately, a couple of days later, the hood of my B7100 HST had yellow spots all over the hood. Didn't realize it was in the line of fire.

 

[used red MN]

Better than the Teala truck that took 50,000 gallons of water and an airborne water bomber, as used in forest fires, to put it out.

JMOR, respectfully adding this only because I feel plenty of incidents are reported by the media with their “sensational spin” added! I am no proponent of these battery powered vehicles, this was a Tesla semi-truck. The air drop fire fighting plane was brought in as a precautionary measure to treat the forest around the burning truck, it was not actually needed to put the fire out. It did require 16 hours of road closures for the fire to be extinguished and the wreckage to be cleared. The rest I am adding as my own editorial comment. My guess is some fairly nasty toxins were released during this fire. My guess is that it probably released more pollution than 50 currently equipped diesel semi trucks would have running an entire month. You have to also take into account that diesel trucks also crash and when 100 gallons of diesel burns it is also not a particularly environmentally friendly fire. Also very likely that if this was a wrecked diesel truck and the fire proved difficult to extinguish the plane would probably been called out as a precaution in that case as well.
video

 

[Fixingfarmer]

Yep very same pattern as that sweatshirt. Very sharp ford too at least you got that one cleaned off.

 

[JMOR]

Yes, very sharp looking Ford!

 

[Bruce from Can.]

I got in my old 74 Ford F150 and turned the key and “Kaboom!!”. I turned the key again and the truck started up, and I drove the couple miles home. It was dark so I waited until the next day to investigate under the hood. What I found was the top and part of the side of the battery case had blown apart. Pieces of the battery when through the rad, so I had to pull it out and get it soldered. Crazy thing was that battery would still crank the truck for a few days.

 

[rustred]

You’re a lucky man to be typing this. !! Lucky u were not there. I had one blow up years ago standing in front of my 1986 6.2 diesel. It was like a shot gun blast. Kinda stunned me for a bit.

 

[da.bees]

I watched I guy intentionally smoke his alternator a couple months ago. The wife and I were waiting for a Wal-Mart grocery order to be brought out and a guy was attempting to use booster cables from his truck to a car. I noticed him touching cable ends together and sparks then he had his friend put his foot on accelerator of running truck. I say intentionally because he touched the cable ends together again and fire smoke came from the alternator.

 

[Rich'sToys]

When I was a kid I remember Dad telling about helping a neighbor jump start his car. One of the cables got hooked to the wrong post and blew up one of the batteries--I forget which one, but I think it was Dad's.
I've never had it happen to me, thank God!

 

[trackrat]

ive had several battery's blow up one in my face be careful working with batterys as they make a hell of a boom

 

[ss55]

I wanted to use my MF 231 today. It has always started. Just some solenoid noise today. I checked the battery, the top blew off. I put a battery charger on it about 3-4 days ago and forgot about it. My charger usually cycles down when the battery is fully charged. It has been super hot the last few days. Don't know if that had anything to do with it. I have forgot chargers in the past with no problems. Next trip to Cosco I will pick up another battery. Ever had that happen from charging a battery? Stan

Try to rinse all the battery acid off of the machine as soon as possible. Battery acid will cause metal to rust fast, even if it is painted.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Chief.
You just proved the Big Bang Theory is real.