I always unhappy about having battery chargers running. I'd like to make a fireproof box for all the chargers, and ideally a smoke or heat detector that turns off the power to the box if anything goes wrong. Is anything available commercially?
More likely to overheat in an enclosed, unventilated box!
What a about a fire safe - used in reverse.
Wot! Your not going to build it?
You can get fire resistant board, modern version of asbestos cement boards. Angle iron to join the corners together. Ventilation has alrady been mentioned, perhaps the slots/holes could have hinged flaps of the fire board that drop over them when the smoke/heat detector is triggered.
Some domestic smoke/heat detectors can have relay base for switching things on being triggered. Here they turn of the power to the magnetic door catches so the doors between parts of the building close.
Be aware that there are "rate of rise" or "absolute temperature" heat detectors out there, I think and absolute temp detector would be best in this application.
detector that turns off the power to the box if anything goes wrong. Is anything available commercially?
I had much the same concern when I built my motorhome. The solution was to put the inverter, chargers, and voltage converters in a steel wall cabinet. I fitted a thermostat in the cabinet set to turn a fan on at
30C. The fan discharged into a heat-resistant flex duct which (together with the input duct) went straight to the outside. The fan turns on (I can hear it) if one of the chargers are working hard. Typically this would be when one of the 24V batteries is in need of charge due to use of the microwave.Bill
What drivel. Without ventilation it would overheat. With ventilation the toxic gases produced in any fire would escape into the house. Ergo any such project is dangerous/pointless folly.
There is a very slight possibility of fire. It is the toxic fumes that kill. So charge your devices in an outbuilding away from the house if you are worried. (Garage/workshop/shed etc.)
Or create a container with ventilation linked to outside, definitely not to inside the building.
I don't see chargers as being very much more of a risk than other appliances really, not if they are designed correctly at any rate. Brian
Why?
And everything else similar? TV and computers and their peripherals
Likely a Li-ion type.
Sounds like you need to buy a decent charger. It is the correct one for the type of batteries you're using?
Batteries do get warm immediately after charging.
It's the original Sony charger for my Sony camera. The original AA Sony batteries were excellent, as are the Duracell batteries from the US. They do not get hot when charging or afterwards. All other rechargeable AA batteries I have bought are terrible.
We are getting away from my original request.
Years ago I was driving down the M18 when the vehicle interior filled with choking smoke. I was lucky to stop without crashing. A pack of nicads on charge had, well, sort of melted into a lump of gunge. I've been very cautious of nicads etc ever since.
By the same token, my gas boiler is in an outhouse. I won't have gas in the house. It's because the house opposite us was blown to bits by a gas explosion when I was a kid, and then years later I saw the immediate aftermath of the Holmes Market gas explosion in Doncaster.
I wonder if this sort of conditioning would work with dogs. If, for instance, I bashed Bella over the head with a shovel every time she came into the house with an apple, would she desist from robbing the apple trees? Or would she merely take the apples to her burial ground and put them underground?
Bill
Are you buying the correct type? If you are and they get very hot the charger is faulty.
The point is that enclosing something in a fireproof box is likely to make it overheat even more.
Most people die in bed. So the obvious thing is never to use one.
I can see the logic there. I'm going to sleep on the pelmet from now on.
Bill
You can get relay bases for smoke detectors which would disconnect power, but probably reset unless you added a latching circuit or used an RCD which didn't reset.
Anti-arson letterboxes have stuff in them which extinguishes fires and might be adapted.
Owain
Some motors have a heat sensor that turns off the power and needs a reset. That device would do fine.
Brilliant! I shall have a trough of baking soda inside the box.
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