battery service

[wild bill]

The battery in my BX2360 is dead. I would like to check the electrolyte level and recharge it before buying a new battery. My operators manual has a section on checking the level. However, the fill ports are flush with the top of the battery. Can flush top caps be removed, if so how?

 

[Roadworthy]

Reading the white label on the first line it says maintenance free. That means they do not expect you to remove caps and service the electrolyte. If you manage to break the caps out you will be unable to easily replace them. Charge the battery and have it load tested. That's about all you can do.

 

[Edke6bnl]

Reading the white label on the first line it says maintenance free. That means they do not expect you to remove caps and service the electrolyte. If you manage to break the caps out you will be unable to easily replace them. Charge the battery and have it load tested. That's about all you can do.

I have tried it all, probably 1 out of20 get new don't be me

 

[lugbolt]

MF batteries have different construction in that under designed usage they don't require water to be checked and/or added.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Time to bite the bullet and buy a new battery.

And maybe keep long metal objects away from the two terminals.....

 

[wild bill]

Thanks everyone. The operators manual had me confused, it was written for both this maintenance free battery and batteries with removable caps. I will be picking up a replacement battery this AM, hopefully it will last 12 years like the OEM.

 

[Motion]

Thanks everyone. The operators manual had me confused, it was written for both this maintenance free battery and batteries with removable caps. I will be picking up a replacement battery this AM, hopefully it will last 12 years like the OEM.

12 years wow! Consider yourself blessed.

 

[Yooper]

And maybe keep long metal objects away from the two terminals.....
[/QUOTE]

Picture made me flinch. Saw 3 batteries blow up in my lifetime and that tends to stay in the brain

 

[Boatman]

12 years wow! Consider yourself blessed.

16 years on my L2800.

 

[DeepWoods]

Had a battery in my skid steer last 19 years, best ever. Also have had batteries that didn’t make it a full year. Just luck of the draw in my book, but at 12 years your battery didn’t owe you anything.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Picture made me flinch. Saw 3 batteries blow up in my lifetime and that tends to stay in the brain

I had one go in my car when I was a wee squirt. Not fun.

 

[lugbolt]

I had one go in my car when I was a wee squirt. Not fun.

i used to work for a bad boy dealer, they sold the MTV utility vehicle, which was available with either a 400cc TGB gas engine, or they had a 48v electric version. The EV had eight, 6 volt batteries. 4 under the seat, 2 behind the seat, and 2 in front under a little access panel barely big enough to get one battery through it. They were JUNK, the entire machine.

--anyway--

customer brings one in, says "it's very weak". We were not set up to work on EV's so no tools, other than our own DVOM. Ideally need a code reader for the MCU, and at the very least a battery discharger to test the battery pack condition. So I got this MTV-E in the shop, checked the battery water-it was ok. Pack voltage 50.1v, little low but acceptable. Checks out fine. Since I didn't have a discharge unit, I just jump on it and go drive around a while. Across the parking lot a few times, then went back around the front of the building again, made one turn and ka-boom. All 4 batteries under the seat exploded at once. Blowed the seat completely off with me on it. Head hit the roll bar, tore the roof off, acid burns on my head (lost a lot of my hair), down my back, shoulders, chest, lots of bruising, destroyed the machine in most of its entirety, ate up the parking lot, you get the idea. I was thrown about 15 foot, and ended up on my side within a foot of a major highway. The fire department showed up about 10 minutes later. 6 businesses within the area had reported an explosion sound, and the bigger of them across the highway actually had some window damage from the concussion.

So yes, I have a reluctance to repairing electric vehicles in general because of that deal.

 

[xrocketengineer]

Its a miracle that you survived. The hydrogen gas generated by batteries when charging can accumulate and become a bomb. I took a mishap investigation class when I was still working at the Kennedy Space Center and one of the examples used was an incident in Houston where a car battery explosion killed a technician and hurt another. They had built an aluminum box for two car batteries with a large bolted lid. The box was sealed and pressurised with air to be used as a power source for underwater floodlights for astronaut training in one of the "big swimming pool" trainers. The box would be in the water with the lights and it had a waterproof power switch and connections to the lights. The idea of the air pressure was twofold, one to keep water out and two if the water leaked in the bubbling would give it away.
To make a long story short, there was no authorization nor documentation on building or using this box. It eventually became the practice to charge the batteries inside the box rather than remove the lid and all its bolts. The day of the accident one of the techs noticed that after charging the batteries and getting ready to pressurise the box, there was some pressure already in the box. He did not realize that it was hydrogen gas accumulation and on top of that pressurised air was added to the box. The floodlights and batteries were always tested outside before immersing them in the water. As the waterproof switch was turned on, the box exploded with the lid flying off causing the death and injury and ending up embedded in the concrete ceiling over 20 feet above. The switch was externally waterproof but not explosion proof and caused a spark inside the box as it was turned on.
Until I learned of this mishap I would have never thought that there was so much danger with battery charging.