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A thermal runaway, when did you last check the electrolite in the cells. , yes new battery and box required.
I wonder why it happened though.
 

JTQ

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Possibly a cell broke down and shorted, making it into a 5 cell 10 volt battery, whilst the solar still continued to stuff 14 odd volts at it, till the battery blew up?
 
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I can’t get them to zoom without loss of resolution.

How odd particularly as it’s an iCloud link. Works for me and they are full res pics. As a work around you could download and delete later. Do others see them OK?

Unless I have missed something, looks like someone has forced the battery box and tried to steal your battery?

No, the battery exploded Big time, all on its own,

A thermal runaway, when did you last check the electrolite in the cells. , yes new battery and box required.
I wonder why it happened though.

Sealed battery. Normally used on hook up, but we did 2 nights off hook up earlier in the year no problem. I also wonder why it happened. But I dont think it’s unheard of. Also, see below.

Possibly a cell broke down and shorted, making it into a 5 cell 10 volt battery, whilst the solar still continued to stuff 14 odd volts at it, till the battery blew up?

I agree. That makes sense. But I also wonder if the solar controller malfunctioned. As the pictures show, the battery was showing 14.6 volts. But that was with the solar panels still on. I then isolated the solar panels and it still showed 14.2.

I have the battery in the car, I think I will go and test it now and see what it has now after a few hours standing.



John

PS. Now reading 13.7 volts. I don’t think it would last long if a load was applied.
 
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How odd particularly as it’s an iCloud link. Works for me and they are full res pics. As a work around you could download and delete later.



No, the battery exploded Big time, all on its own,



Sealed battery. Normally used on hook up, but we did 2 nights off hook up earlier in the year no problem. I also wonder why it happened. But I dont think it’s unheard of. Also, see below.



I agree. That makes sense. But I also wonder if the solar controller malfunctioned. As the pictures show, the battery was showing 14.6 volts. But that was with the solar panels still on. I then isolated the solar panels and it still showed 14.2.

I have the battery in the car, I think I will go and test it now and see what it has now after a few hours standing.



John
If you lift it using my type of carrying handle, use oven gloves.
 
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A thermal runaway, when did you last check the electrolite in the cells. , yes new battery and box required.
I wonder why it happened though.

I have just looked more closely at the battery. It is supposed to be sealed. But now that it’s gone ‘pop’ I can see that it does have screw in ports but they were all hidden with strong stickers. If I knew that I would have regularly checked. And no doubt it would have been done at the service.

John
 
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Thanks I was trying to zoom the collage, when I tapped an individual picture they then opened up in series with good resolution and zoom.
A nasty incident which bad enough in its own right could have escalated to a fire and write off for your caravan and adjacent caravans.
 
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JTQ

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PS. Now reading 13.7 volts. I don’t think it would last long if a load was applied.

If that is across the battery with the solar disconnected, then it has not lost a cell as first thought a possible cause.

A sealed battery can still have cell ports, but has a built-in pressure relief valve, hence called a VRLA [valve regulated lead acid], possibly that got blocked?

Be sure to neutralise any acid blown about. say with bicarbonate of soda solution wipe, to avoid ongoing acid damage issues.
 
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If that is across the battery with the solar disconnected, then it has not lost a cell as first thought a possible cause.

A sealed battery can still have cell ports, but has a built-in pressure relief valve, hence called a VRLA [valve regulated lead acid], possibly that got blocked?

Be sure to neutralise any acid blown about. say with bicarbonate of soda solution wipe, to avoid ongoing acid damage issues.

Thanks, now the following morning. It still shows 13.63 volts. I think I will try a small load on it later just to see what happens.

Having a good look inside, there is no obvious place the the explosion emanated from.

John
 
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Warning: Long Post

Hi John,

Sorry that you have had this happen to you, it is unusual and like others I wonder what the cause was.

I have the same battery (2 in fact) Halfords HLB 681 115amp flooded wet cell - rebranded YUASA's.
There could have been a manufacturing defect but I think it less than likely in this case, Yuasa have a good reputation and I have confidence in this battery and would recommend it for various reasons.

You mentioned the Halfords stickers covering the electrolyte inspection ports, the first of my batteries had the same fault, the second did not, I am guessing in the rebranding that Halfords made a not inconsequential error. Only my curiosity led me to peeling back the sticker to reveal the inspection caps.

