Safety Warning about the TrustFire All-in-One Charger

[iskor12]

This is certainly an odd one, I have this same unit and also include them with package deals. I would have figured this may happen to the cheaper 5$ CR123A charger.

I opened mine to compare the guts to the 5$ unit, and this charger has a nice PCB, looking fairly well designed.

Is it possible that damage from shock or liquids may have had something to do with it?

You should really post some pics of the section of board where all the scortch marks are. Id like to know approx where the trouble was... LOL, I just ordered 20 of these a week ago..


*edit* I forgot too mention, I have only used this type charger with 10440 and CR123A cells, perhaps this is why ive had no issues. Though I have charged more than 10 sets of CR123A's in a row... Could be just the large cells?

Like I have said before...I don't have any pictures of it. I threw it away right after opening it, due to it stinking up my appartment. I don't have the charger anymore...sorry. I did describe earlier that the long wire on the back of the board had the rubber melted off of it and that the fire looked like it originated towards the top of the charger...near the power suply.

That is all of the information that I have.

 

[ProjMan]

Lithium batteries are pretty dangerous. Buying cheap junk chargers and batteries is not a good idea specifically because of the fire risk.

Burning lithium batteries can't be put out with a fire extinguisher.

 

[mkdive]

Burning lithium batteries can't be put out with a fire extinguisher.

true to a point, but you have to put out the items around the garage the lipo battieres caught onto fire out! And actually it extingushed the bits and pieces of burning battery out too.

 

[JLSE]

About 3 years ago I had a green laser hooked up to a lithium cell from a cell phone battery. The wires had shorted while on the bench, and I noticed the square aluminum pack had swelled up like a balloon! Just as I noticed, I pulled the wires off and ran, lol, 2 seconds later a bang and a flame, it scortched the table top and melted the finish.

That was the day I learned how dangerous they can be.

Though since then, I have had not 1 lipo, nor charger explode or catch fire. So either im lucky, or they are not as dangerous as made out to be.

Have there been reports of these batteries going off as well? or is it just the chargers that are the concern?

Personally, ive had no trouble with either. Just batteries that stop working due to the protection cct.

Lithium batteries are pretty dangerous. Buying cheap junk chargers and batteries is not a good idea specifically because of the fire risk.

Burning lithium batteries can't be put out with a fire extinguisher.

 

[ColdStl]

Were they protected batteries being charged? Either way, I guess I'll be ordering one of those liposacks. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[ProjMan]

true to a point, but you have to put out the items around the garage the lipo battieres caught onto fire out! And actually it extingushed the bits and pieces of burning battery out too.

The nightmare scenario with lithium battery fires is that you use up your extinguisher putting out what the battery ignited only to have the (still burning) lithium ignite something new.

Lithium batteries aren't bottled death but they are dangerous and should be treated with care.

When using or charging lithium batteries of unknown quality, work over a non-combustible surface (metal, concrete, sand, etc) and keep a bucket of very dry sand handy as a backstop fire extinguisher.

 

[iskor12]

Were they protected batteries being charged? Either way, I guess I'll be ordering one of those liposacks. Thanks for the heads up.

Yes they where protected cells that still work just fine. I have used them in other chargers since then.

 

[Superman97]

Its no fluke, it happened to me once before and it almost happened again five minutes ago.

 

[joeyss]

I just wanna add during charging check the temp with an IR thermometer it should be within 15 degrees of room temp if it gets above like 30 you may want to pull it out.
All mine always stayed within 15 or degrees of room temp and I rebalnced old laptop packs and I checked the temp. If the charger gets really hot and the battery reads hot unplug it.Heat is what makes one of these things go. There are other factors but this may save you from an explosion if the battery reads hot.