# BBC 1 news about chargers.



## Johnny2Puffs (11/7/15)

Just watched BBC 1 news a few minutes ago and they showed very scary footage of damage caused by exploding ecig chargers. Emergency calls to fire departments in the UK increased from 4 pa to 43 due to fires started by this.


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## zadiac (11/7/15)

That's because people buy cheap chargers that doesn't stop charging when the battery is full. The battery then overheats, the charger melts and then obviously makes a short and the rest is history.


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## johan (11/7/15)

I agree with @zadiac - some excepts (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33489427):

*E-cigarette charger safety alert issued after spate of fires*




A nationwide alert has been issued warning of the dangers of fires caused by exploding e-cigarette chargers.

More than 100 fires have been blamed on the devices over the past two years, according to fire service figures.

The Local Government Association (LGA), representing the 49 fire and rescue authorities in England and Wales, wants e-cigarette manufacturers to display warnings on packaging.

Fire chiefs say many blazes are caused by the wrong chargers being used.

If a charger that is not compatible to the device is used, too much current goes into the batteries, meaning they can overheat and eventually explode.

*'Highly disturbing'*
More than two million people across the UK are estimated to use e-cigarettes, which deliver vaporised liquid nicotine but do not contain tobacco and do not produce smoke.

Many e-cigarette smokers use incompatible or cheap chargers however, the LGA says.

It is simply not worth risking their lives to save a few pounds by buying dodgy, dangerous or incompatible chargers
Jeremy Hilton, Local Government Association
Emergency services received eight call-outs to fires related to e-cigarettes in 2012, according to data from 43 of the 49 fire authorities.

That number rose to over 40 in 2013, and there were more than 60 in 2014.

Cases that have emerged recently include:


A man who died after a charging e-cigarette apparently exploded in Merseyside, igniting oxygen equipment he was using. A coroner later said the explosion was likely to have contributed to his death
A Leicester woman who said her e-cigarette and car charger adaptor exploded while it was recharging
A block of flats being evacuated in Poole because of a fire thought to have been caused by the charging of an e-cigarette
Always use the correct charger and follow the manufacturer's instructions
Never charge a battery that has been damaged, dropped or struck
Never plug a charger into a non-approved mains power transformer
Check your battery has overcharge or overheat protection
Don't overcharge. Remove the battery from charge when complete
Never leave a charging battery unattended
Don't use if wet
Do not overtighten the atomiser when connecting it to the charger
Councillor Jeremy Hilton, chairman of the LGA's fire services management committee, said users should be "vigilant at all times".

"We are warning them that it is simply not worth risking their lives to save a few pounds by buying dodgy, dangerous or incompatible chargers," he said.

There was no way of knowing the true figure of incidents as many here going unreported, he added.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Silver (11/7/15)

Thanks for the headsup @Johnny2Puffs - hope Portugal is going well!?
And thanks @johan for the follow up post. Quite scary actually.

When it comes to batteries - I think its better to err on the safe side...


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## Xhale (11/7/15)

the ones where I have spent time trying to find out as much as possible boil down to the following:

I have a cigalike...my friend visits..his ego is a bit flat, so we screw it into the cigalike charger (because...stuff it...if it fits we will do that..."it an ecig charger, innit"...) all 510..

boom.
why?
cigalike chargers are dumb. Often just two wires going from the usb to the 510. A cigalike charger is NOT responsible for deciding if the cigalike is full or not..the cigalike battery does that.
An ego charger does monitor and stop charging the ego battery. The ego battery is the dumb device.

So a cigalike charger and an ego battery=two dumb devices where nobody knows when the battery is full. boom. Thats what happened in the pub linked video on the bbc website. Some drunk bloke used his friends cigalike charger for his ego.

The obvious item here too is that the cigalike chargers output 5v mostly, direct from usb, whereas the ego batteries want max 4.2v. Result? boom.

Add a layer of cloudiness when the word *charger* is used..people think "ipad charger" as in the thing that plugs into the wall, and suddenly you have folks running around saying not to use an ipad charger, because thats what makes them blow up (it isnt, and never will be) (caveat: a shit, fake ipad charger has a good chance of catching fire even when used with an ipad)
The fire service investigators know whats up, but trying to get the message across is difficult due to terminology overlap, so all they are saying is "make sure you use the right charger", which is sound advice.

(I may have got my egos and cigalikes mixed up in the above text, its been a while since I used either, but suffice to say is that in one of them the clever bits is in the battery, and in the other it is in the charger...so you can get two dumb bits connected and start a fire)

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Gazzacpt (11/7/15)

Probably 10% of these are genuine something went sideways situations, maybe. The rest is probably user error or ppl being uninformed. Mostly I would put it down to ID 10 T errors.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Johnny2Puffs (11/7/15)

@Xhale. Good explanation. 

Also make sure your charger has the CE stamp of safety and standards on it. Personally, I think all ecigs with built in bats and micro USB ports should be banned as most cellphone and camera chargers will fit and all do not have the same voltage.


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## Johnny2Puffs (11/7/15)

@Silver. Yes, I am still in Portugal but have been travelling around for a while so could not post. Still very happy here and will update my thread if I can find it.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Andre (11/7/15)

Johnny2Puffs said:


> @Silver. Yes, I am still in Portugal but have been travelling around for a while so could not post. