Exploding hoverboards

martyp

Hi all,

Yes I'm one of the many people that purchased one of these and watched in terror as they announced about the fires etc. on Watchdog and in the news etc.
Mine was direct from China and arrived funnily enough on 'Back to the Future' day in October and has only been charged once (unsure also if most of the dodgy ones are after that time, or the 15th I've seen?). It does have the cloverleaf style plug they warn about, it has 13A under it (unsure if that implies it is fused). I haven't used it enough to warrant a 2nd charge but last time it charged I watched it the whole time and unplugged it as soon as the light changed on the charger unit (it wasn't warm or anything).
I understand the risks surround charging it, mainly overcharging but intend to be very cautious of this.
What I thought is that if it's the actual plug that's risky (as well as potentially cut off and battery) then can I not just purchase another 2 pin power lead in the UK with proper 3 pin fused plug to connect to the charger?
(Please no comments about it being bad buying from China, illegal to ride in public etc.etc. I'm just wanting to know if the fuse in the plug is a major risk factor if it can be reduced alongside careful charging by buying a new plug and lead).

Thanks all

pappa_golf

sorry , missed the latest headlines , but seem to recall that the plugs were "cut down" in size and there were worries that you could touch the terminals as you plugged/unplugged them , something else from another TV prog/newspaper was that they actually did NOT have a fuse in them


now regarding the "cut down" the plug that amazon supply with the "firestick" must come close to being like yours!


if the above things are indeed wrong with yours , cut it off / replace or buy a new lead




hover on ,,,

martyp

Thanks pappa golf It's one of the cut down molded/sealed plugs like this:


I'll replace it with a safer UK version. The charger unit itself has questionable translation on the label but lots of warnings against overcharging etc. so looks like they did have some consideration for safety.

SailorSam

I hadn't heard of these until i heard them talking about them this morning on the news. And i thought 'hover boards' !!! Wow they sound great, you wouldn't think they could do anything like that.
I was really disappointed when they showed a picture, and it had wheels.
Am i dumb ? Well hover boards suggest they must hover, like a hovercraft.

kwikbreaks

If a moulded plug has a fuse it will be replaceable - no obvious fuse visible almost certainly means there won't be one. No charger should have a 13A fuse anyway - should almost certainly be 3A.

I doubt fitting a fused plug is going to solve this though - if the chargers or batteries are faulty there will always be a risk if fire. Safest option would be to charge it outside via an extension lead so long as there was no chance of rain. Even then a poor quality lithium ion battery can still catch fire pretty much any time.

pappa_golf

martyp wrote: »

Thanks pappa golf It's one of the cut down molded/sealed plugs like this:


I'll replace it with a safer UK version. The charger unit itself has questionable translation on the label but lots of warnings against overcharging etc. so looks like they did have some consideration for safety.

yup , cut down and easy to touch terminals , no fuse fitted as well , I would just get the plug chopped off and a new plug with a suitable fuse fitted.


the charging circit and the quality of the batteries is probably the same as every other product from china




the plug design was probably a nasty JPG sent from the UK and they remoulded the plugs used in America and other countries , not even realising a fuse was needed!


happy hovering ,,,,,,,,,,,,

martyp

SailorSam wrote: »

I hadn't heard of these until i heard them talking about them this morning on the news. And i thought 'hover boards' !!! Wow they sound great, you wouldn't think they could do anything like that.
I was really disappointed when they showed a picture, and it had wheels.
Am i dumb ? Well hover boards suggest they must hover, like a hovercraft.

Very true, not sure how they managed to attract that name. Think it's more of a media branding of them as I know they've been called loads of different things yet apparently they're pretty much all the same stuff coming from China. Mine came in a box saying 'Smart Balance Wheel', I think Swegway or 'smart balancing scooter' makes more sense.
There are videos of boards that 'hover' on Youtube, one uses electromagnetics over a metal surface so you have to always be on a metal floor for it to work... and most definitely 'don't work on water' as to quote the 2nd film...

Lumstorm

I saw it on the news and the woman said the plug was obviously not safe as you could see. I don't see how you can tell from the shape of a plug.

I have a variety of different plugs on various game consoles with three pin Canadian plugs and two pin Japanese plugs although most of these devices are 100V - 120V

esuhl

Lumstorm wrote: »

I saw it on the news and the woman said the plug was obviously not safe as you could see. I don't see how you can tell from the shape of a plug.

You can see that there's no fuse. A fuse is designed to prevent fire if the current gets too high.

Lithium-ion cells can also explode if the internal resistance becomes too high for the charging current. There should be circuitry to prevent this, but some of the random Chinese ones don't work properly.

Rubidium

pappa_golf wrote: »

yup , cut down and easy to touch terminals , no fuse fitted as well , I would just get the plug chopped off and a new plug with a suitable fuse fitted.


the charging circit and the quality of the batteries is probably the same as every other product from china




the plug design was probably a nasty JPG sent from the UK and they remoulded the plugs used in America and other countries , not even realising a fuse was needed!


happy hovering ,,,,,,,,,,,,

Bad advice!

The poor plug fitted simply identifies the product as substandard Chinese crap but the real problem is the badly designed internal charging circuitry, which is simply not good enough to charge Li-on cells correctly and safely.

pappa_golf

cameltoe wrote: »

Bad advice!

The poor plug fitted simply identifies the product as substandard Chinese crap but the real problem is the badly designed internal charging circuitry, which is simply not good enough to charge Li-on cells correctly and safely.

whatever ,




the power lead has been designed (badly) for a specific country (UK)


do you have PERSONAL knowledge of this supposed "badly designed internal charging circuitry," , and can you link us all to your published report on this?






I think , if you go and read all the reports on this product , they all refer to the PLUG being dangerous , very little if no mention was given to the charging circuit in general , just the plug