http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2009/09/when-batteries-explode/ When I was 10, I caught the radio bug, it appears to be terminal Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:11:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2009/09/when-batteries-explode/comment-page-1/#comment-195 J. Aegerter Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:31:25 +0000 http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/?p=3928#comment-195 It looks like the battery was over-charged which "gassed" all of the electrolyte from the cells. The generator manufacturers almost always supply chargers that will overcharge lead-acid cells. I order our generators WITHOUT chargers as there is usually a "delete" option if you ask for it. We use Schumacher Battery Maintainers on all of our generators which WILL NOT overcharge lead-acid batteries. We have had batteries in service 10 years without a problem. These Schumacher units carefully float charge and keep the specific-gravity up such that sulphation doesn't occur and render the cells useless. They typically cost about $30 and will save money initially on the generator purchase and down the road on batteries. It looks like the battery was over-charged which “gassed” all of the electrolyte from the cells. The generator manufacturers almost always supply chargers that will overcharge lead-acid cells. I order our generators WITHOUT chargers as there is usually a “delete” option if you ask for it. We use Schumacher Battery Maintainers on all of our generators which WILL NOT overcharge lead-acid batteries. We have had batteries in service 10 years without a problem. These Schumacher units carefully float charge and keep the specific-gravity up such that sulphation doesn’t occur and render the cells useless. They typically cost about $30 and will save money initially on the generator purchase and down the road on batteries.

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