Lead acid battery inside truck?

[dwh]

Talk about jumping on a bandwagon.


For the record:

The OP asked about putting a vented battery in the bed of his truck.

SOMEONE ELSE told him to vent it.

Then SOMEONE ELSE came along and spewed a bunch of techo-babble which basically had jack ******** to do with the OP's question.


NONE OF WHICH INVOLVED ME AT ALL. I had looked at the thread, the OP's question had been answered. Nothing to see here move along.

EXCEPT - the techno-babble guy had said that sleeping in there with the battery is not a problem if it's not being charged. So I MENTIONED that there is a safety issue even when the battery is not being charged, and provided a link to a thread where battery venting had already been discussed. Short, concise and to the point.


That IS what happened. Don't believe me? Go back and read the first page.



EVERYTHING ELSE came about from techno-babble guy spouting off wrong, and possibly dangerous information.


So stop acting like I'm some sort of "safety nazi". I'm not. Rayra made that up. It was easy, all he had to do was either not read, or ignore what I actually said.

 

[Desert Dan]

VW Bugs had batteries under the back seat for many years. Not ideal but I never heard problems with that ... just keep the positive terminal cover on to avoid shorting with the seat springs.? Often the battery acid would rust out the pan creating ventilation.

 

[dwh]

VW Bugs had batteries under the back seat for many years. Not ideal but I never heard problems with that ... just keep the positive terminal cover on to avoid shorting with the seat springs.? Often the battery acid would rust out the pan creating ventilation.

Yea, bugs burned for a different reason - the factory didn't use hose clamps on the fuel lines. German engineering at its finest.

But hey, they got away with it for a good long time. Maybe the rest of use can dispense with clamps on fuel lines like the all-knowing all-seeing automotive engineers.

Makes me wanna go and buy a "vintage" Pinto.

 

[Buliwyf]

Its also interesting that cars without the battery inside also don't exactly hide it away from consumer access. Open nearly any hood and its staring you right in the face. If it were so prone to explosion then you would think they would be hidden away better in case of a random spark from the hood latch, trapped gases up against the hood, etc.

You would think. But they don't. It's your face, hold it over a car battery while the engine is cranking for all I care.

It's building code that the enormous cranking batteries on life safety power generators are located in a way that they don't shower the person starting the machine when they explode. Usually on the side of the engine opposite the run switch, is acceptable.

Does anyone follow it? Nope, many batteries are mounted right under the operators nose.
Do fire marshals know jack about it? No.
Do I have to hose someones face off with eye wash because they haven't been checking the fluid levels. Yup.

It's not rare at all. Battery explosions are only rare to the average consumer. But they happen often. Low fluid level and a spark inside the battery. That's all it takes. Keep your fluid levels up. Never trust a sealed battery that doesn't allow fluid level checks.

And a racing series can often have much stricter rules about battery mounting and insulation. You'll find your heavy duty + terminal covers there.

Once again I must mention.
THE EXPLOSION RISK IS NOT FROM HYDROGEN GAS BEING VENTED FROM THE BATTERY, IT'S H GAS INSIDE THE BATTERY. In immediate exposure to an ignition source, no less. Gun powder merely burns if you pour it on the ground and light it. Cap it up in a pipe and see what happens. Same for batteries.

 

[highdesertranger]

all I can say is, wow it's been an interesting read. highdesertranger

 

[redneck44]

Just to clarify.
My earlier post was intended for the OP, not the follow up posts.

 

[dwh]

The likelihood of your scenario of generation, venting, accumulation and undisturbed accretion and THEN an ignition source is vanishingly small, so small as to be nigh impossible and certainly improbable. It's a waste of time to even give it further attention.

AND...

I'll tell you the same thing I told techo-babble guy (since I know you didn't read it the first time I said it): Go tell it to the battery manufacturer who posted the venting calculation formula. Or go tell it to the OTHER battery manufacturer who went to the trouble to build an online battery venting calculator.




Or...

Go tell it to American Power Conversion, who says:

"Air Changes

Vented (flooded) – ASHRAE-7 and NFPA-1118 recommend a minimum of two air changes per hour to remove gases generated by vented batteries during charging or caused by equipment malfunction."

http://www.apcdistributors.com/whit...ata Centers and Network rooms Ventilation.pdf

Or...