I do wonder why the battery did not vent off excess gases, there is one open vent port at the top of the positive terminal end side, what appears to be a vent port on the negative terminal end side of the battery is blanked off, I keep meaning to ask Halfords why this is?

Was the vent port obstructed on your battery?

Given that you (and I assume others) were not in the process of charging the battery or using it to top up another battery using jump leads or similar and that there were no tools present to effect a short across the battery terminals then some causes can be ruled out with regard to an ignition source.

A sudden and catastrophic failure could have occurred owing to the internal plates flexing and contacting with an ensuing internal short, from what I understand this is unlikely as that situation arises mostly "during the extreme current drain initiated whenever you crank the starter motor" for example.

Another possibility is incorrect charging, I am assuming two things here, one that the caravan was not on EHU and two, the solar panel(s) were connected to provide charge to the battery.

Extracts from other sources:

A battery charger itself can be the source of the ignition or the pressure build up of the hydrogen gas that can cause a battery case to rupture.

During charging, car batteries generate a highly explosive mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.

In such cases the battery life is affected and the active material from the plates start shedding creating an internal short. The internal short causes heat and explosion. In this case the internal short is not because of a manufacturing defect but due to incorrect charger selection.


I have looked at the pictures and there may be some indicators therein, I am not about to make any criticisms, everything I note is typically and widely found in most battery compartments.

The battery terminal posts are for the most part 'clean', reducing the likelihood of electrical arcing.

The quick connect type battery connectors I regard as suspect ( I had them in the past and I was not at all impressed with them). The cable connectors could be tidier, i.e. stray frayed and exposed strands (I know I am being picky-just looking for possible sources of ignition).

There is also the possibility of static electricity being the source of ignition. I guess we will never know on that one.

If I were to hazard a guess I would suspect the solar panel charge controller and the quick connect battery connectors and associated cabling.

If I remember correctly you have a PWM controller, I have one also and use it for specific purposes, PWM's are typically of cheap construction (not all are I acknowledge), I use my very cheap PWM in relatively controlled circumstances, I would not rely on it to be permanently connected and left unattended such as in a caravan in storage.

Further, many PWM's have settings for different battery types, typically few people are aware of this and few people make the appropriate settings adjustments, another scenario that sometimes occurs is when a PWM has been set to the parameter for a specific battery type and is not reconfigured when a new battery of a different type is installed.

A possible cause in your unfortunate circumstance is that your PWM controller failed causing excess charge to be delivered to the battery, causing swelling and sudden rupture of the battery casing resulting in explosive gases to be released, the sudden rupture of the battery may have caused sufficient movement at the battery connectors resulting in an arc that was the source of ignition.

I changed my quick connect terminals for an improved design, there are several very good options available for less than £12.00.

I use a good quality MPPT controller in my caravan, I fitted an isolator switch and when solar charging of the battery is not absolutely necessary I turn it off.
One could also fit a battery overcharge safety device as an extra precaution for unattended batteries.

I also note the broken antenna connector, could this have been the source of ignition?


two.jpg

one.jpg

three.jpg

four.jpg
 
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Warning: Long Post

Hi John,

Sorry that you have had this happen to you, it is unusual and like others I wonder what the cause was.

I have the same battery (2 in fact) Halfords HLB 681 115amp flooded wet cell - rebranded YUASA's.
There could have been a manufacturing defect but I think it less than likely in this case, Yuasa have a good reputation and I have confidence in this battery and would recommend it for various reasons.

You mentioned the Halfords stickers covering the electrolyte inspection ports, the first of my batteries had the same fault, the second did not, I am guessing in the rebranding that Halfords made a not inconsequential error. Only my curiosity led me to peeling back the sticker to reveal the inspection caps.

I do wonder why the battery did not vent off excess gases, there is one open vent port at the top of the positive terminal end side, what appears to be a vent port on the negative terminal end side of the battery is blanked off, I keep meaning to ask Halfords why this is?

Was the vent port obstructed on your battery?

Given that you (and I assume others) were not in the process of charging the battery or using it to top up another battery using jump leads or similar and that there were no tools present to effect a short across the battery terminals then some causes can be ruled out with regard to an ignition source.

A sudden and catastrophic failure could have occurred owing to the internal plates flexing and contacting with an ensuing internal short, from what I understand this is unlikely as that situation arises mostly "during the extreme current drain initiated whenever you crank the starter motor" for example.

Another possibility is incorrect charging, I am assuming two things here, one that the caravan was not on EHU and two, the solar panel(s) were connected to provide charge to the battery.

