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09-08-2015, 07:34 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: central PA
Posts: 978
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Caught a fire just in time
We were camping (dry camping) and running the inverter on the solar while charging some I-devices. Was just outside the camper sitting and chilling. At some point, I walked into the camper because the inverter was beeping..an alarm. I smelled smoke and started lookin. Found a wall-wart that powers an USB power strip smoking. Plastic shell was melting! Dang thing was too hot to hold. Luckily I just shut off the inverter, then grabbed my welding gloves that I use to hold my cast iron pans and threw it out the door. If I had gone for a walk that i was planning...oh boy!!!
Just a reminder never leave them things unattended!!! Even at home.
ps, no pix. Sorry. Never gave it a thought. But it did happen!
__________________
2000 Cherokee 29BH with 6V batteries, LED lights & 400 watts of solar power, flipped axles and raised. 2007 Tundra 5.7L DC-LB with lots of mods. C-co, 8/158th AVN Maint.
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09-08-2015, 07:40 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: St Pete/FL
Posts: 347
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Bet you're still shaking over that one! I suppose we all have those devices and don't think twice about plugging in and walking away.
__________________
Dobe Fanatic - Largo, Florida
2012 Flagstaff T12RB A-Frame
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09-08-2015, 07:43 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Pfafftown NC
Posts: 2,353
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So glad you caught it. You're livin' right.
Curious, is your inverter a modified sine wave or a pure sine wave? I get the feeling a modified sine wave.
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09-08-2015, 07:44 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,162
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Close one, luck you were there and caught it.
__________________
2014 Palomino Columbus 3650TH
435AH 12V VMax Charge Tanks, 520 watt Monocrystilline Solar Array, Morningstar MPPT TS-60 CC,Morningstar Remote,Cotek True Sine Wave Inverter,Cotek Remote Controller,50amp Progressive Hardwire Surge Protector
2015 Dodge 3500 6.7L 4X4
2011 CanAm Commander XT 1000
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09-09-2015, 04:44 AM
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#5
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: central PA
Posts: 978
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Evereddie
So glad you caught it. You're livin' right.
Curious, is your inverter a modified sine wave or a pure sine wave? I get the feeling a modified sine wave.
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Nope, pure sine wave, Samlex 1000 watt. I just think the wall-wart was cheaply made garbage.
__________________
2000 Cherokee 29BH with 6V batteries, LED lights & 400 watts of solar power, flipped axles and raised. 2007 Tundra 5.7L DC-LB with lots of mods. C-co, 8/158th AVN Maint.
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09-09-2015, 07:27 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Pfafftown NC
Posts: 2,353
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RPAspey
Nope, pure sine wave, Samlex 1000 watt. I just think the wall-wart was cheaply made garbage.
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Wow, that is unfortunate. Gives everyone caution.
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09-09-2015, 08:50 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Lexington, KY
Posts: 303
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RPAspey
Nope, pure sine wave, Samlex 1000 watt. I just think the wall-wart was cheaply made garbage.
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Most/all are. They are also one of the leading causes of house fires... A shame, since it wouldn't cost 10 cents to protect them internally. The UL should be ashamed. (most of them have the UL sticker.) Note, that most all of them get warm/hot. Most often they are powering/charging at a lousy 10W or less rate. They should hardly get warm... I periodically use an infared temp measuring gun on them. If they get over 105F they are too hot (IMO). Note that most computer power supplies will exceed this by quite a bit and there isn't much you can do about it. However they do have much better internal protection... (but they too have started fires.)
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09-09-2015, 10:32 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Pfafftown NC
Posts: 2,353
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When I worked at a TV station, we had lots of rechargeable batteries for the field gear. We only charged them up on a metal top workbench or put the chargers on a baking sheet. Maybe a small baking sheet for home gear wouldn't be a bad idea.
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09-09-2015, 10:37 AM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Waterloo Region
Posts: 729
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In the olden times, wall-warts were transformer-based. Less that could go wrong with them, but poor regulation.
Now, most wall-warts are tiny switching power supplies... better regulation but many more active electronic parts (that switch fractions of the full AC waveform across capacitors to maintain a set voltage across the capacitor) - each built in China by the lowest bidder.
__________________
2015 Rockwood Signature UltraLite 8282WS Platinum, GY Marathon LRD, TST 507RV TPMS
2005 GMC 2500HD CCSB D/A, Curt E16, Prodigy P2, Garmin RV760LMT w/BC-20 b/u cam
Self restraint is for the young. I'm old and want it NOW!
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09-09-2015, 12:34 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Ontario, California
Posts: 2,146
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RPAspey
Nope, pure sine wave, Samlex 1000 watt. I just think the wall-wart was cheaply made garbage.
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Glad to hear inverter OK. We run Samlex 2000 pure sine wave and use the remote switch to turn it off when not in use. Never think of a fire hazard, but do it to eliminate the 1-2 amp static draw when no 120 v. (Or with that thing I should say, 115v) load being run. Good plan for fire safety too I guess. Little HF 200 watt modified runs the D TV box with very low load while TV is 12v. 3 grp 24 batteries and 200 watts of solar and we are good indefinitely.
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09-09-2015, 12:36 PM
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#11
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Roanoke, VA
Posts: 99
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Am I the only one who doesn't know what a wall-wart is?