Go tell it to HomePower magazine, who says:

"Article 480.9 of the National Electrical Code (NEC) states that provisions for ventilation must be made to prevent the accumulation of explosive gases, but the NEC doesn’t go into the specifics. Under the NEC, sealed battery technologies don’t require venting. American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) guideline 10.7.9 recommends a sealed, vented enclosure no matter what the battery type. Some local electrical codes even require power venting of the battery enclosure."

http://www.homepower.com/articles/s...ion/ask-experts-battery-venting-small-systems

Or...

Go tell it to OSHA, who says:

"1926.441(a)(2)

Ventilation shall be provided to ensure diffusion of the gases from the battery and to prevent the accumulation of an explosive mixture."

https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=standards&p_id=10742



Or...

Launch a personal attack on me for what someone else (everyone else) says.

(Personally, after having slept on it, I think you were probably just looking for an excuse to attack me, and you found something you could blow out of proportion to give you the justification you needed to "put me in my place". So here, I've given you plenty more ammo. Let's see how far you can stretch it.

'Lay on, Macduff,. And damned be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”')

 

[762X39]

http://www.homepower.com/articles/s...ion/ask-experts-battery-venting-small-systems


'Lay on, Macduff,. And damned be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”')

Thank you DWH for the link to HomePowers recommendation regarding venting a battery box and what size vent pipe to use. I want to mount a battery box in the sleeping area of my next truck (coming this fall I hope) and this gives me the info to let me do it properly.

 

[chet6.7]

A fishing forum I belong to has enough posts about battery explosions to cause me to be cautious.I couldn't find the picture of the trailer mentioned in the post below,it was impressive.

"today my deep cycle battery exploded in the middle of the private lake I fish. It was by far the scariest moment of my life. It was the most massive explosion I have personally ever heard (probably the equivalent of launching and exploding a firework directly into your ear loud). I couldn't hear for about a minute and my ears are still slightly ringing, and I was seeing white for a good 5 seconds. I only got acid on my arms and legs in small amounts and suffered minor to none in terms of burns Thank God I wasn't facing backwards over it when it happened otherwise I would probably have suffered severe eye injuries."

"Take for instance this innocent 12V battery turned incendiary device......I had just put it back on the trailer (from next to the house!) no more than 2 hours before coming back from dinner to 10ft flames coming out of the trailer bed"

 

[Bravo1782]

So, just to be clear, a standard flooded deep cycle SHOULD be vented if stored in a camper\topper truck bed, but an AGM deep cycle should be ok? Do I have this correct?

 

[dwh]

So, just to be clear, a standard flooded deep cycle SHOULD be vented if stored in a camper\topper truck bed, but an AGM deep cycle should be ok? Do I have this correct?

Technically, an open cell should be vented to the outside because it will release hydrogen and oxygen (rocket fuel) when being charged, and a sealed battery should be vented to the outside because it might[/].

That's basic safety reccomendations.

Many choose to ignore the recommendations. If you choose to do so that's up to you.

There is no way, in public, on record, that I'm going to advise you to do that.

 

[Bravo1782]

Ultimately I want to set up a Ctek 20A Offroad kit back there, so yes, charging.

Why oh why won't someone come up with a clever dual battery tray for the F-150?

 

[Buliwyf]

Keep in mind, the ignition source IS the battery.

-Overcharge, or poor batter maintenance
-fluid level drops below the top of the lead plates
-air becomes hydrogen
-plates exposed to air, not submerged in fluid, spark

El Boom. I mopped up another one last week. A regular G31 can splatter acid on every single component inside a Suburban sized generator enclosure.

Caterpillar and Interstate make up the vast majority of exploded batteries in my area. If it's in the cabin of an SUV and around my kids, I'll spend the extra and get an Optima or AGM.

 

[dwh]

If it's in the cabin of an SUV and around my kids, I'll spend the extra and get an Optima or AGM.

Um...Optima is AGM.

 

[rayra]

seeing this topic exhumed, I now see why dwh excreted so vigorously on my rear electrical project in the 12v subforum. Him and his doppelganger, herr verkstaad. I'd forgotten all about this topic / his pedantic nonsense.

Go see for yourselves - http://forum.expeditionportal.com/t...ucture-seeking-inputs-on-my-inputs-and-ouputs


Got the project done, everything working fine.