Charging battery in situ

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I dunno the current ones. My Lidl one just has LED indicators. Which for my application is better - as you'd not be able to read LCD.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Really? Why would that be?

But then most with sense wouldn't use anything where 'the leads had worn through'

[tabbypurr]

which of course offers no protection against the leads wearing through and shorting.

NT

[tabbypurr]

You really can't work out that if the leads short the car battery is shorted? That any protection inside the charger has no effect on that? Seriously?

You haven't done much PAT testing have you.

NT

[MrCheerful]

Yes, they do, if the leads short the unit stops powering those leads.

[MrCheerful]

I have had the situation where the charger leads have shorted together putting battery voltage into a dead short through them, within moments they became white hot and burnt through as a fuse would. No problem. No flames, just a bit of smelly smoke. It would of course be trivial to add a fuse adjacent to one or both of the crocodile clips to save the lead becoming the fuse. But as this has only occurred once in the last

50 plus years (and it was caused directly by my own carelessness) I do not consider it a real problem.

[The Natural Philosopher]

????

I can't believe you wrote that.

So what exactly is so different about leads chafing and shorting and leads being clipped together?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Mr Purr has invented the situation where you connect a charger with a short between the output leads to a charged battery, ignoring any sparks, and waiting patiently until things melt and start a fire.

Being totally obsessed with fuses, he probably thinks the crock clips should contain one. Despite the billions in use safely without.

[MrCheerful]

The surmise is that 'when connected to the battery' and the leads short together you get battery power through the leads.

However, in practice, the leads will just become a fuse and burn out.

There is a remote chance of this causing a fire, so if you think it is likely to occur then add a fuse near either or both of the crocodile clips.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Sound of penny dropping.

Well yes, there isn't much you can do if you place an unfused short across a charged battery.,

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And doing so for most would just introduce another likely source of problems. An inline fuse carrier isn't designed to be bashed around as is likely to happen to such leads. You'd need to design a new crock clip with a proper built in fuse.

But why would you? These things are already fool proof. Idiot proof, even. Making them c*ut proof will be costly.

[tabbypurr]

which obviously makes not the remotest difference to the current flowing through them from the battery. What is wrong with some people?

[tabbypurr]

That's fortunate. The other possible outcomes are far too obvious to mention.

If you consider wires reaching white hot once per 50 years not a real problem you're retarded, stoned or otherwise incapacitated.

[tabbypurr]

No I didn't. Damaged insulation can cause a short later. If you think chargers never have insulation damage you're in your own world. Again.

I see you're childish too.

you've little clue what I think, even after being told.

your imagination that you confuse with fact snipped.

[MrCheerful]

I have done far worse things over the years, obviously I try to avoid repeating them, but one such occurrence in 50 years and I know exactly why it occurred (my own carelessness) is not something that I am likely to repeat. Completely accidentally occurring white hot wires has not happened once while charging batteries, so I do not consider that very likely to occur in the rest of my lifetime.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Right. The leads are in perfect condition when you connect the charger but magically chafe through while it's in operation.

Any other 'what ifs' you'd care to invent?

[tabbypurr]

Being sensible just ain't your thing is it.

Very funny. You made that idiocy up. Don't bother.

NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I tend to base thing on expedience. And by noting what others have said.

And you are the very first who've mentioned the safety hazards of using a battery charger where there is no fusing at the low volts connectors. And if you can show me any battery charger that includes this, I'd accept it might in practice be a possible fault condition that needs allowing for.

It's a very fair description of what you're on about. And not just as regards battery charger fusing.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And experience should have taught me not to post before wearing my contact lenses. ;-)

[tabbypurr]

OK, I accept fact, logic & sense ain't your deal.

NT