Battery Chargers

[DIW]

There have been quite a few incidents reported where the cause of the explosion/fire has been blamed on fumes, gas etc. created when batteries are charging .
I always leave my battery charger on ,connected via shore power, is this bad practice ?
Ian

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[ccscott49]

As long as the compartment/box where your batteries are stored, is well ventilated, you should have no problems. I leave mine on all the time when connected to shorepower, mine vent into the engine space, then outside through large deck vents and an extractor fan. Which is always run before starting my engines. I have never heard of a boat fire/explosion being caused by battery gases, which doesn't mean it's still not dangerous, but uncommon. cooking gas, lots!! I'm sure somebody will tell me a hundreds of battery explosions!

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[neale]

There is the Moonraker in this months MBM which suffered an explosion due to battery charging gases!!!

I think it has alot to do with the kind of charger. A bog standard car charger will chuck 14+ volts into the battery continuously which will result in lots of gas being produced. A proper fully auto charger will only supply a small voltage once the battery is fully charged which in turn produces alot less gas.

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