Wednesday, Jan 22, 2014 at 23:54
First and most important, it must be understood that There is no such thing as a totally sealed battery in the lead acid family that does not require ventilation...NONE.
If you want to argue this one, I can quote chapter and verse from documentation of just about every manufacturer....including Optima.
Lots of the manufacturers will make various claims of being totally sealed or operating in any position in their advertising material....Then you get into their application notes or the material safety and data sheets and you find the real truth.
There are one or two battery sellers that are nothing short of wreckless about their claims and recommendations about batteries, how sealed they are and where they can be safely housed.
ALL and I do mean ALL lead acid batteries WILL vent explosive gasses and corrosive fumes or mists under certain circumstances......top of the list of causes are over charging and high temperatures.
The originators of the GELL technology "Sonnenschein" ( now owned by Exide)warn very strongly on their web site about ventilating batteries..all batteries.
There is also the very real issue that batteries fail..and sometimes catastrophicly....releasing explosive fumes and corrosive material.
As for the arguments about certain vehicles that had batteries under the seats.....Landrover batteries may have been accessed under the
seat but the battery was in fact under the vehicle not inside the pasenger compartment or enclosed.
This is typical of many vehicles.
VW beetles had the battery under the rear
seat....the single most popular rust repair section for the beetle is the rear floor pan under the rear
seat...um..where the battery is.
It was also not uncommon for people to jump or dump the bottoms heavily on the rear
seat of beetles and the
seat springs short on the battery terminals...causing as a minimum excitement at worst fire.
Oh yes there have been a number of vehicles with batteries inside the boot...but in the past many vehicles had the petrol tank in the boot seperated only by the rear
seat from the passenger compartment.....very much not common practice these days.
I do realise that in many vehicles the alternatives are hard or impossible.
If you must fit a battery inside the vehicle, first ask yourself..." Am I feeling lucky"
Then be very sure that the battery you select represents the minimum risk.
Always mount batteries upright.
Make sure that it is very solidly restrained...serioulsy this is more often than not underestimated.
make sure you provide as much ventilation as you possibly can
make sure your charging system remains in good repair at all times and the voltage regulation is appropriate for the battery.
AND.
you
check on the battery regularly, to ensure that it is in good condition.
I would also sugest that you replace that battery early instead of waiting for it to fail.
Serioulsy think about this.
I know this is information a great many do not want to here......but these are the facts.
cheers
AnswerID:
524972
Follow Up By: Member - Tony (ACT) - Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 at 05:50
Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 at 05:50
Ok you have given the problem but what's the solution?
FollowupID:
806811
Follow Up By: Member - Fab72 (Paradise SA) - Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 at 06:51
Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 at 06:51
Thanks Bantam,
That's very comprehensive. I too am weary of any lead acid battery claiming to be totally sealed. I believe the "sealed" reference refers to it's ability to withstand fluid leaks under normal operating conditions and its "maintenance free" status.
Having looked a quite a few of these types of batteries from several suppliers, none are prepared to put their hand on their heart and guarantee no gases will be vented. It's all in the marketing wording.
Is there any other way?
Fab.
FollowupID:
806816
Follow Up By: Member - Rosco from way back - Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 at 09:06
Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 at 09:06
"As for the arguments about certain vehicles that had batteries under the seats.....Landrover batteries may have been accessed under the
seat but the battery was in fact under the vehicle not inside the pasenger compartment or enclosed."
Not quite the case old mate. To access the battery you lift the
seat cushion out of the way and remove a cover plate. The battery is totally inaccessible from outside the vehicle. Still the same system today.
FollowupID:
806822
Follow Up By: Lyn W3 - Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 at 09:59
Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 at 09:59
Yep......and the cover was missing more times than it was there.
FollowupID:
806824
Follow Up By: The Bantam - Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 at 23:25
Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 at 23:25
Firstly on the landrover issue.
I did not state that the battery was accessable from under the vehicle.
As installed the battery was not IN the pasenger compratment and will in fact be vented and drained under the vehicle.
Apart from the fact that car manufacturers can not be held up as examples of safety and engineering excelence.....particularly in the electrical department.....lots of vehicles are prone to burning and every single vehicle manufacturer..every damn one of them..has had some sort of recall on a life threatening issue.....several of them have a string of class action law suits on safety issues.
The fact that any car manufacturer mounts a battery inside the car and there are several....is no indication that it is a clever thing to do.
On the matter of "sealed".
What ALL "sealed lead acid batteries" have in common is "VENT / VALVES", that are speciofically designed to allow excess gass pressure to escape in over pressure situations....there are no exceptions, they all have them....every single one.
There presence shows without a doubt that every sealed lead acid battery WILL vent explosive gasses and corrosive material under certain circumstances.
Tey should more correctly be called "non-spillable batteries"...if you read the optima MSDS, you will see that phrase used.
As for TONY (act).
I have not given the problem, it exist regardless of my saying anything, the general ignorance of the matter or anybodies opinion.
AND I have given the solution.
read my post.
There is NO WAY of removing this risk appart from mounting outside the cabin or sealing the battery from the pasenger compartment and providing adequate ventilation to outside air.
cheers
FollowupID:
806889