mistergrumpy
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 01:27 PM |
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Battery Charger Issues
Not strictly Locost related but electrical related.
My uncles just been on. He's bought a leisure battery from Halfords and a charger for his motorhome and put the battery on charge in the house
overnight. He's got up this morning and the 20amp charger fuse is melted, not just blown. This is the second time this has happened. He has no
receipts so Halfords have happily sent him on his way. What could be causing this?
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v8kid
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 01:36 PM |
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Slack fuse in fuseholder?
Poor connections to fuseholder?
Dead short and faulty fuse? (unlikely as it requires 2 coincidences)
You'd be surprised how quickly the sales people at B&Q try and assist you after ignoring you for the past 15 minutes when you try and start a
chainsaw
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britishtrident
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 01:45 PM |
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Most likely cause it it has been connected with wrong polarity ?
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mistergrumpy
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 01:50 PM |
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I thought of wrong polarity too but he says he's done it right plus this i sthe second time it's happened. He was wondering if it could be
a fault with the battery. Perhaps the terminal being labelled wrong?
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daviep
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 01:55 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by mistergrumpy
Not strictly Locost related but electrical related.
My uncles just been on. He's bought a leisure battery from Halfords and a charger for his motorhome and put the battery on charge in the house
overnight. He's got up this morning and the 20amp charger fuse is melted, not just blown. This is the second time this has happened. He has no
receipts so Halfords have happily sent him on his way. What could be causing this?
I'm absolutely speechless!!!!
Sorry to be harsh but it takes a special type of person to hook up a faulty piece of electrical equipment which gets hot and then go to bed.
If he is determined to charge batteries in the house while sleeping tell him to ditch the charger and go and buy the most expensive replacement
possible with every safety feature available.
Davie
“A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.”
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prawnabie
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 02:01 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by mistergrumpy
put the battery on charge in the house overnight.
This is the second time this has happened.
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mistergrumpy
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 02:09 PM |
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If he knew it was definitely faulty then I'd guess he wouldn't have left it alone.
Besides, I guess it's no less worrying than pointing a rifle at a camera and having your picture taken. 
Anyway, I'm not after the ins and outs of where a battery should be charged, I'm after suggestions as to why this has happened.
[Edited on 11/3/11 by mistergrumpy]
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daviep
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 02:21 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by mistergrumpy
If he knew it was definitely faulty then I'd guess he wouldn't have left it alone.
Besides, I guess it's no less worrying than pointing a rifle at a camera and having your picture taken.
Anyway, I'm not after the ins and outs of where a battery should be charged, I'm after suggestions as to why this has happened.
[Edited on 11/3/11 by mistergrumpy]
Hey only trying to give a piece of constuctive advice (which may save his life/home).
Stick a multimeter on the battery and see if the polarity is correct, but unless it's brand new I'm sure he would have realised it was
incorrect the first time he used it.
Buy the way it's a shotgun, which I had double checked was not loaded and I'm hardly in any danger standing behind the butt 
“A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.”
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mistergrumpy
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 02:40 PM |
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Yes, both battery and charger are brand new.
I know it's a shotgun, 7 years an armourer. £950 fine for pointing it in jest when I was in the RAF.
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v8kid
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 02:47 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Most likely cause it it has been connected with wrong polarity ?
Should still blow fuse and fuse holder should have a rating exceeding fuse capacity. Evidently not!
Doing it twice still qualifies your Unc. for the Darwin award though
You'd be surprised how quickly the sales people at B&Q try and assist you after ignoring you for the past 15 minutes when you try and start a
chainsaw
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mistergrumpy
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 02:52 PM |
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I would have thought that the fuse would have blown too or I know on my charger there's a light comes on to say it's connected
backwards.
Hardly Darwinism though is it? It's a melted fuse. It's not going to result in instant and immediate death.
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mr_pr
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 03:34 PM |
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Not sure what it could be mate.
Depending on where he is could he get access to something like an optimate? Or even invest in one himself. This would either charge it properly (and
safely overnight to please Mr. Shotgun  ) or if the battery is Kaput then it would at least diagnose and inform him of why!
on a side note... Pointing rifles/shotguns at another person. Big no no regardless of weapon state in more than just my opinion; firearms license
conditions and military law (though the military has a few exceptions )
.JPG)
My Build Progress
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mistergrumpy
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 03:38 PM |
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Yeah I have an Optimate but am working my afternoon shifts at the moment (which got changed to 5pm - 3am :mad so I'm a bit busy sleeping and
sorting stuff out to nip it across town but I think that's the answer too.
