battery short

System

Hi,anyone know how much damage is done to battery cells when theres a short between the poles? stupidly dropped a tool on my battery luckily only for a second,is there a reliable method to test it? battery is new,thanks in advance.

icarus

Re: battery short

Probably little damage, depending on the size of the battery and how long the too was really on the posts. Did it weld itself and you had to bang it off, or did it just hang there a bit and then fall?

The more dangerous thing that I have had happen is have the battery explode under similar circumstances.

Good luck,

Icarus

niel

Re: battery short

there may be slight damage to the plates as they could warp slightly. this may or may not shorten your battery life as it's hard to say, but please be careful and take some steps to prevent any future accidents.

mike95490

Re: battery short

tony wrote: »

Hi,anyone know how much damage is done to battery cells when theres a short between the poles? stupidly dropped a tool on my battery luckily only for a second,is there a reliable method to test it? battery is new,thanks in advance.

Usually, most damage happens to the terminals and the "object". Big notches vaporized off all parts that shorted. You were lucky to not have the tool arc weld itself to the battery.
Very Lucky.

System2

Re: battery short

wow thanks 2 all 4 quick response,a little lead was shaved off the terminal but voltage reads fine.

arcandspark

Re: battery short

Tony, You are very, very luck. I worked for a telecom company and helped to install may battery systems. They were usually 48 volt and each battery was 2 volts, the size of a 55 gallon drum, usually clear plexiglass. Any time you are even thinking about doing work on batteries, your first item is to prepare a safe work area. Always, always cover any exposed terminals, buss bars, cabling, ect. Use masonite, and or heavy moving blankets. This way if anything gets dropped, and it usually does, it will not be able to make contact and short out. I had seen once, a technician dropped a crow bar and it fell across copper buss bars at a telephone central office. Within a couple seconds the crow bar was glowing bright orange. It blow the 1200 amp main fuses and shut the phone switch down. Luckly we always worked on central office DC systems after midnite. The lead person used a sladge hammer to beat the welded crow bar off the bus bars. It left a half inch deep by one inch wide vaporized groove in the buss bars. I have seen other people get zapped bad by 24 volt batteries because they were sweaty and were not wearing glooves. Again, you were very lucky, Your battery is more then likely OK since nothing was welded to the terminals. A short circuit for one second or so, and small amount of vaporized terminal damage is again a very luck thing, a lesson learned the hard way. Please use extreme caution with working on the DC power systems. Many people do not properly fuse there battery systems and fires are usually the out come. I always mount my fuses within 18 inches from the battery terminals. (arcandspark)

icarus

Re: battery short

Wanna see really cool lightning? Try dropping a 2 foot chunk of light weight steel framing studs across the open busses of a 3 phase 277 panel! Wow! what a light show!

Icarus

mike95490

Re: battery short

icarus wrote: »

Wanna see really cool lightning? Try dropping a 2 foot chunk of light weight steel framing studs across the open busses of a 3 phase 277 panel! Wow! what a light show!
Icarus

I don't have 3 phase, can we all come over and watch you do it again ?

icarus

Re: battery short

It makes it more interesting if you bring your aluminum step ladder, and while your at it wet the concrete with a bit of salt water! Come on over!

Icarus

PS. It really did happen,,, Not one of my smartest moves. The other stupid one I saw was the painter who put newspaper in all the recessed can lights in the mall store we were working on and turned the breakers off. Next day we came in, flipped the breakers to get lights, and within a few minutes flaming balls of paper were landing all over the store! Next came the sprinkler heads starting to pop waiting for the surge pump to kick in. Found the control room key before we flooded the entire mall sector!

Brock

Re: battery short

lockout tagout

icarus

Re: battery short

Yea, but it helps to keep the cover on the panel as well!
Icarus