So guys, you say you want to wear hot pants too?

[rvbvetter]

Well Heres how you do it.
Like me, take two freshly charged Radio Shack plastic bodied recharbable 9 volt batteries. And for lack of a better place, put them in your front pocket with your keys. Then take off in your car like me. And during the drive, in a 5 second period of time. I knew I had a problem. I thought my Bic lighter had lit up in my pants.
My hand went in my pocket nearly as fast as my first wifes use too. And pulled out one Hot! Hot! 9 volt. And by itself it kept getting hotter!! To the point I threw a towel over it for fear it was going to blow up. Getting to my shop I put it on the work bench and put a scatter shield (my tackle box) between it and my cars. In case it did blow. Finally after about 5 minutes it stopped getting hotter and started to cool.
I can only assume it contacted my keys.
Anyone ever heard of this before? It's a new one on me. And the battery works fine now. HH

 

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[Gypsy Heart]

Well I am rolling on the floor laughing......and I could come up with many answers but am sure they would all be wrong ....funny...but wrong

 

[diggemall]

rvb

Yep. I've had this happen as well.

Keys (or in my case coins) create a dead short across the battery. Ohms law says I=V*R or Current (amps) = Volts * Resistance. The closer resistance gets to zero the closer Amps try to get to infinity. Thankfully a 9V battery can't generate enough current to weld itself to your keys - try it with a car battery and a wrench across the terminals, or worse, like some unlucky folks have done - get your metal watch band caught between the + side of the battery and a good ground on the chassis - the band will get hot enough to provide a 2nd or 3rd degree burn.

The battery kept feeling hotter even after it was out of your pocket because the extreme heat inside it took time to migrate outward.

 

[vic910]

Oh man! That really would be a pain in the *&*! Seriously though, I never knew that could happen - but I'll surely remember it now! Thanks for the info.

vicki

 

[Burdie]

We usually ask for pictures when posting but in your case we need a movie camera on that one. Made my day thats for sure. HH Burdie

 

[surfrat96]

My hand went in my pocket nearly as fast as my first wifes use too.

ROTFLMAO!!!

HH 8) surfrat

 

[EDDE]

cooper pennies and 9 volts don't mix ,i felt the pain as you have young skywalker

 

[Rusted_Iron]

the worst is if the battery bursts. They don't call them 'alkaline' for nothing... they have lye in them. I left a damaged "C" battery sitting on the washing machine once. The stuff that leaked out took the enamel paint off!

 

[skydiv]

I did something similar I put a couple of 9 volts in my shirt pocket for spares. I was out hunting when I found a few pennies and dropped them in my shirt pocket. then my chest started to burn and I felt around my pocket and the battery was really hot. that was the end of my rechargeable battery.

 

[DigEmAll]

I did something similar.... except in my case, it was TWO 9V's that had managed to get terminal to terminal! I had two hot batteries pretty quickly.

 

[JoeMoto]

35mm film containers work great for 9v batteries.

 

[petersra]

Exactly one of the reasons why you should never wear jewelry while doing car repairs. Watches, rings, bracelets, necklaces... all a definate no no. Had a friend loose a finger and his wedding band that way. Positive terminal to wrench to ring to ground. real hot, real fast.

 

[Mark S.]

Many years back I had tossed two spare battery packs for a Fisher 1260 onto the back seat of my car. These have 4 AA in each. Forgot about them. A while later I was cleaning out the car and found what was left. The terminals had made contact. The ends of the packs were melted right away. I am lucky I didn't loose the car!

Mark S.

 

[Aguila]

Rv, that is yoo funny! Btw, what is today's date?

 

[Digginman]

When I was a kid we used to make hand warmers with a 9 volt battery. Loop a wire to the 2 terminals. It was great on the paper route. They do get very hot, so we had to wear gloves while holding them. I never saw one explode, though.

 

[diggit 65]

For me it was a pocket full of change and a AA battery . The change collected around the battery and made the connection . hot stuff .

 

[warthog steve]

8)Nah-I wouldnt look good in hot pants...My wife tells me my legs are too hairy...

 

[wmas1960]

Yes. Definitely. I understand it happened to my uncle once. If I remember the story, he was going to the store to get some replacement batteries and had a few in his pocket. The 9v came in contact with another, I think or maybe his keys and his leg started getting warm. I seem to have a recallection that he got a burn on his thigh from it.

Especially with 9v it is probably pretty common.

 

[wmas1960]

Oh man! That really would be a pain in the *&*! Seriously though, I never knew that could happen - but I'll surely remember it now! Thanks for the info.

vicki

Yeah, after the situation with my Uncle and a few other times when I have had a 9v short against something in a drawer, tool box etc., I learned to take a piece of tape and put it over the contacts. Some good electric tape would probably be good. Duct tape also. The issue, as I understand it, is that the + and the - terminals are on the same end of the battery and side by side. That makes it quite common for them to both touch something, say a coin or a key and short out causing heat.

With other batteries, where the + is on the top and the bottom is the - you can't get as good of a contact between them and while not impossible, is less likely. At least not with a simple flat straight item. You would have to bend something around to touch both and it would have to be longer than the length of the battery. Also, A, AA, D and C batteries, I beileve tend to be 1.5 v rather than 9. I am not that experienced with electronics so I don't know how much different that would be. I think though it is more the design with the two poles on the top of the battery, and less than an inch apart, where it is easy for one small object to short both terminals out.