no room for boom
E
xplosions cause terrifying screams and
threaten employee safety. Understand-
ing batteries is a quick route to improving
safety and maximizing the effectiveness of your
course’s vehicles.
A few years ago a beverage cart driver walked
into my shop. It was the first indication of trou-
ble because a driver walking means something
is broken. I asked her what she needed, and she
yelled: “My bev cart is broken down on No. 6 cart
path. The battery exploded. I couldn’t hear any-
thing for about 45 minutes, but I am OK now.”
On that beverage cart model, the battery is un-
der the driver’s seat, and the explosion’s force
was directed out of the cart’s open bottom. She
didn’t realize she was shouting, so she wasn’t
really OK.
I found a trail of plastic shrapnel, lead battery
plates, a streak of liquid and the beverage cart
where it had rolled to a stop. I collected the
pieces for recycling and towed the cart to the
shop, leaving a streak of battery acid for the
approaching rain to wash off the cart path.
Back in the shop, I learned the new-style, sol-
id-state voltage regulator these beverage carts
were outfitted with had failed in the “max-
charging” mode and probably caused the ex-
plosion by overcharging the battery. I replaced
the voltage regulator with the OEM replacement
part. A few days later, another beverage cart
battery exploded for the same reason. Since
all the voltage regulators on the beverage
carts were identical and the same age, I was
concerned the rest would fail. To avoid more
explosions, I replaced the new-style, solid-state
voltage regulators on all six beverage carts with
an older proven design that fails safe in the “no
charging” mode. There were no more battery
explosions after making the change.
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How do you avoid explosive situations around
your course and shop? Understanding the dif-
ferences between battery types is
a good place to start.
Disposable primary cells
Look around during the work
day and you’ll discover you are
surrounded by an amazing
variety of batteries. They
are essential to everyday
activities such as opening
garage doors with a wire-
less remote, unlocking car
doors with a key fob or
using a metal detector
to find keys in the snow.
The batteries in all these
things are inexpensive
throwaways that pro-
duce a small amount
of power. They work
for a while, and
when they quit, you
toss them into the
recycling and re-
place them with a
fresh one.
Built-in re-
chargeable
batteries
Electronic
devices
such as
smart-
phones,
tablet
comput-
ers and
other
elec-