Exploding battery charger

[Hoges]

Bought a Projecta IC1500 about 18m ago en route to the Cape. Came in handy a couple of times. Since then it has been used every couple of months to maintain the deep cell camper batteries up to scratch.

Yesterday I was doing some diagnostics on the P38 with a Faultmate and to keep a consistent reading on the battery I attached the charger, turned on the 240V and then chose "Power supply" mode as per instructions.

all was going well for about 5 minutes when the "dashed" charger emitted a bang like a "penny bunger" had gone off inside inside it. The thing died :(...No harm to the electronics in the P38 or the Faultmate etc.

wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience?

FWIW I have a collection of multimeters and sundry other electrical equipment (some of it 35 yrs old and still in excellent working order)...this is the first time I've experienced anything like this.

Replacement is significant $$. Apparently they have a 1 yr warranty...have not heard from the distributor as yet...

I'm not in a mood to pull it apart and survey the damage...

[steveG]

I just bought one recently and they have a 2 year warranty so you might be in luck still.

We have quite a few low end switchmode battery chargers at work (Jaycar ones) for mobile workstations in the warehouse. Its quite common for the capacitors in the unit to explode, and the users report a similar experience to what you've described.
No idea if its just crap componentry or bad design etc.

Steve

[bee utey]

I haven't had much luck with "Projectile" brand electronics. Lead lamps, chargers, inverters. The C-tek charger I bought last year has been on my battery bank continuously for 9 months and is still going strong.

[Hoges]

Can't fault the Customer Service of the distributor...got an email and followup phone call within 24 hrs...looking positive...will let you know!

[Dougal]

I had a smart charger literally go bang on me a few years back. It originally popped a fuse, I removed the cover, change the fuse and was standing over it when I turned it on.
:eek:

Blew capacitors on the board clean open. Quite a thrill when it's that close.

[Hoges]

I had a smart charger literally go bang on me a few years back. It originally popped a fuse, I removed the cover, change the fuse and was standing over it when I turned it on.
:eek:

Blew capacitors on the board clean open. Quite a thrill when it's that close.

What day of the week did it happen...do you remember? Was is a "Faraday":eek: :wasntme:

[Hoges]

Bought a Projecta IC1500 about 18m ago en route to the Cape. Came in handy a couple of times. Since then it has been used every couple of months to maintain the deep cell camper batteries up to scratch.

Yesterday I was doing some diagnostics on the P38 with a Faultmate and to keep a consistent reading on the battery I attached the charger, turned on the 240V and then chose "Power supply" mode as per instructions.

all was going well for about 5 minutes when the "dashed" charger emitted a bang like a "penny bunger" had gone off inside inside it. The thing died :(...No harm to the electronics in the P38 or the Faultmate etc.

wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience?

FWIW I have a collection of multimeters and sundry other electrical equipment (some of it 35 yrs old and still in excellent working order)...this is the first time I've experienced anything like this.

Replacement is significant $$. Apparently they have a 1 yr warranty...have not heard from the distributor as yet...

I'm not in a mood to pull it apart and survey the damage...

Update: Resolved

Well ... Lo and behold! the Air Express man arrived at the front door today with... a replacement.. a brand new one! :D great advert for customer satisfaction.

I'd sent the unserviceable unit back if for nothing else so their techs could have a look at it, not expecting it to be replaced as I thought it out of warranty (over 12m) ...

Last time something like this happened was a couple of years ago when the US company which supplied the original auto diming rear vision mirror replaced it free of charge... after 10 years!!:eek:

cheers

[steveG]

So was it actually out of warranty (and they still replaced it), or the warranty was longer than you thought?

Steve

[Hoges]

I'm not really sure Steve... some of the printed matter indicated 12m warranty while some resellers quote 2 yrs.. Mine was abt 18 months old... perhaps it is also dependent on the state of the goods returned i.e. kept in good condition = better chance of good outcome ?

cheers

EDIT: just had a read of the warranty document whcih came with the original and compared it with the one which arrived today... the former states 12 months ...the most recent says 2 yrs!!