[oskar]

Hi to all. A few days ago I began to smell something odd. I thought it was coming from outside. But it persisted after days  :oso I wondered what it could be inside my place. I crawled around and discovered the source was my battery box. Inside were two badly deformed, hot and swelling 12v SLA batteries that had fused together. They must be at least two years old. They are permanently hooked up to the charger. Spoke to someone who said that it's typical for that to happen after a couple of years. So now I have new batteries. When I turn off the Sensation the green light on the charger comes on; when I'm running it the amber light is always on. I think I'll switch off the amp overnight from now on. http://www.audiocircle.com/Smileys/audiocircle/icon_eek.gif

[mikeeastman]

What charger are you using?

[oskar]

It's the Soneil charger I bought from Seth.

[ebag4]

I don't know about the charger you are using but my company works with SLAs in electronic control panels and we typically get 4-5 years out of them.  IMO if you have batteries fused together and deformed there is another issue at hand.

Best,
Ed

[wsturner]

This is somewhat off topic, but might help.

Batteries lose their capacity over time. With new batteries, I could get 8+ hours of play before needing another charge. After some years, I might only be able to play for 1-2 hours before needing a charge.

Periodically I disconnect the charger, and see how long the batteries can supply the amp. When this time gets below about 1 hour, I replace the batteries.

Scott

[oskar]

 I really just forgot about the batteries being my power until this happened. Maybe it's the same for others too so I suggest a quick look.

Ed, by fused I meant that the plastic cases had got so warm that they melded together; there was no leakage.
Scott, good idea I'm going to use your suggestion. Makes perfect sense.

[ebag4]

Ed, by fused I meant that the plastic cases had got so warm that they melded together; there was no leakage.

Yes, that is what I understood you to mean.  This is not normal behavior, something is amiss. 

Best,
Ed

[mikeeastman]

The only way that could happen to the batteries if they over heat, so unless they are in a very hot place then the only thing that would cause that problem would be a defective battery or more likely they were heavily over charged,  I would check out you charger.

wstuner the main reason batteries lose capacity is caused by sulfur crystals building up on the plates. The way this is fixed is by a conditioning charge or using a device, used in solar systems, called a desulfater. Both of which remove the built up sulfur crystals from the plates and extends the life of the batteries.

[Lars_M]

Same happened to me with the Soneil charger.

I changed to another charger and the problem was solved.

[virtue]

Scary stuff. 

We stopped selling Gary's battery kits because we had one go bad a few years ago.  I also junked 100 chargers which in retrospect were probably no better/worse than Soneil.

The new Li-On batteries have circuit boards inline to protect against this kind of thing.

Seth