Need some help on this

The first battery i owned was giving me over-heating problems. So i figured it was a defective battery, and went and got another one. Then, about a week after owning the new battery, i was trolling on speed 3 on my trolling motor, and it literally blew up. It sounded like a rifle shot. I am including some pics of the battery. Any advice on why this happened?

First off,glad your alright.
Make sure you clean that acid up good.(rinse really good with water,then some sodium bicarbonate...baking soda)

I see some corrision on the crimp and don't see any fuse/breaker.
You had some considerable heat,looked like the wire was trying to become the fuse,even melted the battery post in.
I don't know the size of your trolling motor or if thats the TM wires or an extension of wire to your TM but something was getting pretty hot and without a fuse breaker something had to give.
I going to guess a bad crimp and or improper size wire,in combination with no fuse/breaker.(looks like it got hot right at the post to melt it,probably boiled the acid and she blew)
Sometimes they blow if there was a build up of gas,then a spark;don't think thats your problem.

If you don't get to many replies here try the electrical section.

Fishin'Fool said:

The first battery i owned was giving me over-heating problems. So i figured it was a defective battery, and went and got another one. Then, about a week after owning the new battery, i was trolling on speed 3 on my trolling motor, and it literally blew up. It sounded like a rifle shot. I am including some pics of the battery. Any advice on why this happened?

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Looking at the pics your load was asking for more than could be provided. Look under electrical. I just described this scenario under dead trollingmotors or something like that. I described thermal transfer and effects of under charged batteries. If you have questions pm me and I would be happy to help.

Thanks for the replies. I am running a 50 pound thrust Bass Pro Shops Trolling motor. I didnt know i needed a breaker/fuse. I will be trying that soon.

Thanks,
Fishin'Fool!

As said above, undersized not optimized installation. I run the next sized wire so if the manual calls for 10ga I run 8, if your wire run out and back is over 10' upsize again. So with bends my cable is close to 10' so I run 6ga wire, went to NAPA and bought commercial grade bare copper battery cable lugs and silver soldered them on the wires using nonacid flux and a propane torch. Soldered the whole eye to reduce corrosion. When you put the lug on the battery use some grease and smear it all over the bare metal. For a fuse, figure out what the max current is, then fuse and wire it for 120-150% of that and keep an extra in the boat. I like circuit breakers better then fuses.

You pic shows corrosion on the dinky crimp terminal. I'd venture to say it because a nice glowing resistor and the battery was gassing off hydrogen and it boomed. Also note that most of the older troller used extra windings in the motor as resistors to reduce the speed so running at slow speed still used high speed juice. Newer ones don't.

Jamie

ID INVEST IN A EXTINGUISHER IF DONT ALREADY HAVE ONE..

shawnfish said:

ID INVEST IN A EXTINGUISHER IF DONT ALREADY HAVE ONE..

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Got one!

I would second that the wire looks very small for a TM application. Bigger wire, better connection and a fuse or breaker should keep you safe.

Sam