Most rooms and buildings are leaky enough that the hydrogen will find a way out 
through the ceiling and roof.  It goes straight up.  And it has to be a 4% or 
richer mixture to actually explode.  I have never heard of an explosion due to 
battery outgassing.  I am sure it has happened but I started maintaining huge 
CO flooded cells back in 1979 and have never heard of it happening.  The most 
likely scenario which does actually happen from time to time is a shorted cell. 
 So now your float voltage needs to be approx 2 volts lower to charge this new 
lower voltage battery.  That causes over charging, heating, loss of water etc.  
That is why I like my chargers, they have a built in battery test feature where 
they disconnect themselves for a fixed amount of time and graph the voltage.  A 
bad cell shows up almost instantly.  



From: dmmoff...@gmail.com 
Sent: Wednesday, June 7, 2023 1:45 PM
To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' 
Subject: [AFMUG] Battery gassing

You know what led me down this path about overcharging?  

 

According to the maintenance manual for the Enersys SBS 190F, they produce 
7.23ml of hydrogen per hour while float charging.  Being VRLA they’re supposed 
to reabsorb that hydrogen under normal circumstances.  Even if the valves were 
faulty and all 7.23ml was leaking out, it would literally take 2 years inside 
of an airtight closet for that to build up to where it could ignite, and a 
couple to decades in the airtight closet to get enough concentration for an 
explosion.  So hydrogen build up is not a realistic concern with float 
charging, especially with sealed batteries.

 

But supposing I misconfigured the voltage so I’m constantly overcharging.  How 
much hydrogen could I produce?  I did find a claim somewhere that x Ah of 
overcharge equals y liters of hydrogen.  Which led me down this path of “how 
much amperage am I really charging with?”, and I think it’s safe to conclude 
the amperage is going to be quite low.  Is there any guess I can make for the 
worst case scenario? Suppose I’ve configured that 48 hour 58.5V charge and it’s 
100 degrees F in the room.  That’ll be bad, but is it “oops I’ve ruined my 
batteries”, or “oops I blew up your building”? 

 



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