My house almost burned down today

[Vesper]

This is a good reminder. I would suggest always charging any batteries in a fire-proof container of some kind. I bought a small metal bucket from ikea for this purpose.

 

[snakyjake]

Can the reduced input voltage from 12v to 5v be the solution to the melting (ref)?

 

[cave dave]

When did the V3 come out? I bought one direct from 4Sevens site for a friend in Oct.

 

[Lou Minescence]

4 Sevens customer service is great. New charger on the way. I decided to open up the old one to see what is in the melted spot. Here are a couple of photos for the curious:

If your charger has a chemical smell while in use, check these areas as well as under the decal as shown in post #10. I only noticed the hot smell while charging larger batteries on the one amp setting. I have used the charger quite often.

The one thing I learned from CPF is don't charge lithium-ion batteries unattended. I don't know if this hot spot would have progressed to a fire. I would guess not. I would think the what ever component would eventually have burned out and the charger would have quit. The plastic body of the charger does burn. I was able to light a test piece on fire with a propane torch.

 

[snakyjake]

I don't know if this hot spot would have progressed to a fire. I would guess not. I would think the what ever component would eventually have burned out and the charger would have quit.

Hopefully something like that wouldn't cause the lithium-ion battery to burn....or explode.

Thanks for the photos. Hopefully someone will be able to identify some issues.

If it was just cheap components, I suppose it is a universal potential problem with most items from China, not just 4Sevens. But if it is a 4Sevens design problem or relationship with the manufacturer, I'd stay away from it. Unless I'm assured V3 is safer. But there is now 2 documented cases of this problem on CPF. And I'm not reading similar problems with other chargers, except La Crosse.

Lithium-ion is risky enough, and having a dangerous charger seems....asking for more risk. I guess I don't know why people are still buying a charger when there's been 2 cases of a meltdown, that could have turned into a lithium-ion explosion.

 

[snakyjake]

In the top left hand corner I see "REV 3.0".
Can you also check the voltage specification of the power supply? 5 volts is the V3.
I presume you have a "V3" charger that had the meltdown.

 

[Lou Minescence]

In the top left hand corner I see "REV 3.0".
Can you also check the voltage specification of the power supply? 5 volts is the V3.
I presume you have a "V3" charger that had the meltdown.

Good eye snakyjake. The charger is V2 or version 2 according to the decal on the back cover. What you saw on the circuit board must be for the circuit board it's self.

 

[Black Rose]

When did the V3 come out? I bought one direct from 4Sevens site for a friend in Oct.

I bought mine direct from 4sevens.ca in late October.

Was listed as a V2 on the site, but was shipped a V3.

 

[dudemar]

Whew! I think it's posts like these that keep customers (not just CPFers) safe! :thumbsup:

 

[dieselducy]

Whew! I think it's posts like these that keep customers (not just CPFers) safe! :thumbsup:

I was thinking about a 4sevens charger but after this I think ill stick with the charger that came with my wickedlasers Arctic spyder iii. I had a shekor charger and it was VERY good but it S### the bed.

 

[Stephen Wallace]

A question for Dave or Trevor from 4Sevens - has this proven to an issue limited to specific versions of the V2 charger, or are all V2 versions of the charger likely to exhibit this fault at some stage? I have one V2 charger and one V3, and wondering if it would be prudent to discontinue use of the V2.

I'd shove the cradle chargers in a LiPo safety bag, but then you can't see when the light changes..... :shrug:

Thanks
Stephen

 

[New_World]

thanks for the post.
glad everything turned out okay

 

[lateralus180]

I just wanted let everyone know that the new charger 4Sevens sent me has been working 100% over the last three months. Their customer service is top notch -- after posting the thread here asking what the problem may have been, I received an email from customer service letting me know that my new charger was already shipped. I guess they took my CPF user name and looked up my account on 4Sevens' web site to get my mailing address.

 

[Therrin]

I tend to charge my stuff in the bathroom now, in the sink actually! I know you're not supposed to get the stuff anywhere near actual water, but I always make sure the sink is super dry, then set the pack inside while it's charging. That way at least if something catches fire it's in a porcelain bowl, and there's a tile floor below it.

I've left these kinds of dual-bay chargers going and come back hours later and realized they'd prolly been on green for a while. Not gonna do that anymore.

 

[Databyter]

It seems that the best way to protect from potential failure, is to charge in the open, not next to a wall, or in a corner where there is a vertical surface, and to make sure that your charger, of any brand or reliability, using any batteries, is on a ceramic tile, or other suitable no flammable surface.

I always move my charge's into an open area, but am guilty of mostly doing it on carpeting, but I think I shall take my own advice from now on. Easy, and peace of mind.

 

[TPA]

I usually do my charging on top of my stove these days. I figure it's rated for high heat and there's nothing inherently flammable about it or the granite countertops adjacent to it or the porcelain tile backsplash. If I wanted to take it to the next level, I could put it in the oven, BUT my thought is that if it's THAT dangerous/unreliable that I need to put a charger in the oven every time I go to use it, I shouldn't be using it.

 

[srfreddy]

I'm on my 3rd 4sevens charger, the first 2 wrecked 18650's. I left them charging on the floor beside my desk, when i checked on them, the cell was way to hot to even touch momentarily. I chucked the cells... Now am keeping a very careful eye on my chargers.