Went to work on the car today. I'm gonna try a couple of things at the track tonight. Threw the battery charger on while I worked on it. I was still set on "quick charge" from the track last time out. I had to run to the parts store, so when I came back I was at the work bench and heard a loud pop. That was followed by a loud hissing noise. I couldn't tell where it was coming from. Then all the sudden I saw water pouring out of some holes in the trunk floor. I quickly open up the trunk and one of my Ultima batteries was gushing like a volcano.

After the clean up it looks like one of the plugs in the top burst. The other battery was hot but appears to be OK. I stuck my spare in there for tonight hoping everything will be OK.

I need to be more careful when I charge them. Has this happened to anyone else? And what's a safe amount of time and at what amperage for charging at the track?
DC

Very dangerous, hydrogen gas, if you would have tried to unhook the battery charger ends in the trunk with the contained gas.....

You avoided a very bad accident...

Dang, i have never heard of that.

glad your OK

i did it too..
i smelled somthing terrible and as i got closer realised i had turned the dial on the charger to the hold...
it fried the batt...the case was swelled..
really hate it ....cause that sucker was one of the last of the good ones...i couldnt kill it before this...
the 2 new ones since ...bite it hard....fwiw.
cheapst

I had that happen while I was driving once. Had a lot of alternator issues in that car, smoking diodes and whatnot. Trunk mounted battery, heard the pop and the hissing noise. Pulled over and saw the outgassing and the case was really hot. Got it replaced on warranty, I think their diagnosis was that the battery internally shorted.

At the track between rounds and at home, I always have the automatic battery charger set at 10 amps. When the green light starts coming on indicating a full charge, I disconnect it. I run a 50 amp alternator but try to keep the battery topped off between rounds, mainly because the fan and water pump are running to cool when the engine is off.

It appears that a manual battery charger can cook a battery if left on too long. I never intentionally set a charger higher than 10, although a few times the switch got knocked over to 50 for a short time. I've also been reading that trickle chargers may not be good for some batteries, but I'll have to do some research and refresh my memory.

I bought a charger specifically for AGM batteries. Cycles the charge duty and doesn't go over 14.7 volts which in the literature appears to be the target threshold for those batteries.

I bought one of the "SMART" chargers and even if you set it at 20 amps it will automatically lower the amperage as necessary

After running a "Dry Cell" battery I will never run a wet cell again....the "Odyssey" batteries are all I will ever buy from now on, even replacements for our daily drivers

Rickster

I took it back this morning and they gave me a new one. Apparently you have to take it back to the same chain you bought it from. I went to DAP's here in Plant City and they were able to pull up the sale in Tampa from 3 years ago. Here's the new one. I hope it lasts so long as I don't over charge it.
DC