Technical Battery Safety

[MATTSDAD]

Due to the prolonged winter we've had in the UK, Matts 500F has been laid up for a while - the roads here are covered in a thin layer of salt. Hence the battery has been charged up ready for going out when it eventually warms up. One thing I've made clear to Matthew is the danger of sparking near a battery that has just been charged. In Lead acid batteries, because of the charging process, hydrogen gas is given off which gathers in the void between the top of the electrolyte and the battery case top. If you remove the charger leads with the charger switched on, you can get a spark which will ignite the hydrogen gas and the battery will violently explode.
ALWAYS switch off the charger before removing the charger leads.
Also when working on car electrics you should disconnect the battery negative (using an isolator). Always make sure the electics are switched off before disconnecting the negative lead as again you can get a spark. When reconnecting again make sure you have all the circuits sitched off.
I've seen people energising dynamos by sparking against the battery terminal - this should never be adopted - it's dangerous espescially with a 500 where you have the petrol tank near the battery.
I also encourage Matthew to wear safety specs when working near the battery - they only take seconds to put on and they can save a lifetime of misery.
I've updated a couple of my docs to reinforce the battery safety element.

Richard

 

[the hobbler]

Totally,totally agree with your advice on this one Richard--having worked in the motor-trade for (far too many) years, I have seem my fair share of accidents---the worse one when a battery exploded in the face of our (very experienced) electrician--we never quite worked out what happened because technically it shouldn't have been able to happen. If I and one of our technicians hadn't run him through to the wash-room (his feet literally never touched the floor--we were running) he could easily have lost his site. luckily our prompt action saved the day, but the situation could have easily turned VERY nasty. As Richard says, it takes only a couple of seconds to put goggles on; and I haven't heard of eye-transplants!