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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 😀
Time to go home and see if my house is still there (then off for a ride in the Lakes) 🙂
Power pack whine is quite common, doesn't actually mean there is something wrong. Lots on google about it e.g.
http://superuser.com/questions/22683/high-pitched-whine-from-newly-built-pc
18650s aren't LiPo, they're LIon aren't they? Quite different.
Plus you could use a cheap timer plug (Ikea did them for a quid I think).. wouldn't rule out all possibility of charger explosion but it might help a bit. And stick them in a biscuit tin!
Does Smudge have a website by the way? Interested in what he has done so far
Sorry Mr Agreeable, I thought you were suggesting there was a fan in there...hence why I smirked...agreed, the Hope charger doesn't get hot...the charger I have for my DX batteries (the DX torch) -
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1251
- doesn't get hot, the batteries however do get warm, but not that warm...the charger doesn't change temperature...I also ordered up the plug adapter from DX, figured in for a penny in for a pound and as I was getting the rest of it from there makes sense to buy it all at once.
Nasty!
As per stoner I never leave stuff on charge when I'm out of the house or overnight.
Ha ha sorry I assumed as db did that you meant some kind of active cooling.
Successful backpedal there, phew! 😉
I know nowt about electronics, as is clear, but from the forum reviews of the DX Bastid, isn't its charger only marginally more complicated than a straightened coat hanger with a couple of crocodile clips attached?
Why Bastid though? i'm still in the dark
😉
Why Bastid though? i'm still in the dark
Because it passes the swear filter & maybe he thought bast**d wouldn't?
The plug is a us one and as such the unit will be set up for 110volts and not our 240 so it not that supprising that some have gone pop. you would need to transfrom the voltage down to 110 to make it safe.
my dx charger did that too within a minute of turning it on!
kitchen smelt of burning plastic for days!
The plug is a us one and as such the unit will be set up for 110volts and not our 240 so it not that supprising that some have gone pop. you would need to transfrom the voltage down to 110 to make it safe.
the DX website claims the charger input is 100-240v, so you should just be able to plug it in.
I figure what I save on the cost of lights will pay for the extra insurance premiums if my house burns down.
for those that dont know I was sent an early Bastid DX light by 2unfit2ride for a strip down and checkout and did a review on here .
I had seen the term Bastid used by Ton on a few posts so nicknamed the light the Bastid as I thought it would be called that in a few boardrooms around the light makers world .
and it sort of stuck
not because I thought it was a bad light .
for the money it is a good light but it is a light / battery / charger / mount for £50 you would expect some failures and there have not been that many reported ones .
My DX charger never gets that warm, in fact the old 'vented' charger for my UK made and 3 times the price Fireballs got twice as hot!
No problems with the DX so far, it was £50 well spent. However I will be keeping my eye on it when it charges - never leave it when I go out (that goes with any charger).
To be fair Trout did warn of this in his review of my relatively early bastid light, it does get warm, but I think it doesn't get really hot.
I would love to know if the OP's charger really 'caught fire' or mealy melted?
In my mind there is a huge difference.
Cheers.
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owenfackrell - MemberThe plug is a us one and as such the unit will be set up for 110volts and not our 240 so it not that supprising that some have gone pop. you would need to transfrom the voltage down to 110 to make it safe.
Posted 2 days ago # Report-Post
No its not - taken from the DX site:
1x 100~240V AC Power Adapter (US Plug),
Sweet. Save a few quid buying cheap Chinese tat, and come home to a nice, warm fire..
Do Deal Extreme have good deals on fire extinguishers?