Any idea why this happened? Is the moisture inside from an exploded battery cell?

[Oopsiblewmybattery]

Has anyone had this happen? Battery suddenly exploded and upon looking inside it was full of moisture. Perhaps from a cell?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

LOL username.

The tops of the cells have vents. Avoid contact with the liquid/vapors.

 

[HRTKD]

No smoke, but where there's a vented cell there's a potential. So the thread is now in the "Up In Smoke" subforum.

OP, need to know more about the situation. Pictures of the vents will probably prove if the cell spewed or not.

 

[robbob2112]

If you have chemical gloves and a full face respirator might be interesting to take it to an empty parking lot and see if the cells can be removed to see what happened.

is it store bought or diy? If store bought what brand is it.

 

[Oopsiblewmybattery]

This battery is a 100ah Weize battery. Was sitting charged and I notice it was no longer sealed and the top was sitting crooked. Then I realized it had separated and has all this moisture inside.

 

[JWLV]

More pictures please. A lot more.

 

[Will Prowse]

Don't smell it but did you smell a odor?

Get it outside now. Leave it there. If that moisture evaporates, it's water. If it doesn't evaporate, that's electrolyte.

 

[robbob2112]

For the lid to pop I expect it was a pretty significant pressure change inside the unit. I can't see that with anything short of a pressure relief vent on a cell

Were you doing anything involving it at the time? Was it in a cold garage then in full sun? Drop it?

Seems odd unless it was being charged and a cell got over-voltage which means a failed BMS that let it happen.

 

[JWLV]

@Oopsiblewmybattery Come on dude, you started this thread almost two weeks ago with a possible explosive battery. You last logged in just this morning. And not a peep since the initial post? Not cool.

 

[robbob2112]

@Oopsiblewmybattery Come on dude, you started this thread almost two weeks ago with a possible explosive battery. You last logged in just this morning. And not a peep since the initial post? Not cool.

Maybe he just woke up from smelling the fumes

 

[Oopsiblewmybattery]

I drive a truck for a living and have been working. Sorry for the delayed response. It’s been outside all week and has not evaporated. The bottom has considerable amount of water/electrolyte in the bottom. Not just a few drops. It was sitting fully charged on a covered back porch with temps ranging from 38f-72f

 

[Oopsiblewmybattery]

A few more photos

 

[Oopsiblewmybattery]

Looks like possibly 2 of the 4 cells ruptured

 

[Bluedog225]

That’s f’d up.

Do you have a rough guess how old it is? Any bullet holes in the sides? (sorry).

And seriously, thanks for the follow up.

 

[Oopsiblewmybattery]

That’s f’d up.

Do you have a rough guess how old it is? Any bullet holes in the sides? (sorry).

And seriously, thanks for the follow up.

No damage to the battery box at all actually. Never dropped or anything. Less than a year old

 

[meetyg]

Quite a mystery I would say...
Build quality looks OK: Cells have straps for fixture, insulation between the cells, laser welded busbars with a hump to relieve stress on the terminals...

My hunch is that either they were somehow overcharged, or maybe the straps holding them together pressed too much in the outer cells (done during manufacturing) causing some kind of cell deformation and possibly an internal short.

Are the ruptured cells the most outer most ones by any chance?

How were you charging the battery (solar/wall charger) ? What kind of charger/SCC ? What were the voltages set at?
For how long was the battery on the charger and was it kept at 100% ?

I'm not trying to blame you... Just trying to help solve this mystery and understand what went wrong, so that we could all learn.

I'm pretty much convinced that this was a defective battery, or maybe the BMS didn't do its job to protect the cells.

 

[SparkyJJO]

The vent itself looks ok though?
Bizarre.

 

[robbob2112]

Wild, I can't see what happened to cause it... from the build quality it doesn't look like the issue was physical damage unless it was pre-existing and the charge cycling just flexed a weak spot... Once one ruptured it could have caused the one next to it to rupture I suppose.

I am wondering at the condition on the bottom side of the battery right after it came out of the box? Were the bus bars all twisted like that or was that your doing when separating the cells?

The really strange things neither vent is blown...

 

[Oopsiblewmybattery]

Ruptured cells were 2 and 4. It was charged to 100% and removed from the charger. It was never cycled more than a dozen times and most of those were to 20-30% SOC. Left on my back porch at 100% SOC until I got back (2 weeks) that’s when I realized the top was sitting crooked.

 

[Oopsiblewmybattery]

Wild, I can't see what happened to cause it... from the build quality it doesn't look like the issue was physical damage unless it was pre-existing and the charge cycling just flexed a weak spot... Once one ruptured it could have caused the one next to it to rupture I suppose.

I am wondering at the condition on the bottom side of the battery right after it came out of the box? Were the bus bars all twisted like that or was that your doing when separating the cells?

The really strange things neither vent is blown...

The battery was in perfect condition until I ripped the cells apart.

 

[robbob2112]

That is crazy - I am on the fence about it being a factory flaw in the cells or if they over-voltage?

Was it hooked up to anything to supply a charge or just sitting charged but loose?


I am gonna chalk it up to PFM

 

[Oopsiblewmybattery]

That is crazy - I am on the fence about it being a factory flaw in the cells or if they over-voltage?

Was it hooked up to anything to supply a charge or just sitting charged but loose?


I am gonna chalk it up to PFM

It was not hooked up to anything.

 

[robbob2112]

PFM then

 

[T-Rex]

And I thought only us down in the bilge believed in PFM (and for that mater the "I Believe" button)

 

[SomethingAppropriate]

It say PFM right there on the tin.