Rockola S2 controller battery exploded

Here's one I've not encountered before. The 3.6v 1200ma lithium battery in the S2 controller in my Rockola 494 exploded. I've not seen it for myself yet as the juke is in my son's dorm room at college. As he describes it, he jukebox was in normal operation when the power faded in and out in the machine a couple times. I've seen this condition as a fault in the S2 controller in another machine. When he lifted the dome to check it out, the lithium battery exploded with a loud bang and dusted the inside of the machine. Fortunately, the cover was on the S2 so no one was injured. Now I've got to go to check this out. When I've replaced these, I've soldered leads and mounted the battery outside the controller. Not the case here. This was, up until yesterday, a perfectly good working battery that would help the controller retain memory and boot up even if not played for a couple weeks. Even if the PCB isn't ruined (probably is), I'm concerned about replacing the battery. Anybody know why this would explode?
Patrick

Hi Patrick,
Seen that happen a couple of times on the S-2's--Both times, the computer was fine--just washed it out, replaced the NI-CAD battery( I'm pretty sure !) (outside, of course), and away it went.
Good luck, Ron Rich

Thanks, Ron. I haven't seen it yet but I feel better already. The one time I paid somebody to work on my (at that time one and only) jukebox, he removed what was left of the original battery and soldered in a lithium one: the purple Tadiran XL-050F. Since then, I've seen these on other machines and controllers I've picked up. Now I think I might want to remove all of them and replace them with Ni-cads.
Patrick

Patrick,
Usually the older units used a re-chargeable NiCad. I am 99.99 % sure, the S-2 did so. "Early" Li's were NOT re-chargable, and would tend to "explode" if installed in a charging circuit--You could use them, IF, you removed the charge diode--
Ron Rich

Patrick,
Usually the older units used a re-chargeable NiCad. I am 99.99 % sure, the S-2 did so. "Early" Li's were NOT re-chargable, and would tend to "explode" if installed in a charging circuit--You could use them, IF, you removed the charge diode--
Ron Rich