I??d like to thank whoever posted the picture of the burning garage on social media with the comments about it being attributed to a dewalt ?ÿbattery charger..... SWMBO has made it a mission to unplug every charger she sees..... I doubt I will ever again have a battery with a full charge....
In 2008 I was running a large static project that used staffers from an assortment of public agencies as GPS observers.?ÿ Each staffer was assigned a complete setup (receiver, antenna, cables, tripod, battery, charger, project manual) and directed to charge the 18 ah SLA battery each night using the assigned Battery Tender charger.?ÿ I'd been using these battery/charger combinations for years with no trouble, but one of the staffers, who was using his agency's lab as a charging station, came in one morning came in to find that the battery had exploded, liberally distributing sulfuric acid all over the lab bench and walls.?ÿ Apparently the cleanup effort was considerable, and the lab manager read me the riot act about it.?ÿ I still haven't seen another one of those batteries explode, though I have had a couple of them go bad, getting hot and exhibiting a worrisome bulge.
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I had a laptop battery charge circuit go bad.
The battery over heated significantly. The plastic melted and bubbled, and there were scorch marks in the plastic desk protector underneath it.
I believe the fact that it was sitting on the protector, not the leather desk top saved the whole house from going up.
Be safe with battery chargers, I had a fire many years ago from surveying charging equipment and I would not wish that on anyone.?ÿ Slow sooty burn that blackened everything and the aftermath absorbed the strongest flashlight beam.?ÿ Oh, .. and by many years I mean it was NiCD, LOL.?ÿ
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Lesson learned - Separate and away from other things and on a metal shelf