BANG!!!

[monte350c]

But it got my attention.

This is/was a Duracell 9 volt battery. It was installed in a digital volt meter for about the last 2 years.

Lately it's been sitting on my desk. Never played with, never tried to charge it, never shorted or overheated etc. etc.

And I was sitting here about 10 minutes ago and I heard a loud 'pop' - about like one of those checkered firecrackers around 2" long we used to get.

Noticed this:

Interesting to say the least!

Ted.

[willib]

Thats a new 'feature' from duracell , the self combustable 9V battery. <grin>

[windstuffnow]

  I've heard of them doing that but never seen one after the fact!   Pretty amazing...!   Did your meter survive the blast?

  You should send an email to Duracell along with the pictures... at the very least I'll bet they'd send you a new battery )

.

[pyrocasto]

Though they probably would anyway, they might not with the Mar 2005 exp date. :p

[monte350c]

Hi Ed,

Luckily there is a little foam piece under the bottom of the battery in the meter case. It absorbed the 'rapid expanding' battery case.

I don't really care about a new battery etc. but I will be glad if that's the last one I see like this.

I am checking all my battery operated stuff and chucking any batteries over 2 years old.

The funny thing was that battery was still working up to the point it went pop!

Ted.

[dinges]

Disagree.

The date is probably the 'best before' date, i.e. it is best to use it before that date.

It doesn NOT state that after a certain date (25/12/2005, it seems in this case) the battery should be removed because of explosion danger. And I'm not even a lawyer :-)

How long would it take for everyone to sue the battery manufacturers and seriously drive up the prices of batteries :-( They're not ideal (non renewable), but for some applications they're still the best, can't be beaten by NiCds, let alone the NiMH-batteries...

Peter,

The Netherlands.

[electrondady1]

well, i learned something, there appears to be 6 small batteries inside a 9 volt . 1.5 x 6 = 9

[maker of toys]

yes, indeed, there are 6 dry cells in there.  they turn out to be a very close match size and output -wise for AAAA (thats 4'a's) cells once you get the connecting wires off them.

(I had a '9v' NiCd do that to me once. . . . in my pocket.  but it was provoked;  I dropped it into a pocketfull of change.   (the story of why is another point entirely; suffice it to say that was one of many things going wrong just then.  Don't use old NiCds in cordless mics.)

left a nice welt and a burn on my thigh.

[nothing to lose]

Yes I bet a quarter would make a nice complete circuit for a dead short on a 9V, now C cell or D cell I might be surprised about. Having said that, I have never thought much about dropping any battery into a pocketfull of keys myself. Thanks for the heads up!

[hiker]

had this hooked up to my little 8" alt--didn"t last long--

sure was surprized when it blew up-loud bang-- i won"t be using that type of  headlite for testing-any time soon!!!!! dam good thing i had my eyes on the alt and not the lite.

[nothing to lose]

Was that a halogen?

I hate those things, oil from finger prints on the glass will cause them to burn out. Not sure if they mostly melt and fry or pop. Also the least little water shatters them.

 Shattered 2 in a headlight with a bad seal. Water gets behind the lens and pop!

Did yours blow because of too much power, or was it not super clean?