Quote Originally Posted by Glowgood Jigster
Boy, never thought I could have hooked the battery up backwards, I knew that red went to + and black to -, maybe that's what happened but I kinda doubt it. All I know is the caps were still on the battery. Wouldn't a backwards hookup have exploded it sooner than a couple hours? I think it was around two-three hours along when it blew up...
I think this is a good place to talk about battery safety and chargeing tho, since so many of us recharge them things... I think too many people are sadly uneducated about the hazards of rechargeing batteries.
Regards, Glowgood
You may have a point .... if the leads were hooked up correctly, and the caps were still on, and it took a couple of hours before it exploded --- there may have been a defect in the battery, itself, or it possibly was reverse charged at the factory (if it was straight off the shelf, and not yet used by you).
Not having the caps blow off, makes me think of two possibilities - problem was in the plates, in the interior of the battery ... or, caps were not allowing ventilation, and battery got hot & expanded to bursting point.
Were you charging with a 12V charger, or a larger one ? ..... cp