He knows very little about electrics so it'll be left to me to sort when I can find time.
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daviep
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 04:13 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by mistergrumpy
I would have thought that the fuse would have blown too or I know on my charger there's a light comes on to say it's connected
backwards.
Hardly Darwinism though is it? It's a melted fuse. It's not going to result in instant and immediate death.
My fear with the the fact that the fuse holder has melted would be that the battery was being overcharged and would begin gassing (producing large
amounts of hydrogen) and something such as the fuse blowing or the cable glowing would ignite the gas.
Until you've experienced a battery exploding when on charge then you may not appreciate what a violent explosion it produces.
As a side note the shotgun picture was taken with my camera on a fence post using the timer.
Regards
Davie
“A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.”
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jabbahutt
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 04:20 PM |
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Mr Grumpy
Sorry to hijack your thread but when and where were you serving as a plumber? I did 9 years, last 4 on Chinooks and Pumas. wonder if there are any
other ex plumbers on this site?
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Paul_C
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 05:38 PM |
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For a catastrophic error like wrong polarity the current is so high the fuse wire just vapourises. If it just melted then it's likely to be a
long term overload.
How old is the leisure battery? Could it have a damaged and have a shorted cell. Possible if it has been left for months without being charged.
It's worth checking the voltage if possible. They don't like being left to self discharge.
How sophisticated is the charger? In the good old days they relied on the impedance of the transformer without any official current control. A shorted
cell would cause overcurrent hence fuse melting or worse.
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PSpirine
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 06:47 PM |
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If he paid by card (credit or debit) then he can take them back to Halfords as faulty for a replacement. Card statement is sufficient.
Receipt is not required for faulty goods, just proof of purchase (which a card statement is). Had the same deal with Homebase, they swapped a tool no
questions asked.
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alawrence
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| posted on 11/3/11 at 08:01 PM |
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all plumbers are animals
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mistergrumpy
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| posted on 12/3/11 at 03:14 AM |
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The battery is brand new as is the charger although I don't know how sophisticated the charger is. I know that I went through 3 or 4 cheaper
type chargers with my Locost battery that kept blowing before I gave in and bought an Optimate.
I'd guess that he paid cash for them both, I don't even know if he has a bank card, he's a bit like Zak Dingle from Emmerdale, looks
like him too but with shorts on.
Davie, I have experienced a battery blowing up when one was gassing on a Wendy loader (armourer tool) and the lad connected earth first instead of
live and it sparked and blew up in his face. He looked like a black and white minstrel and it was me that rushed him to the med. centre.
Jabba. I was a plumber 1999-2006 served Lossie and Leuchars, mainly as a dumpy.
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Paul_C
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| posted on 12/3/11 at 01:13 PM |
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If the Charger is OK (but not great, it shouldn't blow fuses with a defective battery) then my guess is that the Battery has been sitting around
a while somewhere like Halfords or the Distributor or the Battery Manufacturer and has a shorted cell and has lost a couple of volts. Then a poor
Charger would attempt to output lots of current into around 10 to 11 V instead of around 12 to 13 V. Hence the over current and the fuse blowing.
Does the Charger blow fuses when trying to charge a good battery?
Can the Leisure Battery supply any current like light an automotive bulb?
A picture of the blown fuse may be helpful and data and or pictures of the charger and battery.
I presume that a leisure battery is designed to survive a few charge discharge cycles unlike a car battery but be cheaper than an industrial battery
designed for many charge discharge cycles.
I have worked where someone shorted out a 12 V 15 AH battery with a spanner. I just ran out of the building. Fortunately the spanner glowed red hot
but ddin't fuse and the battery didn't explode. The spanner plating was never the same again.
My younger brother's GTM Rossa had an electrical fire when the positive cable running between the Battery in the front and the engine in the
rear/middle pulled out of it's crimp and touched the subframe. Fortunately an extinguisher put out the burning PVC and after some surgery with a
few 100W soldering iron everything was OK.
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