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Battery failure on lifejacket light

One of our members has reported that on one of their vessels they found that the battery to the lifejacket had swelled out, resulting in a ruptured battery. The maker of the battery is McMurdo and the expiry date was January 2002. Below is a picture of the ruptured battery.

When the member alerted its other vessels to this failure, another vessel reported that on checking its lifejackets, two lifejacket lights were found in a similar condition to that above. The expiry dates for their batteries were August 2001 and May 2003.

The member is now in discussions with the manufacturer on this issue.


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