I was watching an episode in the new series of The Garage on Discovery last
night about the 'English Mobile Mechanics' (it's actually run by a Scot but
he is so useless he probably decided to insult us instead) in Spain. They
had a BMW with a flat battery so connected a boost charger direct to the
battery in the boot
(even though my son's BMW has jump-lead connections in the engine
compartment).
These boost chargers put a very high voltage to the battery and hence a high
current, a lot of boiling and gassing. They got it started
and the boss told one of the mechanics to disconnect the charger, which he
did - by disconnecting one of the battery clips without turning off the
charger first. Big spark from breaking the high current, ignited the gases
around and inside the battery, and the battery exploded. The mechanic was
*very* lucky in that he only got acid up his arm and not in his eyes, nor
any injuries from plastic 'shrapnel'.
Whilst I suspect that most of us have smaller chargers that would result in
less gassing and a smaller spark, I wouldn't want to be the one to find out
just how small a spark and an amount of gas would cause an explosion. This
is also whilst the last connection to be made when using jump-leads should
be made *remote* from the battery.
PaulH.
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