Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 07:41:06 -0800
Reply-To: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Batteries don't die, they get murdered
In-Reply-To: <c34.d50f3af.330446f7@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
This sounds like something for the Mythbusters! I'll cc them, who knows?
"Can you blow up your camper by overcharging your battery?" Grant likes
to play with electricity, and everyone loves things that explode!
Anyway, a lead-acid battery generates hydrogen and oxygen when being
charged rapidly enough to cause bubbling. Neither of these two gases
could be considered toxic.*
H could smother a fellow if he walked into a room full of the stuff, but
the eentsy amount wisping out from an underseat battery compartment will
drift right up to the ceiling because it's lighter than air by a
considerable margin then spill up into the skylight. I suppose that if
the ceiling area was "hydrogen tight" and you were boost-charging your
batteries for an extended period of time you could make a right good
flash of flame if you ignited that pool of H, but I'm not convinced that
the roof area is "hydrogen tight" enough to allow much to accumulate.
Old-school submarines with their huge banks of batteries were rightly
concerned about explosion risk, but I bet the amount of H created from
24 hours of bubbling your 100Ah deep-cycle battery wouldn't create
enough of an pop to lift the lid off a lunch box unless you got it to
mix with O2 sufficiently well and in the right proportions. The
Hindenberg didn't explode, it burned.
I hear that if a battery is allowed to go so dry that the level of
electrolyte drops far enough to form a space inside the battery where
hydrogen and oxygen can build up it might ignite if there is a internal
spark when the battery is connected. This may be anecdotal. And anyway,
venting the compartment wouldn't help in this situation.
*Lead acid batteries also form a slight sulfuric acid mist during
excessive overcharging, which is what corrodes their connectors. Inspect
and clean periodically with baking soda paste.
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR
Frank Condelli typed:
> In a message dated 13/02/2007 2:01:58 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
>
> The 7 passenger models (my '84 for instance) doesn't have the battery
> box vent that the Westy has on the passenger side. Maybe it's because
> they didn't expect people to live in those.
>
> BTW, I'm thinking about putting a piece of screen over that hole in my
> Westy. I haven't had a problem so far, but that would be a great
> ingress for rodents without screening.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Only the Westy model Vanagons have a sealed and vented battery box under the
> passengers seat. A rodent or other vermin getting in there should be stuck
> with the battery if you keep that battery box lid closed up so that the
> venting system actually works. There is the rub, how many of you keep that lid
> sealed up ? I certainly do not as I need to get in there far too often for one
> reason or another so I just keep the rear most screws in place. So many
> vans come in here with no screws in place and that lid just lying there. So,
> with all this out gassing you folks are so worried about we should have seen
> many dead Vanagon owners or passengers by now. NOT ! I don't think out
> gassing on modern sealed batteries is any threat to us. I have not ever had any
> problem related to out gassing of the batteries in my Westy in the 13 years
> and 500,000 km I've traveled in it ! Furthermore, what about all the CARAT
> and Wolfsburg weekenders that people are using as campers, they certainly do
> not have sealed battery boxes ?!?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Frank Condelli
> Almonte, Ontario, Canada
> '87 Westy, '90 Carat, '87 Wolfsburg (Forsale) & Lionel Trains (_Collection
> for sale_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
> Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
> _Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
> _Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_
> (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
> _BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm) a VW Camper
> camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10, 2007
>
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