Extracts from other sources:

A battery charger itself can be the source of the ignition or the pressure build up of the hydrogen gas that can cause a battery case to rupture.

During charging, car batteries generate a highly explosive mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.

In such cases the battery life is affected and the active material from the plates start shedding creating an internal short. The internal short causes heat and explosion. In this case the internal short is not because of a manufacturing defect but due to incorrect charger selection.


I have looked at the pictures and there may be some indicators therein, I am not about to make any criticisms, everything I note is typically and widely found in most battery compartments.

The battery terminal posts are for the most part 'clean', reducing the likelihood of electrical arcing.

The quick connect type battery connectors I regard as suspect ( I had them in the past and I was not at all impressed with them). The cable connectors could be tidier, i.e. stray frayed and exposed strands (I know I am being picky-just looking for possible sources of ignition).

There is also the possibility of static electricity being the source of ignition. I guess we will never know on that one.

If I were to hazard a guess I would suspect the solar panel charge controller and the quick connect battery connectors and associated cabling.

If I remember correctly you have a PWM controller, I have one also and use it for specific purposes, PWM's are typically of cheap construction (not all are I acknowledge), I use my very cheap PWM in relatively controlled circumstances, I would not rely on it to be permanently connected and left unattended such as in a caravan in storage.

Further, many PWM's have settings for different battery types, typically few people are aware of this and few people make the appropriate settings adjustments, another scenario that sometimes occurs is when a PWM has been set to the parameter for a specific battery type and is not reconfigured when a new battery of a different type is installed.

A possible cause in your unfortunate circumstance is that your PWM controller failed causing excess charge to be delivered to the battery, causing swelling and sudden rupture of the battery casing resulting in explosive gases to be released, the sudden rupture of the battery may have caused sufficient movement at the battery connectors resulting in an arc that was the source of ignition.

I changed my quick connect terminals for an improved design, there are several very good options available for less than £12.00.

I use a good quality MPPT controller in my caravan, I fitted an isolator switch and when solar charging of the battery is not absolutely necessary I turn it off.
One could also fit a battery overcharge safety device as an extra precaution for unattended batteries.

I also note the broken antenna connector, could this have been the source of ignition?


View attachment 2449

View attachment 2450

View attachment 2451

View attachment 2452

Many thanks for taking the time to provide such a detailed response. There is a lot of logic there but the odd bit that I can’t work out how you came to that conclusion.

Just to reiterate, the battery was manufactured in 2015. Since 2016 it has constantly been on 120 watt solar panels controlled by what was sold to me as an mppt controller, and sellers are still selling the same unit as such. However. I do believe I was miss-sold and it is probably a PWM. It was a cheap one. But there are cases of sellers rebranding cheap ones and flogging them as better quality than is the reality.

Mine worked fine for 5 years. (Perhaps it still is). I was concerned that it held at a constant 14.4 volts but forum ‘experts’ assured me that was fine. I would like to use it intermittently as you suggest. But my storage is not local so it would defeat the object. Both panels can be isolated, and in retrospect I should have been turning the 100 watt off when in storage.

You mention ignition. At first I wondered why as there is no sign at all of any fire. But I suppose is could have been one of those poof types of explosions which puts itself out immediately. Or it could have been the build up of gas as you also suggest. The vent you mention are the opposite way round on mine. But the one was clear. The other had a red bung in. But that should have popped out under low pressure. Which makes me think this was very sudden.

Regarding ignition. The 12 volt system was isolated so any drain could only come from the alarm. The terminals and connectors handle the load from the mover easily without problem. The connections look worse than they are, this is due to the battery being too large and the wires have to be stuffed in each time. It will be a smaller battery next time.

The tv connector it just an F type converter. The tv amp was isolated.

The bit of your text I find confusing is this:

A possible cause in your unfortunate circumstance is that your PWM controller failed causing excess charge to be delivered to the battery, causing swelling and sudden rupture of the battery casing resulting in explosive gases to be released, the sudden rupture of the battery may have caused sufficient movement at the battery connectors resulting in an arc that was the source of ignition.

Which suggested the ignition was after the explosion. If that was the case there would be signs of fire.

But I concur that a faulty PWM controller might well be the culprit. As could an inherent fault in the battery. Explosions like this are, thankfully rare. A neighbour had it happen to him some years ago. He was servicing the 4 batteries on a fire engine. He had brought them up to charge then tried a discharge test. This may have given a spark, or an internal short. Either way. The battery exploded in front of him and he said it looked like mine. He got showered with acid so quickly striped and showered and he was OK.

