My DX (Bastid) light charger caught fire this morning. I was out of the house at the time, having put the battery on charge before nipping out. Came home to find what you see below. Doesn't seem to have killed the battery, and luckily it burnt out it's own power supply so didn't burn the house down. Now need to source a replacement charger, but in the meantime if you own a Bastid, I'd not leave it charging unsupervised.
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dang... that could've been nasty!
How weird. Last night I was thinking how hot the charger gets and that I wasn't happy about leaving it unattended due to the chance of it catching fire 😕 This isn't good at all will be charging it at work methinks (plus free leccy 😆 )
I don't leave any LiPo charger unattended...
Shit mine is left plugged in at home - forgot to unplug it before I left. 😯
*awaits 'wouldn't have got that with a Hope' comments 😛
that's my one concern about the DX light.
Didn't stop me ordering one though, just going to make sure I'm about when its charging and there is a smoke alarm in the same room.
same as sfb, I leave no Lithium technology charging untended.
When you say Bastid, what exactly do you mean?
Not an out of the box dx?
Yep, an out of the box DX (Magicshine) bike light.
"I leave no Lithium technology charging untended."
the long winter evenings must just fly by...
I leave no Lithium technology charging untended.
Laptops?
I leave no Lithium technology charging untended.
Why not? Surely the charger should be able to look after itself?
When I say untended I mean I dont leave one going and leave the house, or leave one charging overnight.
Even top brands have problems with faulty batteries and overheating chargers.
http://www.v3.co.uk/vnunet/news/2162968/apple-joins-dell-recalling-8m
And when a Li-ion battery fails it might not necessarily just short and stop charging, we've all seen the Youtube vids of them when they go pop.
Cheap stuff in poor quality shocker.
why bastid?
Cheap stuff in poor quality shocker
Apple, sony, dell?
cheap indeed.
i leave them in a pyrex bowl if i'm out of the house and they are charging
good idea MRMW. Might try that.
Do you put a lid on too? Obviously with a bit of a gap for venting...
Send it back and ask for an amended replacement?
Surely the charger should be able to look after itself?
and nicely unplug itself when doom threatens ? Actually it's the cells that are most dangerous, but several of my chargers do get very hot in operation and it would be possible for them to fail in such as way as to short out the battery pack and ignite that too 🙁
My Hope make a very faint squeaking noise when it's charged, like a hyperactive hamster on a badly-oiled wheel. I'm guessing that this is due to some additional cooling technology that you don't get when you buy bargain-basement shod. 🙂
no, got the idea from a mate who has RF helicopters. I've had a few laptop power supplies go bang but they are all thermally protected so highly unlikely to catch fire. cheap light chargers are a different kettle of fish all together
I wonder what Battery-pro Smudge's opinion is on the matter?
Have you checked with Hope about this!?!!My Hope make a very faint squeaking noise when it's charged
Ps. Arent mobile phone charges one of the biggest causes of house fires?
What voltage is the pwoer supply in Hong Kong? I don't have an adapter to plug mine into the mains, but I do have a 240v to 110v transformer from an old american Sony amplifier that has the same output as the charger for the light needs. So I've been charging at 110v instead of 240v. Can anyone advise if this is likely to cause a) longer charging times and b) cooler charging temperatures?
Would a circuit breaker be advised for this sort of charging?
My Hope make a very faint squeaking noise when it's charged
a lot of wall wart type chargers make a barely audible squeak or buzz.
I use the DX P7 torches.
I'd never leave a pair of the 18650 cells charging unattended.
Always do them at work where I can keep an eye on them.
How long you had the light Padowan? If i remember right earlier lights, well the units, had some QC issues that were rectified. Wonder if the batteries have undergone the same changes.
*has 2 lights being shipped to him and a touch worried now*
Yep - my charger did exactly the same the second time I used it. DX replaced it; it took about six weeks from my first email to the charger arriving.
Edit - in fact...looking at your images again, the burn out was around that same resistor and capacitor.
I've had a lumicycle charger go into meltdown too...
I'd never leave a pair of the 18650 cells charging unattended.
+1
personally I charge mine in the bath.
erm, why are they called "Bastid" ??
just wondering like..
Maybe they have added a modification to the charger. I know there is a demand but there have been some delays from the supplier to DX use lately.
why bastid?
I think it was Trout's term of affection, not meant as a slur but more in the sense of 'bastid little DX light, it's unbeatable at that price' 😉
Also i suppose it is worth bearing in mind this is the first one to go up in flames (kinda) i have heard of.
El Presidente!How long you had the light Padowan? If i remember right earlier lights, well the units, had some QC issues that were rectified. Wonder if the batteries have undergone the same changes.
I've had the light a couple of months now. When it arrived I opened it up and it seemed to have the modifications that came after the original comments (thermal paste etc) so I think it's one of the updated ones.
I can't be ar$ed to send it back to DX for a replacement, I've got some Sony camcorder chargers that are the same voltage and current, designed for Li batteries so I'm going to lop off the charging cable from the burnt out charger and solder it into one of the Sony ones - added benefit is that the Sony charger has a 12VDC input so I can charge it in the car without using an inverter!
For the record does anyone know of a UK supplier of the same type of charger? Or is the cable that goes into the battery proprietary so the mod Padowan suggest the only way?
As many have posted I am always "around" when charging my DX (don't go off to the coast for the weekend that is)
The 'tronics are what they are, just be cautious I say
Mr Agreeable, care to open it up and see what the squealing is coming from?
Sounds like a capacitor to me
A friends bastid charger set on fire the first time he plugged it in. I took it apart and it just appeared to have shorted out. I think he's still taking to them about sending a replacement charger rather than having to send the whole lot back.
My own one has been fine but I don't leave it charging when I'm out of the house.
I was playing with a set of Hopes for a few weeks and the charger never squeaked or squeeled when I was using it...in fact I've got a mate who has just opened upa bike shop and has a small number of Hope lights in stock (at good prices) - I'll ask him to try them all and see if any of them squeak.
I did smirk when I read your post suggesting it was some sort of cooling operation - as the charger is encased in a sealed unit, I'm not sure how it could be cooling as there is nowhere for the hot air to go or cold air to be drawn in...
However if you think spending that amount of cash on a light and charging system gives you that facility then carry on...I suspect there is something not quite right with it to allow you to hear the squeaking though rather than a rather clever cooling system.
El Presidente! - Member
Also i suppose it is worth bearing in mind this is the first one to go up in flames (kinda) i have heard of.
I posted up on the old forum when mine went up in a puff of smoke (about a year ago)
got this more expensive charger as a replacement and it's been fine since then. (but I know **** all about this sort of thing)
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1251
could someone point to a new charger that would work with the 18650 battery pack - smudge maybe could knock some up?
care to open it up and see what the squealing is coming from?
Er, no. 🙂 It's not a noisy sound, it's barely perceptible. But you can hear it when the battery's fully charged. When I described it as a cooling mechanism I meant it doesn't get hot in the first place, not that there's a wee fan in there.
Does smudge offer a battery / charger that would work with the DX light do you know - I'd be up for buying a spare battery 😀
