Oh dear! The joys of Chinese made battery chargers. Just bought a new one and some 18650 LiIons, shoved the batteries in, walked away and 5 minutes later ‘Pop!’ result is a dead charger and a faint smell of burning but thankfully nothing more. Surprised it happened as I bought from a decent UK source….still, email sent and I’m sure he will rectify the issue…not with another Trustfire charger though please!

is it CE marked? (not China Enterprises)

This happened a few year ago with one of my hope battery chargers, it happens! Just that people want to blame the cheapest all the time, 🙄

Yep CE marked…..CE tested? Perhaps

I know it happens when the best products and best quality control sometimes, which is why I’ve not named the seller yet and wont until it’s resolved. I fully expect to have it resolved with no issue, i am nervous about this particular manufacturer now though.

The quality/safety of some of the cheap Chinese is frightening. I quite often get emails (at work) from the safety authorities with examples of some of the equipment they have confiscated for not meeting the relevant standards. There is also a massive counterfeit market for chargers etc, many of them are lethal.

Don’t try to save a few pounds on cheap chargers, cables, extension leads etc. Get them from a reputable retailer. Also be warned that some of these goods are sold on well known websites via third parties.

Oh – and the CE mark means nothing to most of these ‘manufacturers’, they just slap it on.

Given the reputation that Chinese lithium battery chargers have, “Trustfire” as a brand name isn’t an inspired bit of marketing!

Surprised it happened as I bought from a decent UK source….

Should have bought it from an unreputable Chinese seller. 😉

All of my ms chargers, even the ones with uk 3 pin flats on, get plugged in resting on the hob via an rcd protected extension lead. I opened a dead one up once: I’d seen better soldering and circuit design in a GCSE technology class 20 years ago. Properly scary. I’ve also binned all the ms connectors as being junk and replaced them with AMP super seals ( as used on cars to connect things like injectors and coil packs)

FYI, the RCD will provide bugger-all help in preventing a fire. You’re already doing the sensible thing and charging them on a fire-proof surface.

It provides more protection than the piece of 30A Edwardian fuse wire that cover one of the 4 circuits in the house.

Yeah the UK seller I used tests the products and has examples of the bad stuff published on his web site, quite scary. He says he only sells products he has checked and has confidence in. I guess this one slipped through. I’ve used him before and had great experience that time so wasnt at all nervous about this charger. luck I plugged it in in the kitchen where it stood relatively safely on the work top, if I’d done as normal and plugged it in in the lounge or bedroom and left it on a carpeted floor things could have been worse. I still left my other charger on over night though…. life on the edge eh! 😉

I currently charge mine on a wooden kitchen worktop – would putting them in a frying pan help with the fire-proofing?

Obviously not actually frying them before someone takes the piss.

Oh and pussywillow, please take a day off – it’s just boring 🙂

(that’s a disclaimer smiley like you use, by the way).