Random battery explosion

sdanseo

So there i was ten minutes ago browsing boards, and i hear this pop behind me. I lok around, and all that's on except the TV is the air-band scanner i had lined-out into the laptop to stream (legal, don't worry ). I put my ear to it an hear a sizzling sound and think oh, its just static - turned it off, sounds still there.

So when i take it downstairs, put it out the back (didn't know what i was gonna find in there, what with the sizzling), and open it to find brown liquidy stuff in the battery compatrment...could have been mud, but there isn't much of that on the patio;)

random eh? anyone know what might make a battery explode?

MrJoeSoap

Weird indeed! What type of battery is it?

Rb

You really shouldn't go near battery acid.

sdanseo

rb_ie wrote:

You really shouldn't go near battery acid.

Im not thick - I Put on a rubber glove first - and I wasn't chucking the scanner.

There was 2 duracell 2 energiser i think - energiser exploded. It had been in something else beforehand tho, was probably old.

MrJoeSoap

Just your standard AA yeah? Thats mad.

jimi_t

AFAIK thats not going to be acid, rather magnesium sulphate paste or something along those lines... I think they're known as Dry Cell batteries.

Why they exploded, god only knows Maybe humidity, or were they near a radiator?

humanji

Funny how you never see the rabits in the ad explode, only slow down and collapse. Lack of realism!

Huggles

Thata happened to me before, the cordless phone I was using required rechargeable batterys and I put in standard ones. The phone basically cooked th estandard batterys till they blew,was quite amusing

I know I know, major blonde moment!

il gatto

Random? I find that unlikely. More probable you're being targeted by members of a terrorist cell, funded by a Japanese electronics giant. Or disaffected electronic engineering students who you've crossed in recent weeks, possibly unbeknowns to you. You may have outbid them for that scanner on ebay, or taken the last Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle off the shelf in Spar, just as they reached out their grubby, malnurished, studenty hand.

MarkR

Duracell obviously figured out you had against their advisory used their battery with a competitors brand.

Actually, did they have the same power rating?

Tobias Greeshman

Yeah the same happened to me years ago. The batteries paste leaks in some form and the power from the battery continues to melt the paste, which results in the brown paste you end up with. As a general rule though you should never mix battery makes, in future just stick with duracell.

sdanseo

silas wrote:

Yeah the same happened to me years ago. The batteries paste leaks in some form and the power from the battery continues to melt the paste, which results in the brown paste you end up with. As a general rule though you should never mix battery makes, in future just stick with duracell.

I try but you know how it is, easier to mix than go out buying new packs. As it happens i got some there, and they didn't have Duracell, had to get energiser

MarkR wrote:

Actually, did they have the same power rating?

Yep, were all 1.5v AA Alkaline.

The Real B-man

Dont mix Batterys!

DublinWriter

sdonn_1 wrote:

random eh? anyone know what might make a battery explode?

Number one culprit would be putting non-rechargeable batteries in a device made only to take rechargables.

Any scanner I've ever owned has always been strictly rechargables only, with a big foot long warning in the manual in 72pt bold that you shouldn't use regular batteries as, and I quote, "they might explode".

MarkR

sdonn_1 wrote:

Yep, were all 1.5v AA Alkaline.

I meant how you can have 2100 ma ones, 1800ma ones etc. Anyway, I won't mix my batteries again!

Black Swan

If pugged in, a brown out followed by a power spike? Or attempting to recharge non-rechargeable batteries? Or mixing old and new batteries? Or using expired batteries? Or allowing too much moisture around your batteries?