I don’t know what the engineer does during the service which was 6 months ago. But he certainly has the battery out and gives it a good dose of looking at.

I will rebuild but get a new controller. Just in case.

Again, thanks for the thoughts and time given.

John
 
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I gave the battery insides a good flush out with a hose. Tested it again, 13. 4 volts. Who needs acid and distilled watter? 🥴

John
 
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Just been looking for a replacement controller. Loads around. But just looking at the known makes, Morningstar and Victron. Seem to be a much more sensible price than the once were.

But all suggestions welcome. I am told that MPPT is not necessarily better than PWM for small installations.

At the moment I fancy a Morningstar EchoPulse EC10



John
 

JTQ

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Was the vent port obstructed on your battery?

Was any "transit plug" removed by whoever installed the battery?
Given the tiny area of the plug it will be pretty reticent to pop out at pressure that would apply massive forces to the bigger areas of the casing.
Thus, spontaneous rupturing of the case is quite probable, though that would leave IMO a localised tear; the wholesale damage hints that a combustion-based explosion of the hydrogen and oxygen occurred, to blow everything else apart.

I use a good quality MPPT controller in my caravan, I fitted an isolator switch and when solar charging of the battery is not absolutely necessary I turn it off.
One could also fit a battery overcharge safety device as an extra precaution for unattended batteries.

Hopefully, you don't isolate the solar controller from the battery, but isolate the controller from the solar panel?
At least isolate the solar panel first before isolating the controller, as all the solar controllers I have experience of, are connected to battery first then solar array, and removed in the reverse order.

I have had excellent experience for 14 years out of our Morningstar PWM ( Duo ) unit and Kyocera panel, even achieving more Watts than the panel's published rating, that all these years into the kit's life.
Today I would go MPPT but only if also buying a panel matched to that technology to best exploit it.
 
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Was any "transit plug" removed by whoever installed the battery?
Given the tiny area of the plug it will be pretty reticent to pop out at pressure that would apply massive forces to the bigger areas of the casing.
Thus, spontaneous rupturing of the case is quite probable, though that would leave IMO a localised tear; the wholesale damage hints that a combustion-based explosion of the hydrogen and oxygen occurred, to blow everything else apart.



Hopefully, you don't isolate the solar controller from the battery, but isolate the controller from the solar panel?
At least isolate the solar panel first before isolating the controller, as all the solar controllers I have experience of, are connected to battery first then solar array, and removed in the reverse order.

I have had excellent experience for 14 years out of our Morningstar PWM ( Duo ) unit and Kyocera panel, even achieving more Watts than the panel's published rating, that all these years into the kit's life.
Today I would go MPPT but only if also buying a panel matched to that technology to best exploit it.

My isolator switch is between the battery and the controller.

I use portable solar panels and only connect them to the controller after the controller has been switched on.

I see where you are coming from in the valid point you make, if I had fixed\roof mounted panels I would fit an isolator between the panels and the controller for protection of the controller, and as a safety device for any maintenance activities.
 
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Just been looking for a replacement controller. Loads around. But just looking at the known makes, Morningstar and Victron. Seem to be a much more sensible price than the once were.

But all suggestions welcome. I am told that MPPT is not necessarily better than PWM for small installations.

At the moment I fancy a Morningstar EchoPulse EC10



John

John,

There are reasoned opinions as to the need or otherwise for MPPT for systems up to 150\200 watts of solar panels.

MPPT will optimise the output of the lower wattage systems.

May I suggest that good PWM's can be had from Epever and Victron for example, given the now reduced pricing difference of said products and some good quality MPPT controllers, I would suggest that an MPPT is money well spent in terms of solar productivity and reliablility of components.

Good MPPT's also have a wide range of parameter settings for battery types and other optmisation features, many are capable of charging lithium batteries.

For your 120 watt system a 10 amp controller will suffice.

The Epever AN Series is worth a look, this link is the first one I opened, I am pretty sure that shopping around would yield more attractive prices.

There are low cost accessories that can be added to further optimise outputs and for remote monitoring\parameter settings via phone app, all very easy to install and use.
 
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Many thanks for taking the time to provide such a detailed response. There is a lot of logic there but the odd bit that I can’t work out how you came to that conclusion.

