Bike light charger fire

[new_spark]

Hi,
Apologies for the long story but here goes,

A friend has just sent me the attached image of a bike light charger that exploded and caught fire on the kitchen work top. The charger has a USB cable and it was plugged into their laptop and then into the light.
Now it's not a dodgy Chinese charger as far as I know and I'm looking for explanations as to why, you can see that the cable has melted near to the charger plug.
Coincidentally they had a fusebox fire yesterday they managed to get DNO out and after pleading with them they came out (surprised at that) and made it safe and adviced them it was probably down to a loose connection on one of the MCBs. Sounds about right, however a neighbour who said he is a spark offered to swap the board for them and he completed this today, he has charged them the mates/neighbours rates of £150, very good price even to mates! So when I asked if he has given certs etc she said no just swapped the board so I say well has he done full testing of all circuits? no he just swapped the board. Obviously my concerns are that the board may not have been fitted correctly but could any mistakes made at the board have caused the charger to overheat? I thinking possible L-N reversal but as it was the laptop plugged into the mains I would have thought that the laptop would be affected 1st.
Might be just bad luck 2 fires in 2 days but opinions welcome!!

 

[trev]

Has your friend paid this "electrician"?

 

[new_spark]

Forum won't allow me to attach the pic any ideas?

 

[trev]

Photobucket and post a link?

 

[new_spark]

Yes apparently he normally gets a mate to sign his work off.

 

[trev]

Tell her to go and see him to demand that HE comes back RIGHT NOW to test and certify this install, she also needs to tell him that HE will arrange notification in accordance with part pesh. If he hums and hars she should threaten him with LABC (who will do nothing but he might not know that) Trading Standards (who likewise will probably do nothing but he might not know it) The police(because a law has been broken) The local paper (to warn others of him hitching his horse outside) etc etc.
There is of course the risk that he'll laugh at her but.......
If he does do the right thing then he should be supervised (by you) during the testing procedure.
She should then write to the manufacturer of this bike light charger telling them of the problem. The 2 things probably are not connected but you never know.
I'd lay odds that this thing's provenance can be traced to a country in the far east.

 

[new_spark]

Thanks try this

http://i1290.photobucket.com/albums/b527/dainesee/Mobile%20Uploads/Leos%20fire_zpsv5iarzu5.jpg

 

[trev]

Link doesn't work mate.

 

[new_spark]

I know I've told her but of course she thinks he's done her a favour looking at it on the night replacing it the next day great price etc. I will go look at the weekend and see what sort of job he's done but it just shows you how most folk don't give a hoot about Part P!!

 

[shanky887614]

Thanks try this

http://i1290.photobucket.com/albums/b527/dainesee/Mobile Uploads/Leos fire_zpsv5iarzu5.jpg

you should use the img wrapper

 

[trev]

Get on to Sintra or Marvo about the photo thing mate, there might be a restriction on your account still hanging around after the last security scare which they can lift for you.
We all will want to see pictures of this person's work

 

[shanky887614]

Get on to Sintra or Marvo about the photo thing mate, there might be a restriction on your account still hanging around after the last security scare which they can lift for you.
We all will want to see pictures of this person's work

remember at the moment it is all arms members can post pictures direct on the forum

 

[new_spark]

Try this one I've just copied n pasted it into explorer and ut worked

http://s1290.photobucket.com/user/dainesee/media/Mobile%20Uploads/Leos%20fire_zpsv5iarzu5.jpg.html

 

[shanky887614]

Try this one I've just copied n pasted it into explorer and ut worked

http://s1290.photobucket.com/user/dainesee/media/Mobile Uploads/Leos fire_zpsv5iarzu5.jpg.html

click the url button when you post a message

bassially so it is inside [IMG[/IMG]

put a ] before the [ in the middle and image link in the middle

 

[new_spark]

Ok thanks I'll look into that, I've not posted for a while! I'll post pics of the board at the weekend when I've been for a looksie. Whats img wrapper??