__________________
2006 Chevy Silverado 2500HD
2012 Rockwood 2902SS
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09-09-2015, 12:59 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Waterloo Region
Posts: 729
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Its slang for the black cube that you stick into a wall socket.
__________________
2015 Rockwood Signature UltraLite 8282WS Platinum, GY Marathon LRD, TST 507RV TPMS
2005 GMC 2500HD CCSB D/A, Curt E16, Prodigy P2, Garmin RV760LMT w/BC-20 b/u cam
Self restraint is for the young. I'm old and want it NOW!
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09-09-2015, 01:39 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Spring Valley OH
Posts: 833
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Thanks for asking Biscuit. You aren't the only one who was wondering what a wall-wart was.
__________________
2018 Berkshire 38A
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09-09-2015, 02:12 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 710
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[QUOTE=Jim Schings;978575]Most/all are. They are also one of the leading causes of house fires... A shame, since it wouldn't cost 10 cents to protect them internally. The UL should be ashamed. (most of them have the UL sticker.) QUOTE]
I'm retired now, but during my career, I worked closely with UL and had many of my submittals awarded the UL mark. (100+) There are many cheap products out there that have the UL mark attached but in reality they are not approved. Or the manufacturer changed the design from what was originally approved and failed to alert UL. If it were me, I would box up the part and send it to the nearest UL lab to my home with an explanation of what occurred. They will certainly investigate and determine if it was an isolated incident or something more dangerous. and follow up with the manufacturer. If your device does not have the UL mark, you might want to check for it next time you purchase an electrical product. In my experience, UL takes consumer safety very seriously.
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Heartland Big Country 3150RL
2013 Ford SD F250 4x4 SC; 6.2
Reese 18K Elite w/slider - Rockford, Michigan
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09-09-2015, 02:44 PM
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#15
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: central PA
Posts: 978
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[QUOTE=Lloydg;978923]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Schings
Most/all are. They are also one of the leading causes of house fires... A shame, since it wouldn't cost 10 cents to protect them internally. The UL should be ashamed. (most of them have the UL sticker.) QUOTE]
I'm retired now, but during my career, I worked closely with UL and had many of my submittals awarded the UL mark. (100+) There are many cheap products out there that have the UL mark attached but in reality they are not approved. Or the manufacturer changed the design from what was originally approved and failed to alert UL. If it were me, I would box up the part and send it to the nearest UL lab to my home with an explanation of what occurred. They will certainly investigate and determine if it was an isolated incident or something more dangerous. and follow up with the manufacturer. If your device does not have the UL mark, you might want to check for it next time you purchase an electrical product. In my experience, UL takes consumer safety very seriously.
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I threw it out before I thought about what I really ought to do with it. Oh well.
__________________
2000 Cherokee 29BH with 6V batteries, LED lights & 400 watts of solar power, flipped axles and raised. 2007 Tundra 5.7L DC-LB with lots of mods. C-co, 8/158th AVN Maint.
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09-09-2015, 02:56 PM
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#16
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1,441
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I'm happy to see that I'm not the only worry-wart who doesn't like to leave chargers plugged in when I'm not around. I'll put the charger and battery for my drill on the shop floor if I have to leave it. My workbench is too much of a fire hazard to leave the charger on it.
__________________
RamblerGuy
2011 Sunseeker 3100
2016 Ford Edge Toad
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09-09-2015, 04:00 PM
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#17
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Waterloo Region
Posts: 729
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That's good advice for the higher-capacity batteries they're stuffing upwards of 20V into these days. There's a reason the rules don't allow LI-ion batteries to be shipped in the cargo hold of passenger airliners - several disasters have occurred where those batteries burst into flames.
But you don't expect that from a 1" cellphone charger cube. I betcha I have over a dozen wall-warts plugged in full time at home... water softener uses one, internet router, cordless phones, computer speakers, etc. You'd have to try very hard to leave the house without at least something still drawing power. My house uses 580 watts with absolutely nothing actually switched on.
__________________
2015 Rockwood Signature UltraLite 8282WS Platinum, GY Marathon LRD, TST 507RV TPMS
2005 GMC 2500HD CCSB D/A, Curt E16, Prodigy P2, Garmin RV760LMT w/BC-20 b/u cam
Self restraint is for the young. I'm old and want it NOW!
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09-09-2015, 07:21 PM
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#18
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 50
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I'm curious.....can someone send a picture of that unit. I'm just not clear about what it is
Thanks craigi
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09-09-2015, 07:30 PM
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#19
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: New York
Posts: 323
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You mean most of an (ILLEAGL) UL sticker. Most small/cheap electric/electronics from over seas (not just china) do not have a legal UL sticker, this has been in the new many times. they copied the sticker and slap on everything to make us dummies here think it is safe WRONG!
__________________
B.Smith
2010 Cedar Creek Silverback 35ts
2001 GMC 2500HD w/ Allison & 8.1
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09-09-2015, 07:33 PM
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#20
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: New York
Posts: 323
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Very happy you were able to find this before it was I bigger issues, and that all the people are safe. Hope this was a lesson that most cheap things with a UL sticker are NOT UL approved. (read my other post in this thread about this.
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B.Smith
2010 Cedar Creek Silverback 35ts
2001 GMC 2500HD w/ Allison & 8.1
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