scary find in the shop today
 

I was cleaning up and look down and find this battery carrier had melted down, I kept this around to use during set up and I guess apparently lat time I unplugged it from the switch the wires pulled away from the plug. When I picked it up it was cold, but wet with condensation.. Kinda freaked me out.

Scary thing is I can't remember how long it's been sitting this way, no obvious arcing or burns at the leads, and each cell is over 1.3 volts, low but not dead. I'm dumbfounded that it could melt down the carrier but the cells still have voltage.

Just shows, need to take caution with all chemistries

RE: scary find in the shop today
 

perhaps its a small acid leak that has burnt the casing. not electrical heat?

RE: scary find in the shop today
 

I don't think so, every corner with the spring (-) side is melted, not eaten away from acid, no evidence of acid coming out either, just condensation and electrolysis type corrosion.

What looks like happened is it shorted, got hot, melted the plastic to the point it lost good contact with one cell, but still enough to conduct some voltage. When I check the packs voltage at the lead it was under 1 volt, but I test each cell individually their all around 1.3 to 1.4 volts