Yellow Hat Dry Cell (over Heating Battery)

[555kkk]

i have a 33 GTR and was driving today , and started to get a funny smell in the car now and then ...... after a while i could see vapour coming from the rear parcel shelf i pulled over and

opened the boot i could hear the battery hissing ! and it was HOT i mean REALLY HOT i couldnt touch it it was that hot . i disconnected the negative terminal and drove home . took the battery out and its

still extremely hot 2 hours later like its generating its own heat ????

im thinking its either the battery has collapsed inside or the alternator is over charging it ..... where is alternator fuse?

anybody got any ideas ?

(i put battery out of another car into the 33 and am going to give it a run )

oh yeah i have an aftermarket steering wheel which i removed and put back on and now the airbag light wont stop flashing (i clipped yellow box back into airbag wires) not sure if this is all related

[rocketboy]

I had a similar issue with a Exide Orbital blue top. Basically I came to this conclusion - battery had been deepcycled a few times (fine as the blutop is a dedicated deepcycle battery), but after each deep cycle it should have a good high voltage/ high amp charge, the factory system/alternator cannot provide this. It still charges the battery, but performance/capacity is lost. A hand full of deep cycles evenuated in my battery just getting rather damn hot and not holding a charge. A friend bought a Projecta digital charger that has a high amp and voltage charging setting (with 7 stage charging) and also a battery "reconditioner" mode for batteries that are fairly poked. Basicallly it should be able recondition nearly poked batteries, mine was too far gone so I had to buy a new one, hard eggs to swallow when I bought mine new only few years ago and they are now around 5spot over here in NZ. My local battery guy also said I was lucky not to cook the alternator.

By yellow hat dry cell, do you mean it is an Optima or similar battery? The battery will hold heat for a long time as it will have lead based plates and if gel cell they will be sandwhiched in spirals and basically retain heat well.

Sounds like it's poked, have you had issues of the battery not holding the charge for long? i.e. don't drive it for a couple days and it won't start?

So, get it onto a good charger like the one mentioned above (http://www.projecta.com.au/catalogue/cid/54/asset_id/153/). Otherwise, buy a new one, yours sounds well and truely cooked. Make sure it is charged correctly after any major drains in the future. I'll be sticking mine on the Projecta every 6 months or after any deep cycles from now on.

Hope this helps.

[555kkk]

I had a similar issue with a Exide Orbital blue top. Basically I came to this conclusion - battery had been deepcycled a few times (fine as the blutop is a dedicated deepcycle battery), but after each deep cycle it should have a good high voltage/ high amp charge, the factory system/alternator cannot provide this. It still charges the battery, but performance/capacity is lost. A hand full of deep cycles evenuated in my battery just getting rather damn hot and not holding a charge. A friend bought a Projecta digital charger that has a high amp and voltage charging setting (with 7 stage charging) and also a battery "reconditioner" mode for batteries that are fairly poked. Basicallly it should be able recondition nearly poked batteries, mine was too far gone so I had to buy a new one, hard eggs to swallow when I bought mine new only few years ago and they are now around 5spot over here in NZ. My local battery guy also said I was lucky not to cook the alternator.

By yellow hat dry cell, do you mean it is an Optima or similar battery? The battery will hold heat for a long time as it will have lead based plates and if gel cell they will be sandwhiched in spirals and basically retain heat well.

Sounds like it's poked, have you had issues of the battery not holding the charge for long? i.e. don't drive it for a couple days and it won't start?

So, get it onto a good charger like the one mentioned above (http://www.projecta.com.au/catalogue/cid/54/asset_id/153/). Otherwise, buy a new one, yours sounds well and truely cooked. Make sure it is charged correctly after any major drains in the future. I'll be sticking mine on the Projecta every 6 months or after any deep cycles from now on.

Hope this helps.

battery is optima yellow hat.

the car had been sitting for a few months so battery was dead flat , i jump started it from the front of the car with a red optima and some jumper cables drove it all day seem to charge it up.

next day while driving around was when i smelt the battery. (car has 500hp )

the engine has only done 15000 kms so im assuming alternator is fine

[rocketboy]

battery is optima yellow hat.

the car had been sitting for a few months so battery was dead flat , i jump started it from the front of the car with a red optima and some jumper cables drove it all day seem to charge it up.

next day while driving around was when i smelt the battery. (car has 500hp )

the engine has only done 15000 kms so im assuming alternator is fine

As I said, get it on to a good charger like this one - http://www.projecta.com.au/catalogue/cid/54/asset_id/153/ - it may be salvagable, otherwise, if you keep using your alternator to charge it, it will die (if it hasn't already). The Optimas handle deep cycling(full discharge/flat) well, but you do have to charge them up properly when they run below 11 volts in my experience.