Just to reiterate, the battery was manufactured in 2015. Since 2016 it has constantly been on 120 watt solar panels controlled by what was sold to me as an mppt controller, and sellers are still selling the same unit as such. However. I do believe I was miss-sold and it is probably a PWM. It was a cheap one. But there are cases of sellers rebranding cheap ones and flogging them as better quality than is the reality.

Mine worked fine for 5 years. (Perhaps it still is). I was concerned that it held at a constant 14.4 volts but forum ‘experts’ assured me that was fine. I would like to use it intermittently as you suggest. But my storage is not local so it would defeat the object. Both panels can be isolated, and in retrospect I should have been turning the 100 watt off when in storage.

You mention ignition. At first I wondered why as there is no sign at all of any fire. But I suppose is could have been one of those poof types of explosions which puts itself out immediately. Or it could have been the build up of gas as you also suggest. The vent you mention are the opposite way round on mine. But the one was clear. The other had a red bung in. But that should have popped out under low pressure. Which makes me think this was very sudden.

Regarding ignition. The 12 volt system was isolated so any drain could only come from the alarm. The terminals and connectors handle the load from the mover easily without problem. The connections look worse than they are, this is due to the battery being too large and the wires have to be stuffed in each time. It will be a smaller battery next time.

The tv connector it just an F type converter. The tv amp was isolated.

The bit of your text I find confusing is this:

A possible cause in your unfortunate circumstance is that your PWM controller failed causing excess charge to be delivered to the battery, causing swelling and sudden rupture of the battery casing resulting in explosive gases to be released, the sudden rupture of the battery may have caused sufficient movement at the battery connectors resulting in an arc that was the source of ignition.

Which suggested the ignition was after the explosion. If that was the case there would be signs of fire.

But I concur that a faulty PWM controller might well be the culprit. As could an inherent fault in the battery. Explosions like this are, thankfully rare. A neighbour had it happen to him some years ago. He was servicing the 4 batteries on a fire engine. He had brought them up to charge then tried a discharge test. This may have given a spark, or an internal short. Either way. The battery exploded in front of him and he said it looked like mine. He got showered with acid so quickly striped and showered and he was OK.

I don’t know what the engineer does during the service which was 6 months ago. But he certainly has the battery out and gives it a good dose of looking at.

I will rebuild but get a new controller. Just in case.

Again, thanks for the thoughts and time given.

John


John,

And I concur with your thoughts on this, I was just kicking around the possible causes, I did not reach any conclusions, only some possibilities.

I also forgot to mention the important point of testing your PWM to establish whether or not it has a fault.

Whatever, I hope you never have a repeat of such an event.
John (another one :))
 
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John,

There are reasoned opinions as to the need or otherwise for MPPT for systems up to 150\200 watts of solar panels.

MPPT will optimise the output of the lower wattage systems.

May I suggest that good PWM's can be had from Epever and Victron for example, given the now reduced pricing difference of said products and some good quality MPPT controllers, I would suggest that an MPPT is money well spent in terms of solar productivity and reliablility of components.

Good MPPT's also have a wide range of parameter settings for battery types and other optmisation features, many are capable of charging lithium batteries.

For your 120 watt system a 10 amp controller will suffice.

The Epever AN Series is worth a look, this link is the first one I opened, I am pretty sure that shopping around would yield more attractive prices.

There are low cost accessories that can be added to further optimise outputs and for remote monitoring\parameter settings via phone app, all very easy to install and use.

As you say, there are opinions on which technology of controller to use. I know that the MPPT are more controllable but I have also heard that they come into their own with higher voltage inputs. So a number of panels in series. One I read does not operate below 30 volts. I have also been told that the PWM controllers are better suited to smaller systems. But this is all just trying to make sense of others opinions. Truma seem to favour the PWM up to 150 watts.

John,

And I concur with your thoughts on this, I was just kicking around the possible causes, I did not reach any conclusions, only some possibilities.

I also forgot to mention the important point of testing your PWM to establish whether or not it has a fault.

Whatever, I hope you never have a repeat of such an event.
John (another one :))

I realised you were kicking around possibilities and thank you for that.

I will not bother testing the old controller. I will just bin it. I know it might be OK but I want a more sophisticated one that is reliable. My son has a smart PV-Logic in his campervan MPPT I think, and can look at the state of both batteries via Bluetooth, I don’t need the smart bit as there is only one battery, and the Sargent caravan system already has a monitor.

I am just glad we were not in the van when it happened.

John
 
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