Tonight as I was about to leave the garage and go in for diner the phone rang. It was a friend and we got into a long discussion. As I was standing there I heard a hissing sound. I turned to see my Dewalt battery in the charger going up in smoke. I unplugged it and threw it out the door. It continued to hiss, pop and smoke and was really hot to the touch. The battery had been put in there probably a week ago. I feel lucky that the garage didn’t burn down.
Has anyone else ever had this happen?
/P>
Replies
Dewalt has had a recall out for a couple years on some of there chargers because of fire haxard. It might be worth checking.
But I wouldn't recommend leaving them plugged in for weeks on end like that. Overnight is fine.
one weekend, I left the job forgetting that I had a bat on a charger. It was a three hour charger and the old kind that are not aware of whether or not the battery is already alive. Every time you plug it in it would start the three hours over again.
That weekend, there were a lot of lightening storms power outages and surges.
I was glad that it was in the basement on concrete because I didn't have what you could call a battery anymore when I got in on monday.
Excellence is its own reward!
I'll steer this thread away a bit ...
I unplug absolutely everything that's mine before I shut off the lights and walk off the job site each day ...
Have had to train a few helpers ... even experienced ones ...
I got the feeling not everyone does this.
I even unplug extension cords that aren;t plugged into anything else at the moment.
Only thing I'll leave on/in when I'm not there ... the radio when I run out to lunch.
Old trick my old man taught me ... that way the pain in the a$$'s can't easily track your lunch breaks! Sounds likie yer alwats in there somewhere.
But even the radio get's un plugged at the end of the day.
I always say ... if it burned down over nite ... I don't want to be in the line up.
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Excellent advice. Few people think of such things. Not only prevents risk of fire it prevents harm to a curious intruder such as kids. Job sites are like pools they're an attractive nuisance. You can't turn something on that's not plugged in.
Another my old man told me as a youngin, unplug any cord before you roll it up. That way you avoid doing the 60 megahertz shuffle.
Edited 11/21/2003 10:54:35 PM ET by JAGWAH
I have the same habit - but I'm less than perfect and some days get so hectic that....
Excellence is its own reward!
This summer, 14.4v battery went up in smoke, hissing and spitting. Had to buy a new battery and charger. Didn't know about any recall. Wish I had.