batteries

Status
Not open for further replies.
cschmid

cschmid

Senior Member
Location
Northern cold country
what would happen if you droped a metal wing nut into a cell on a 12 volt battery? How long would the reaction take? lets say the battery is 5 yrs old. would it explode if you left it on the charger? :D
 
cschmid said:
what would happen if you droped a metal wing nut into a cell on a 12 volt battery? How long would the reaction take? lets say the battery is 5 yrs old. would it explode if you left it on the charger? :D
Click to expand...

I have no idea but did you lose something? :D
 
cschmid said:
what would happen if you droped a metal wing nut into a cell on a 12 volt battery? How long would the reaction take? lets say the battery is 5 yrs old. would it explode if you left it on the charger? :D
Click to expand...

I assume you mean across the terminals. The current would be about 20 times the published 3-hr discharge rate, and of course would decay as the cell discharges.
 
I dont know how dangerous it would be to try, but I wonder if you could just use one of those magnetic pick up tool like mechanics use (the kind on the end of an expandable rod) and reach down and pull it out? or possibly use a small magnet on a string... like I said, it may be dangerous as heck, so anyone who knows more about this chime in please....:D
 
ultramegabob said:
I dont know how dangerous it would be to try, but I wonder if you could just use one of those magnetic pick up tool like mechanics use (the kind on the end of an expandable rod) and reach down and pull it out? or possibly use a small magnet on a string... like I said, it may be dangerous as heck, so anyone who knows more about this chime in please....:D
Click to expand...

The luck of the draw would be the nut is brass. 8]
 
Depends on what the nut is made of,

Copper/brass the negatives would turn red, but does not affect useful performance.
Stainless steel no affect.
Steel would rust but most likely no effect.

Assuming it does not land in a manner to short the positive plate it hit to the negative plate, then there would be heating and shortening of the cell.

Sealed lead acid batteries with a 10 year life span will last 3-5 years in typical UPS application.

Flooded lead acid batteries with a 20 year life span in UPS applications will last 7-13 years.

In telco applications these batteries last longer due to better rectifiers, lower current discharges over longer time frames (batteries are not hit as hard) and different plate designs.
 
OK I guess I should tell you what happened.

I was servicing my boat batteries I had the wing nuts setting on top of the batteries and the caps all off. I was filling the water level up and when I was done filling, I began screwing the caps back on and knocked one of the wing nuts into a cell.

I tried to fish it out with a piece of wire but was unsuccessful. soon I was unable to find the wing nut. I even dumped the acid out of the cells shook the battery with no success.

I let it set out of the set for a week and added it back in and charged it. I do not want to buy new batteries right now as they all check out really good and figure I should get another year out of them easily.

Man what a bummer. :D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top