dangers of non-sealed battery in trunk...

[ayjay]

ok so i wasn't really thinking when i bought this non-sealed (water filled) battery and installed it in my trunk... a friend of mine later pointed out that non-sealed batteries vent stuff under the hood when charging, but didn't know what or how dangerous it was... APPARENTLY they vent hydrogen gas during charging (sealed ones do not vent the gas as much)...

how dangerous is this? should i try to return this battery and get a dry-cell sealed batter and spend the extra $80? thanks!

[guyaverage]

I will let one of the other people here with real-life experience with trunk-mounted batteries give the advice, but having been about three feet from a battery that exploded due to a stray wire hitting one of the terminals, I can tell you it was LOUD, very forcefull, and sprayed sulfuric acid over about a 100 sq ft area, me, the vehicle and everything within about 10 feet, and blew up most of the battery case exposing what was left of the twisted up lead plates. I have no idea how I managed to not get any in my eyes, I saw the spark when it happened. I think my ears are still ringing from the explosion. LOUD.

Personally, unless you have it in an externally ventilated, well built battery box I would use a sealed gel battery.

[ayjay]

okay, i think i'm going to look into buying a gell cell now thanks for the input and the story!