Solarstorm X2 Warning please read!

I know we’ve all heard the warnings about not leaving the chargers unattended because of the fire risk but never mind leaving it unattended, i shouldnt even plug the bloomin thing in! Just back off our night ride, solarstorm lasted an hourish then died, stumbled home the rest of the route with one light between two. Got home afterwards cleared up etc and decided to plug in the battery to recharge it. It had been plugged in about ten mins maybe, then a house/window shattering bang resonated through the entire house and the charging plug and battery pack launched itself across a room. Within a metre of our dog who is now refusing to leave our side, even lying on hard floors which she NEVER does, because it scared her so much. Threw out the fuses for entire house, has left a nice burn mark on the wall socket and a few smouldering marks on the dog bed that sits right next to plug. I think we’ll pay for a better quality light now as we were fairly disappointed with its performance when it did work on the trail. Much better spread and beam on our MagicShine!

Is that some kind of scone type biscuit in the top right hand corner of the first pic?

…possibly shaped like dogs?

Youch

and so it begins

Ooooooffff!

Yes its hand made dog biscuits http://katiescaninekitchen.com/%5B/url%5D they are amazing for your pet dog..

Please (in the nicest way) try and keep this on subject as i feel the message is important to owners of this light that you should not trust the battery and you should never leave the charger unattended at any time.

Anyone owning one of these please be careful.

Looks like a short circuit on the 230v side of the pcb, most likely caused by poor soldering. It’s concerning that these chargers are unfused, so if it does develop a fault it’s relying on the 32a breaker on the ring main to trip.
I’ve got a couple knocking about, but I don’t use them because I thought the rather basic charging circuit probably wouldn’t do a lot for the longevity of the battery packs. I think I’ll just throw them away now.

The short comings of the supplied battery packs have been discussed at length on one of the other threads – the general consensus is it’s a good light, but the battery and charger are pretty useless.

Ooof nasty! Poor doggy. To be fair, I’m pretty sure the Exposure charger (made in china) I had that went dodgy wasn’t fused either.

I plug mine into an RCD.

Yup it tripped the ring main (lucky we recently updated the electrics mains board).

No fuse in the plug to blow, thats a good point we failed to note.

I really hope you guys are ok!! That sounds very scary! Poor dog :(. The innards of yours look different to mine :/ Not sure if i should be worried.
Edit: Just took mine apart for another look. Mine is fused. I can’t believe they gave you an unfused power plug!! WTF! 😮

Can I buy your solarstorm off you? 🙂

Is it a UK plug or a 2-pin?

Is it a UK plug or a 2-pin?

Unfortunately it’s all the same dodgy-made-by-children-fake-CE-marked tat irrespective of the plug. Think I’m on my third one of these & they’ve all gone in a similar way. Might start charging them outside in one of these:

Is there a better off the shelf charger that could be re-purposed?

Is there a better off the shelf charger that could be re-purposed?

http://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk/mountain-bike-batteries/chargers/

I’ve got one good UK light and that charger does the others. I wouldn’t trust the HK stuff – i’ve got quite a bit of HK stuff at the office on UK converters – none of it’s fused and there have been a few explosive moments…

Report it to trading standards, risk of killing someone by the sound of it!

I always charge mine at work.
I think I’d have some serious explaining to do if that happened.
I don’t think the usual barf covering cough would suffice.

hot_fiat – Member

Unfortunately it’s all the same dodgy-made-by-children-fake-CE-marked tat irrespective of the plug.

Missing the point, 2-pins aren’t normally fused.

I guess you get what you pay for? Some might be good, some might not. QC probably non-existent.

Glad to hear that apart from a bit of dog-shock you are all OK.

Perhaps a Chinese light with a UK spec battery & charger would be the best balance between price & quality.

Report it to trading standards, risk of killing someone by the sound of it!

While I agree with you completely, unfortunately I believe it was from a chinese seller.

I also think anyone with this sort of plug should unplug it, wait for a few mins then open it to check for a fuse. The fuse Should be exactly where the wire connects from the plug pins and look like this

Received mine yesterday, with a UK plug.

Works fine.

Very happy with the performance v cost.

End of story.

End of story.

Probably just the beginning if the above is anything to go by.

Along with exploding battery chargers, these lights are bright enough to blind you aswell. And I’ve heard they can give you skin cancer if shone on an exposed part of your body for a long period.

