My Battery Blew Up

[cwiert]

i have a 300ex and just put a new battery in my quad...i tried to save $$ so i got a walmart battery for like $20. i filled it with acid and put it on a trickle charge for about 8 hours.
it charged fine, started right up, but then after it
runs for like 5 minutes, it stalls and won't turn
over when i press the start button. then i smell battery
acid and i can hear the acid in the battery boiling and
making noises.
THe battery has a vent cap and last week , when i first took it for a ride, i left the vent cap on and after 5 minuets it stalled,
It wouldn't start up again and then as i was pushing it
back to my house, the top acid fill cap blew off and
hot acid went all over my leg. i thought it was just
because i left that vent cap on. so now i refilled it
with acid, re-charged it and this time left the vent
cap off. now it still stalled....i still hear it making noises...and i still smell adic. at least it didn't blow up on me this time. any ideas???

[Pappy]

the vent cap should have been removed the minute you started filling the battery and discarded.

8 hours is along time to charge unless you were using one of the 1.25 milliamp chargers. the smell and boiling are a sure sign of overcharging.

id let it cool down, re check the fluid level and make certain it is not over the top line on the battery. check the voltage and if its 12.7 or so thats where it should be.

if that battery voltage is good, then id check the charging voltage at the battery (quad running, multimeter the voltage) as long as it is above 12.9 at idle its ok.

it is also possible you purchased a battery that is too small for the charging system, causing an overcharge/overheat situation. what is the part # on the battery? it should be a ct or ytx letter prefix and 9bs as the size (YTX9BS or say CYTX9BS or similar numbers)

[cwiert]

thanks for the quick reply...
It is an Everstart Morotcycle Battery and the only numbers on it are:
ES12N9-4B-1

Do I have the wrong type of batter?

The guy at the Honda place said that I need a "Gel" battery and that I may be using a "Liquid" battery. I don't know the difference.

[Pappy]

yes, you have a standard lead acid battery and you need a sealed agm (absorbed glass matt) battery

the part # from Yuasa is YTX9BS for the stock replacement. WalMart should have this unit as it is very popular.

[cwiert]

Is the Wal-Mart/Everstart version ES9BS?