Thursday, December 31, 2009

Battery Chargers.....(Important!!!)

Attached are pictures of what remains of a 2007 Suburban.

This fire resulted from leaving an Iphone charger/docking station plugged into the car outlet. It overheated and started a fire, while parked in our garage. PLEASE unplug anything you have in your car outlets once you turn off your car!









6 comments:

OrbsCorbs said...

Car outlets used to be called cigarette lighters and those things do not turn off when you turn off the car. I'm sure they're fused, but obviously you can draw some amperage through there. (Remember the red hot lighters?) Be careful.

The early VW bugs had radios that weren't routed through the ignition, either. If you turned down the radio, but not all the way off, it would drain the car's battery overnight.

drewzepmeister said...

That's true Orbs. I once left my cell phone charger plugged in overnight and I drained the battery.

kkdither said...

Holy crap.... I have my cell phone charger plugged in right now... It is 16 degrees out. It has been plugged in for weeks now with no problem.

I'm not braving the cold to go unplug. Cross your fingers and hope I make it though the night!

On second thought, are you guys sure? My phone won't charge unless the key is turned and the battery engaged. Maybe Honda is smarter than those others?

SER said...

KK,

I have two outlets in my truck. One is the cigarette lighter and one auxiliary outlet. The lighter turns off with the key, the aux outlet it live full time.

If you have a charger plugged in, it is no biggie. What really gets hot is the battery in the devise if the devise is left plugged in too long.

I did that to one of my cell phones. That unit got hot as hell and trashed the battery, it would not last more then a day.

OrbsCorbs said...

My comments definitely apply to older vehicles - I've been outta the loop for quite awhile. My truck, 1996, has a regular cigarette lighter, and then two outlets near that. I've never checked any to see if they're live when the truck is turned off, but I use no plug-in devices.

If you don't know, it's probably a good idea to find out.

drewzepmeister said...

My car is a 1991. I can recharge my cell phone without turning on the engine.