Take care out there.

Pardon my ignorance of things electrical, but will plugging it in to an RCD stop that sort of thing happening?

Yes, I had this happen to me a few year back…..only it was a hope light. Thing is, I bet this has come from one of the fake solar x2, so please don’t blame it on them all. With how popular and good these lights are the majority of mountain bikers who go night riding will have them, so that’s quite a lot of people with dodgy lights from China that have been selling them for years now, and yours is maybe one of the very few reported? 🙄

GolfChick – Member
I know we’ve all heard the warnings about not leaving the chargers unattended because of the fire risk but never mind leaving it unattended, i shouldnt even plug the bloomin thing in! Just back off our night ride, solarstorm lasted an hourish then died, stumbled home the rest of the route with one light between two. Got home afterwards cleared up etc and decided to plug in the battery to recharge it. It had been plugged in about ten mins maybe, then a house/window shattering bang resonated through the entire house and the charging plug and battery pack launched itself across a room. Within a metre of our dog who is now refusing to leave our side, even lying on hard floors which she NEVER does, because it scared her so much. Threw out the fuses for entire house, has left a nice burn mark on the wall socket and a few smouldering marks on the dog bed that sits right next to plug. I think we’ll pay for a better quality light now as we were fairly disappointed with its performance when it did work on the trail. Much better spread and beam on our MagicShine!

Hmmmm, now I think you may have given the game away with that paragraph! 😆

End of story.
Probably just the beginning if the above is anything to go by.

Along with exploding battery chargers, these lights are bright enough to blind you aswell. And I’ve heard they can give you skin cancer if shone on an exposed part of your body for a long period.

Take care out there.

Far worse! These things have caused inter-planetary wars! It’s true! Honest! 😆

Was just thinking the same thing. I was charging three at a time the other day, but figure that the fuse on the power bar would blow before anything too spectacular happens

davidtaylforth – Member

Along with exploding battery chargers, these lights are bright enough to blind you aswell. And I’ve heard they can give you skin cancer if shone on an exposed part of your body for a long period.

What’s even worse is they run on electricity, some of which is nuclear electricity, which will cause mutations.

Northwind – Member
davidtaylforth – Member
Along with exploding battery chargers, these lights are bright enough to blind you aswell. And I’ve heard they can give you skin cancer if shone on an exposed part of your body for a long period.

What’s even worse is they run on electricity, some of which is nuclear electricity, which will cause mutations.

I actually heard that they are the sole cause of melting ice caps, it’s true, honest, 😆

Was just thinking the same thing. I was charging three at a time the other day, but figure that the fuse on the power bar would blow before anything too spectacular happens

I believe the fuse on the power bar would only blow if the plugs were drawing more that the amperage of the fuse rating. eg if it was a 13Amp fuse it would only trip at 3120 watts no?

I believe the fuse on the power bar would only blow if the plugs were drawing more that the amperage of the fuse rating. eg if it was a 13Amp fuse it would only trip at 3120 watts no?

Prefer my melting ice cap theory, 😆

What’s even worse is they run on electricity, some of which is nuclear electricity, which will cause mutations.

😀

Here’s the nuclear power plant being gripped by a mutated thumb that looks a bit like a mans head.

I believe the fuse on the power bar would only blow if the plugs were drawing more that the amperage of the fuse rating. eg if it was a 13Amp fuse it would only trip at 3120 watts no?

better than blowing the 32A fuse on the ring main

Not just nuclear, but French nuclear at that.

Older (from March this year) 3-pin flat version bought from MTB batteries has no fuse either:

So for us electrical Luddites what’s the solution?
I have a have a short extension lead into which I plug the charger and battery. This is then placed inside a le crueset sauce pan with the lid on.
Safe or not?

with the semi-nuclear explosion described above, you might want to think about what’ll happen to the lid when the Daisy Cutter lets go 😉

Hmm, you might do yourself a mischief lifting the le cruset.

I charge mine via a fused multi-way with them and the batteries resting on the hob. I’ve got a plug-in RCD in there as well, but only because my house was wired by Joseph Swann.

😀

well played sir

a le crueset sauce pan

I’d go for it, that thing would survive a direct hit. Would you feel comfortable taking a small screwdriver, unscrewing the two screws and opening it up? You would be looking for a small glass tube.
(sorry if that comes across as condescending!)