Battery leak causes severe burn in UKG'er

[SSgt Burton]

Mods- my apologies if this is the wrong forum for this. I just learned this news on the AL forum (reposted from the UK Garrison) and felt it important enough to go in the forum with the most views here. I'm sure many of us here have costumes that have custom battery setups.

Scott Steele (UKG) wrote:

Batteries next to your skin.

At the recent troop at Game in the Merry Hill Ged Rodgers TK4184 had one of his AA batteries spring a leak whilst trooping.

The location of his battery pack was in the back section of his TK, the caused the acid to leak onto his undersuit resulting in a very nasty burn to the flesh. What made matters worse was that he didn’t feel a ting, the acid reacted that fast it burnt away the nerves in his back so he didn’t feel a thing.
Luckily for Ged we was due a rest for lunch so the problem was found fairly quickly.
The burn to his back is severe to say the least, below is a link to the photo for you to have a look, some might not like to see it so its your choice if you want to see it.

(WARNING- severe burn pic in link)

http://img237.imageshack.us/i/picturehq.jpg/
(photo with Ged’s permission.)

Id like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the problem you could face if a battery leaks while your trooping, Id also like to urge members to consider where you mount your battery packs as this location is becoming a popular choice with members these days. Wherever you mount batteries this risk still stands but having them mounted in your back armour may result in the issue not been detected for a period of time.

My personal choice for mounting batteries is in the tube area of my helmet. Helmets are removed with ease during breaks so any problems could potentially be detected sooner rather than later. Having said all of the above this is the first time in many years ive seen a battery leak let alone damage the skin like this.

The above incident will result in Ged having a skin graft this week to try to repair the damage to his back. Ill be visiting Ged this week and ill be able to post updates on his progress.

Mods- again my apologies for the choice of forum. If the pic is too much as well I will remove the link.

Kevin

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

I'd say it belongs in Costuming.

That is a nasty honkin' burn though.

 

[MooCriket]

Never really thought of the dangers of costuming in regards to battery burns...OUCH. Poor guy. Thanks for the info.

 

[Jack T Chance]

These days, the best protection you have against things like this is to always use new, NAME-BRAND batteries from a trustworthy company. Over the last couple years, there have been cases of laptop manufacturers recalling millions of batteries because they would overheat and in a few rare cases, burst into flames! And there have been cell phones and MP3 players that have overheated and/or caught on fire in people's pockets! :confused

In all cases, the batteries in question were made on the cheap, in Chinese factories with very poor quality control. :thumbsdown

Also, any time I've had a battery leak acid, it was because it was an old battery, usually nearly exhausted, that had been sitting unused in a flashlight or other item for a long time.

So, let this be a lesson to everyone here. Don't take chances when the battery is part of your (probably very expensive) costume and is close to your body. ALWAYS use a FRESH, high quality battery that has been properly stored.

 

[clonesix]

Wow. I have heard of battery packs getting hot, but never leaking acid out of the battery itself.

It would be helpful to know what the batteries were powering. Was it a voice amp? What model? Anyone with same model experience similar problems?

 

[knightdriver2001]

WOW,

That really stinks. I feel bad for the guy.

Most costuming danger I have ever encounted was being punched in the
junk by some kid. Thank god a Fett suit has the plastic plate there.

 

[micdavis]

Blaster marks. OUCH!!!

 

[exoray]

Any information on what type of battery did this? Was it a special gel or liquid cell possibly?

The chance of this happening from most of the common over the counter batteries that are primarily 'dry cells' like zinc-carbon, alkaline, nicad, lipo or nimh is pretty rare as they don't actually contain a liquid acid, or any real amount of liquid that would 'drip' out...

 

[SSgt Burton]

I've contacted the person who posted this on the AL board- who in turn got it from the UK Garrison.

I'll try to see if he can get any answers. Unfortunately he did say that they might not be forthcoming as the UKG has a "rule" about not divulging anything about their costumes to non-members (and he is a non-member).

Kevin

 

[TheSt.LouisKid]

Holy Neosporin! :eek
Hope they don't move this post. This needs to be seen so it doesn't happen again.

What brand of batteries were they? Whenever I get something that already has batteries I make sure they are not the crappy no-name batteries that always leak. Never had a Duracell or Energizer leak on me.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Geez! Those must have been Xenomorph brand batteries!

 

[thegreatgalling]

I was actually thinking of posting a thread about battery leakage just two days ago because of an item I have that appeared to have suffered this damage. I guess the best way to avoid it is to remove batteries when you are not using them, and use well named brands, but is there any other preventative measures that could be taken? I hate having to switch out dozens and dozens of batteries everytime I jump to a new phase and wish to put away a hobby and exchange one set of items for another from storage.

There are some cases where batteries (like small watch batteries) are impossible to retrieve, or attached directly to electronic boards. What happens in these cases? How do we keep these batteries from leaking and ruining items?

 

[Cpl Smith]

I'll try to see if he can get any answers. Unfortunately he did say that they might not be forthcoming as the UKG has a "rule" about not divulging anything about their costumes to non-members (and he is a non-member).

Kevin

rolleyesrolleyes:rolleyes


Derek

 

[pennywise]

I've contacted the person who posted this on the AL board- who in turn got it from the UK Garrison.

I'll try to see if he can get any answers. Unfortunately he did say that they might not be forthcoming as the UKG has a "rule" about not divulging anything about their costumes to non-members (and he is a non-member).

Kevin

Alrighty then:unsure

 

[Howlrunner]

OK, would just like to point out here that the actual rule followed by the UKG is that we are not allowed to post information relating to where to purchase armour on the public section of the forum (so as not to get in trouble with LucasFilm).

As for the brand of batteries, Ged has only said:

"For those interested i usualy use rechargable AAs but for the first time i used throw away AAs branded from a large DIY chain,they were brand new and came straight out of the box,i put them into the battery holders tested them,disconnected them and put my kit away.As i kitted up i reconnected them and went out to troop.,about 30 mins before we were to take a lids off i noticed what i thought at the time something in my IOO had maybe sliped and was pushing into my back,we took a lids off and you can see what i found on my back...."

 

[Eradicator]

OUCH! Do you have any news on how he's doing?

 

[troopermatthew]

I'll try to see if he can get any answers. Unfortunately he did say that they might not be forthcoming as the UKG has a "rule" about not divulging anything about their costumes to non-members (and he is a non-member).
Kevin

Well he is wrong, the rule is that we cant say where to buy the costumes from :thumbsup

 

[R2B9]

All my best to the burned Trooper- I've been toasted on battery acid before (nothing to that extent thankfully) and it's evil. You don't feel it at first, and then wham! it's eaten through skin and having it's way with you.

My rule is always remove batteries from stored or unused items- people forget about Christmas ornaments, too, and all those great electronic toys like phasers and lightsabers. Nothing like losing a good toy to a rotten battery! Even the good brands can go bad over time, or leak due to heat/cold/humidity stress or just being dropped in normal handling.

Safety first, men. Safety first!

 

[tk1565]

ouch,hope ged is ok and all the best to speedy recovery
thanx for the info. i will post to my canadian garrison site

 

[Storm Shadow]

Wow, who would have thought that costuming could be dangerous to your health.:eek