Genesis dual battery fire?

[RudeJeepin]

I plan to reconnect the Jeep’s grounds and drive the heck out of it this weekend, then reconnect my smart charger per Shan’s videos.

I could be wrong and don't want to step on any body's toes...but I believe you smoked the first battery by overcharging and/or running it dead. Cooked it dry.
In my opinion you need to get a good dedicated float charger, one with lower output designed to do what you are wanting.

Not to freak anyone out, just to inform.
My neighbor's house recently burnt down in the middle of the night. Around 2am the police department was pounding on my door because a 60ft tree, between our houses was starting to torch. Neighbor's house and minivan were total losses, but fortunately nobody was hurt. The cause was determined to be the battery in the minivan which was on a charger overnight. It was supposed to be a good charger, not sure what happened between the charger and battery. Just know the end results.

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[Whaler27]

I could be wrong and don't want to step on any body's toes...but I believe you smoked the first battery by overcharging and/or running it dead. Cooked it dry.
In my opinion you need to get a good dedicated float charger, one with lower output designed to do what you are wanting.

Not to freak anyone out, just to inform.
My neighbor's house recently burnt down in the middle of the night. Around 2am the police department was pounding on my door because a 60ft tree, between our houses was starting to torch. Neighbor's house and minivan were total losses, but fortunately nobody was hurt. The cause was determined to be the battery in the minivan which was on a charger overnight. It was supposed to be a good charger, not sure what happened between the charger and battery. Just know the end results.

In theory, and according to the certified smart people I have consulted, a higher amp-rating on a “smart charger” doesn’t mean that it’s delivering more amperage all the time. The charger is supposed to read the condition of the battery it’s connected to and deliver the power it needs when it needs it. That’s what makes the charger “smart”. Higher amperage just gives it the juice to expedite and/or handle bigger tasks.

Smart 12 volt chargers also have a safety feature that prevents them from over-charging a 6 volt battery if they’re incorrectly/mistakenly hooked up to one: if the charger reads voltage below 6 volts it will shut off — which also explains why attempting to charge my most-fried battery (under 6 volts) with the Noco didn’t work.

The Genesis system also has voltage thresholds on both sides of the solenoid — so if either battery is below its threshold, pushing the button for the “self-jump” feature won’t work.

On fire risk: The hydrogen sulfide gas is flammable, but it still needs to be captured/accumulated and have an ignition source in order to produce a fire. In my case, the risk of fire was very low, because I left the hood open, the jeep was well away from the house, and I disconnected both ground cables.

Garages are likely places for fires to break out, and malfunctioning electrical devices are likely sources of ignition, but I don’t think there’s significant risk in leaving a smart-charger connected to your batteries. In my case, early and repeated deep discharges probably shortened the battery life dramatically and, once fried, my efforts at charging the batteries failed for some combination of the reasons discussed above. Once fully fried, the alternator‘s attempt to charge the batteries created the heat/smoke/risk.

There is a process for reconditioning AGM batteries that have been damaged. It reportedly works to fix some failures, some of the time. For me, given the age and condition of the batteries, the only smart solution was replacing both batteries.

 

[THAW]

I have spoke to Mike several times and he's a super guy, I have wanted to upgrade to the Gen 3 sys as I have the Gen 2 but when retired things get in the way like home repairs

Genesis makes a solid product and has excellent support

The Gen 3 system is no longer the latest version, the OMEGA system with a REDARC DC-DC charger (instead of a battery combiner) is the most recent release.

 

[Bayrat]

You could either disconnect the batteries when you are gone or put them on a two bank maintainer. Those are both methods I have used and continue to use. I also have a 10 amp charger/maintainer which I have used on my MINI Cooper for several years without any issues. It's currently on Gladys, the "Bare Bones" Gladiator.

Some have had an issue on Wranglers with the disconnect process leaving the electronics screwed up when they reconnect. So that is an issue to look into. I personally have not yet experienced that problem.

 

[RudeJeepin]

In theory, and according to the certified smart people I have consulted, a higher amp-rating on a “smart charger” doesn’t mean that it’s delivering more amperage all the time. The charger is supposed to read the condition of the battery it’s connected to and deliver the power it needs when it needs it. That’s what makes the charger “smart”. Higher amperage just gives it the juice to expedite and/or handle bigger tasks.

Smart 12 volt chargers also have a safety feature that prevents them from over-charging a 6 volt battery if they’re incorrectly/mistakenly hooked up to one: if the charger reads voltage below 6 volts it will shut off — which also explains why attempting to charge my most-fried battery (under 6 volts) with the Noco didn’t work.

The Genesis system also has voltage thresholds on both sides of the solenoid — so if either battery is below its threshold, pushing the button for the “self-jump” feature won’t work.

On fire risk: The hydrogen sulfide gas is flammable, but it still needs to be captured/accumulated and have an ignition source in order to produce a fire. In my case, the risk of fire was very low, because I left the hood open, the jeep was well away from the house, and I disconnected both ground cables.

Garages are likely places for fires to break out, and malfunctioning electrical devices are likely sources of ignition, but I don’t think there’s significant risk in leaving a smart-charger connected to your batteries. In my case, early and repeated deep discharges probably shortened the battery life dramatically and, once fried, my efforts at charging the batteries failed for some combination of the reasons discussed above. Once fully fried, the alternator‘s attempt to charge the batteries created the heat/smoke/risk.

There is a process for reconditioning AGM batteries that have been damaged. It reportedly works to fix some failures, some of the time. For me, given the age and condition of the batteries, the only smart solution was replacing both batteries.

You stated that the charger you had would shut off and not turn back on. So didn't sound like much of a smart charger to me.

The minivan that went up in smoke was in an open carport next to the house with the hood up. So no containment of the hydrogen sulfide gas.


Either way no big dea. You do you and I'll do me.

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