Battery Scare in the 11th Hour!

While we were re-installing the battery into its glass sphere (after replacing the under-performing cell #10), there was a soft pop, a crackle, and then a hiss as clouds of tan smoke filling the air.

Some part of the battery had short circuited; something was seriously wrong!

We had to take the battery apart again to see what happened and to try and fix it. We are especially under the gun to fix this, because we are supposed to deploy on Monday to look for didemnum! Yikes!


The source of the crackle became apparent; it was the sound of a wire sparking and melting itself out of its jacket. You can see the bits of melted black jacket on the red wire.


There were some burn marks on the outside of the battery too.


But, the real damage was on the corner of the cell where the smoke forced its way out.

We count ourselves very lucky that only one supercell was damaged and that nothing caught on fire. In the end, we had to use the supercell that had been removed as the replacement for the one that was damaged (although we recharged it). A net gain in the end, but only a small gain.