No fuse in battery charger for 8.4v bike light battery?

[tim-b]

Hi

T1A is a slow blow (time delay) 1 amp fuse

Yep, the component on the other side is the bridge rectifier, plainly marked BD1 which I saw at the time. Don't ask, I don't know why either
Regards
tim-b

[gaz]

Of course just a 2-way plug thing would do it, can't believe I didn't think of it.

Those all have a 13A fuse though, don't these things explode way before that like under 5A?

You're really going to kick yourself when you realise that if it's fitted with a 13A fuse you could easily change it for a 1A fuse.

[Syd]

The one thing I would say , having now viewed both sides of the PCB, is that the overall build quality looks amateurish at best.

Placement of some of the components doesn’t match with markings and a fair bit of the soldering is astonishingly bad. It even looks like they have bridged a (broken?) track up near the right hand leg off the LED.

[pete75]

If I read the PCB printing correctly, the axial component next to the left hand red cable is actually a fuse (1A 250V AC).

Yes, it looks like a fusible resistor to me.

Samsung is a reputable company. Their mobile phone chargers don't have a fuse. That's because they don't have a mains cable. The plug top fuse is there to protect a mains cable.

There's no cable to protect, but you still want something to prevent the power supply itself from catching fire in the event of a fault. I bet that Samsung's chargers have some sort of overcurrent protection, fuse or otherwise.

With Samdung* it's not the chargers that are a fire danger but the phones themselves.

* A typo but I quite like it.

[axel_knutt]

you still want something to prevent the power supply itself from catching fire in the event of a fault.

If you want to do that you'll be needing a smoke detector, not a fuse.

[hamster]

The one thing I would say , having now viewed both sides of the PCB, is that the overall build quality looks amateurish at best.

Placement of some of the components doesn’t match with markings and a fair bit of the soldering is astonishingly bad. It even looks like they have bridged a (broken?) track up near the right hand leg off the LED.

It's been flow soldered with manual finishing for the wires and a couple of the other awkward components. It appears that there was some tombstoning of the SMD components, which were also retouched by hand. To be honest it's not bad, typical for a low price device. I have seen far worse, where there was little care with mains wire positioning and they were overhanging the cold side. At least on this one the design was good enough not to allow that, although the hot and cold sides were not clearly delineated.

[pwa]

Would it not be better to just pay more and get electronic stuff that does not require dismantling to check for safety?

[Syd]

The one thing I would say , having now viewed both sides of the PCB, is that the overall build quality looks amateurish at best.

Placement of some of the components doesn’t match with markings and a fair bit of the soldering is astonishingly bad. It even looks like they have bridged a (broken?) track up near the right hand leg off the LED.

It's been flow soldered with manual finishing for the wires and a couple of the other awkward components. It appears that there was some tombstoning of the SMD components, which were also retouched by hand. To be honest it's not bad, typical for a low price device. I have seen far worse, where there was little care with mains wire positioning and they were overhanging the cold side. At least on this one the design was good enough not to allow that, although the hot and cold sides were not clearly delineated.

Like you I have seen worse but, personality, I’d resolder the through hole components myself or bin it and buy a better quality one.

[rjb]

I had a similar concern with a 18650 battery charger purchased on flebay from China. Despite having CE markings I had read reports of poor construction and safety concerns. I opened mine up and soldered a short length of mains cable and fitted a 13 amp plug with a 3 amp fuse.

The other issue with that charger was the 2 American style flat pins and although they included a plug in adapter I felt the fit was not secure enough when the weight of the batteries was causing it to drop partly out from the adaptor. Hence when I soldered the cable in I took the opportunity of adding a fused plug.

[Syd]

I had a similar concern with a 18650 battery charger purchased on flebay from China. Despite having CE markings I had read reports of poor construction and safety concerns. I opened mine up and soldered a short length of mains cable and fitted a 13 amp plug with a 3 amp fuse.

The other issue with that charger was the 2 American style flat pins and although they included a plug in adapter I felt the fit was not secure enough when the weight of the batteries was causing it to drop partly out from the adaptor. Hence when I soldered the cable in I took the opportunity of adding a fused plug.

Unfortunately mains adaptors of the style below are too commonly shipped with Chinese tatt and in my opinion should be banned.

[[XAP]Bob]

I had a similar concern with a 18650 battery charger purchased on flebay from China. Despite having CE markings I had read reports of poor construction and safety concerns. I opened mine up and soldered a short length of mains cable and fitted a 13 amp plug with a 3 amp fuse.

The other issue with that charger was the 2 American style flat pins and although they included a plug in adapter I felt the fit was not secure enough when the weight of the batteries was causing it to drop partly out from the adaptor. Hence when I soldered the cable in I took the opportunity of adding a fused plug.

Unfortunately mains adaptors of the style v bc below and too commonly shipped with Chinese tatt are in my opinion should be banned.

Yeah - they're really not good.

Why can't we buy appliances with wires, and then put plugs on them, any more?

[Syd]

Too many people wiring there own plugs incorrectly/ dangerously.

We often do a practical test of wiring a plug at interview for less experienced staff. Rarely are they done well.

[rjb]

Why can't we buy appliances with wires, and then put plugs on them, any more?

Because people can't read simple instructions and fit the wires into the correct holes.

[tatanab]

Because people can't read simple instructions and fit the wires into the correct holes.

It was fine back in the day when red was live, and Red went to the Right when wiring the plug. Then they came up with Brown for live, with the little rhyme "brown is hot, blue is not".

[Manc33]

Would it not be better to just pay more and get electronic stuff that does not require dismantling to check for safety?

I do want a decent version of this but it's a weird voltage and seems specific to bike light battery packs. It's easy to find adapters with several fittings that plug into just about anything with 3V/6V/9V settings but no 8.4v setting. Trust me if there was a £9.99 plug that had Japanese internals I'd be buying it in a flash. This China plug cost something like £1.99 delivered.