Shorted my battery!

[Pete]

...battery for the front lights, that is. Type Electron Ni-MH 4.8Ah - the one that is sort of block-shaped, not the bottle-shaped one.

I didn't even notice until I tried to switch on the lights this evening (luckily I had a spare). I'd re-charged the battery only last night and installed it this morning, the wire must have chafed right through and short-circuited. I seem to recall seeing a puff of smoke out of the corner of my eye on the commute this morning but it didn't register. Lucky the battery didn't catch fire!

Anyway I have the evidence of a length of charred wiring. I've cut out the damaged bit and spliced with a choc-block, and put the battery back on charge. Will it hold any charge now or is it kaput, I wonder? Anyone had a similar experience?

 

[PrettyboyTim]

I managed to short my lead-acid battery om my dual-halogen Smart lamps when I was playing aorund with it trying to measure the voltage with my multimeter. Luckily the battery was undamaged as one of the fuses blew and I was able to pick up some new ones from Maplin.

 

[Maz]

my bro nearly burnt his pants when he had house keys and a couple of AA batteries in the same trouser pocket...shorted the ends of the battery and gave out a mighty yelp as things started to heat up.

 

[Monst]

Maplin - £4.99 or so for a new one.

 

[andygates]

The battery should be protected by a fuse... but the charred wiring isn't a good sign

 

[Pete]

No fuse evidently, possibly some sort of current-limiter. After re-charging, I ran the 10W for about 1/4 hour this evening, no problems. Normally I get a bit over two hours per charge. Fingers crossed - but I'm carrying the LED just in case.

 

[Globalti]

I nearly set fire to the pub last night - they had a little candle on the table; I scrunched up my napkin, put it on the table and turned away to talk to my pal over at the bar. Turned back and the whole lot was blazing. I giggled about it all the way home.