Bee Careful

Charging a combine battery and trying to start it,loose cable Owner trying to start it ,I GRABED CABLE and batrey blew up in my face.Flushed with water,trip to hospital,where they flushed out my eyes,checked them.Luckey very little damage.Just warning you all bee careful. Lloyd
 

I hope you don't have any lasting affects. I've never had one blow up on me but I heard one blow from 1/8 mile away and it sounded like a shotgun. I didn't realize how often it happens till I read on this site about the adventures others have had with exploding batteries.Jim
 
glad you are ok.
only had one battery actually blow up.
old Ford pickup with the battery at the cowl.
with the hood raised, head and shoulders were outside the hood, reached under to wiggle a jumper cable and it blew.
soaked my middle, but the hood protected my head.
lots of force in them. felt the impact on my hand and lost feeling, Thought I lost it or broke it.
Just numb though, week later it was fine.

funny story if the consequences weren't so dire,
auction, auctions helper with the jumperpack to get balky tractors started.
8N 6v pos ground, he hopped up on the running board, face right over the opening, and started hooking that 12v pack to it (backwards too probably)
Could hear/see the arcing, sparks.
We all yelled to stop, but a couple of old guys standing near that didn't care about 'modern politeness' just reached up and hauled him off the running board. He looked indignant, but they probably saved his eyes or worse.
 
im glad you are ok, i never had one blow up on me. geeese, that's all i need. thanks for the heads up, safety first.
 
I thought you were going to say that you had disturbed a bees nest. One can be about as bad as the other. I got lucky one time, I was charging a battery on the lower shelf of a workbench and without thinking, turned on the grinder and began sharpening a mower blade. Blew about a third of the top off the battery, but due to the location, I didn't get any acid on me. Lesson learned.
 
I've always told my son when he works on or around batteries to wear eye protection. Until you see it or read about it a person really can't visualize what can happen. Glad to hear you're ok!
 
Ok, it seems i have used the charger alot over the past couple of years. What is the proper, safe method to charge a weak battery ?
 
I"ve had a couple over the years once in my face but got my eyes closed, thankfully no damage to me.
 
Never had a battery blow but I did have a coil blow once. Sounded like a grenade. Luckily I was walking away and out of shrapnel range.
 
Only had one blow up on me and luckily I was in the driver's seat and the hood was closed when it happened. Was driving an AMC Javelin with a straight six. The choke would stick every now and then, all you had to do was open the hood, take off the air cleaner and stick your fingers down the carb to loosen the choke. I was on my way home from school and stopped at Meijer's to grab a few things. Got my shopping done got in the car and it wouldn't start, darn choke thing again, opened the hood undid the air cleaner and stuck by fingers down the carb and freed the choke. Put everything back together closed the hood, hit the key and it started right up. Got out of the parking lot and approached the intersection, two 4 lane roads with left hand turn lanes. All of a sudden I hear an explosion, I get scared and drop the clutch, the car shoots across the intersection (against a red light!), that scared me as much as the noise. I get calmed down, no more noise, no idiot lights no smoke or sparks so I drive on looking for a place to pull over to see what the heck happened. About a mile or so down the road I pull into a gas station and pop the hood, the top of the battery is missing, the snorkel on the air cleaner is over where the battery is, guessing I didn't tighten down the wing nut enough and it migrated over until it hit something on the battery and made a spark that in turn made a boom. About that time the guy from the station comes out, looks at the battery and says holy *****! I ask if he thinks it'll make it to Laingsburg (12 miles), he said he didn't know but he could sell me a new battery right now. I hop in the car and drive away, not only did it make Laingsburg that night but it also started itself the next morning so I could drive it down to the barn and put another battery in it.
 
August of 2002, I had just finished charging the battery in my truck, disconnected the charger from the AC, removed the charging clamps, connected the Ground cable to the battery, and as soon as I touched the Positive cable to the Positive post the battery exploded - (even though the cell caps had been removed to vent any Hydrogen that may have formed during charging) - and splashed HOT battery acid into my face & eyes. The garden hose was just 8 feet away and I flushed my eyes for a full 15 minutes. Unbeknownst to me, I had the very early stages of cataracts and the hot battery acid acted as a catalyst, and I was completely blind within 3 months. All I could "see" was light & dark. Got cataract surgery on left eye in January 2003 & got right eye done 6 months later.


Doc
 

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