Leisure battery bulging!!!

[Justin & Muttley]

I put my leisure battery on charge and left it overnight (well, for about 24 hrs actually) and when I went out to the garage the sides were bulging like it was going to burst!!
I've taken it off charge, but I don't know whether to release the caps off the top or leave it alone for 24 hours to see what happens - it is bubbling slightly (more like fizzing really) from a couple of the caps.

What do I do???

 

[slammedresto]

run..............sorry not much help :lol:

 

[retrokid]

Oops, looks like you may have bent the plates inside!! Did you use a leisure battery charger or normal car battery charger??

 

[VeeDubMan]

Aren't you meant to loosen the caps before it goes on charge anyway?

 

[Justin & Muttley]

I used a normal car battery charger :shock:

I didn't think I'd need to loosen the caps as it's a 'Maintenance Free' battery.

Have I ruined it do you think?

 

[Araon]

leave it to stand for a good while on something you dont mind acid spills on (so not on a concrete floor)....

when your happy to open the caps place a plastic sheet over and test by easing one cap off (through the plastic sheet)

or to be honest its almost certainly fubar'd so double/trebble bag it and take it to the recyclers and buy a new one....

what kind of charger are you using as most modern chargers will have dropped to maintenance?

 

[Justin & Muttley]

leave it to stand for a good while on something you dont mind acid spills on (so not on a concrete floor)....

when your happy to open the caps place a plastic sheet over and test by easing one cap off (through the plastic sheet)

or to be honest its almost certainly fubar'd so double/trebble bag it and take it to the recyclers and buy a new one....

what kind of charger are you using as most modern chargers will have dropped to maintenance?

It's a standard automatic charger (6 Amp I think) - gutted, leisure batteries aren't cheap!!

 

[Justin & Muttley]

I carefully undid the caps and apart from some acid spitting (the battery, not me!) they are all off now.
Battery still kicking out 12.5+V, will check levels tomorrow and see if the bulging has reduced at all.
I'll hook it up to a 12V fan and see how it performs over a few hours.

It was pretty scary - an acid explosion doesn't sound like fun, that stuff really stings!!

 

[retrokid]

It wrecks your clothes too!! Ideally to charge a leisure battery you need a charger with sensing circuitry built in which monitors the state of the battery... The kind you can safely leave connected all the time eg. An electric wheel chair battery/Golf buggy battery charger etc. These types of battery are designed to be constantly drained and charged and have different plates inside them.

 

[Justin & Muttley]

I've just been out to the garage to check it, the bulging has gone down and is barely noticable; I've checked the levels (a bit high) and put in some battery conditioner tablets in.

I'll keep an out for a smart charger - the battery is putting out around 11.85V at the moment.