 

[shanky887614]

Ok thanks I'll look into that, I've not posted for a while! I'll post pics of the board at the weekend when I've been for a looksie. Whats img wrapper??

ok, when you go to post a reply click on advanced,

if you click on image you can post a url to your images

by wrapper i mean the code that tells the forum what it is

for example [URL tells the forums its a link
[IMG tells the forum its an image and it will show it as a pic

 

[new_spark]

Ok I'm on android phone app at the min and doesn't have all the options of the website so I'll do it from the laptop when I have them.

 

[Plonker 3]

Ok I'm on android phone app at the min and doesn't have all the options of the website so I'll do it from the laptop when I have them.

You should get tapatalk as you can upload pictures direct from your phone with that. I would do it myself but would get a long ban for posting a picture from my phone.

 

[Knobhead]

I suppose it makes a change “my friends next door neighbour” as someone to blame when things go wrong.

 

[Englishman]

she also needs to tell him that HE will arrange notification in accordance with part pesh. If he hums and hars she should threaten him with LABC (who will do nothing but he might not know that)

I thought this was ultimately the homeowners responsibility to inform LABC?

 

[Deleted member 26818]

I thought this was ultimately the homeowners responsibility to inform LABC?

Yep.​tep

 

[Lucien Nunes]

I don't expect the two events are related. There's nothing you can do at the CU to 'alter' how the laptop charger works - either it gets 230V between L&N in which case it charges the laptop, or it doesn't. Polarity doesn't matter. Inside the laptop, the 20V DC - or whatever the charger produces - is converted to various other voltages including 5V for the USB output. So even a malfunctioning laptop charger would, as you say, normally fry the laptop innards first, before affecting anything plugged into the USB ports.

The only really obscure and nasty scenario I can invent to connect the two is that the final circuit that the charger was plugged into had its CPC connected to line at the CU, making the laptop chassis (and probably everything else in the room) live. Then somehow the output side of the bike lamp charger contacted real earth potential and the fault current passed through the laptop charger and laptop DC ground without visible harm but fried the final link in the chain.
Other than this almost-inconceivable occurrence, it's just coincidence.

It's hard to get enough power out of a USB port to do real damage, even at 2A it's 10W, half a soldering iron's worth of heat. But if something on the output side shorts, the lamp battery might discharge back into the short and even a small LiIon can pack a punch and burn things out sharpish. Also, some of these products are not made of properly self-extinguishing plastics so once something gets too hot, the whole casing bursts into flame.

I would be interested to see a close-up of the PCB from inside the charger. I see a lot of blown-up power electronics and can often reconstruct the chain of events.

 

[Marvo]

These switch mode chargers are downright dangerous, I've personally had two that have gone molten and I know someone that lost the contents of his garage because of one that combusted. I've now set up a single charging shelf in our house with a large multiplug which is on a 24 hr timer so it switches off at 11pm and back on at 7am, that way there won't be a fire when there's nobody around to deal with it.

I agree with Lucien, it's highly unlikely the charger fire was related to anything happening in the CU.

 

[trev]

I thought this was ultimately the homeowners responsibility to inform LABC?

Yes it is but this clown might not know that.

 

[driverman]

These charges are extremely dangerous, especially cheap imported ones that swamp this country. Saw one on TV other day, whereby a visitor to a friends house plugged in an e-cigarette charger. It ignited and burnt all the kitchen out! There are numerous reports of these things going wrong.

 

[dens333]

I suspect it was foul play from the green skeleton!

 

[VoltzElectrical]

These charges are extremely dangerous, especially cheap imported ones that swamp this country. Saw one on TV other day, whereby a visitor to a friends house plugged in an e-cigarette charger. It ignited and burnt all the kitchen out! There are numerous reports of these things going wrong.

I saw one on one of those consumer programs like watchdog, where one woman bought a charger from a market whilst on holiday, for her grandson's device and it electrocuted him.

 

[driverman]

I saw one on one of those consumer programs like watchdog, where one woman bought a charger from a market whilst on holiday, for her grandson's device and it electrocuted him.

And more than likely no one prosecuted.

 

[mike the bull]

Did you check the ends of bike light charger. I know had smart phone chargers where the ends are loose or broken in the cord ends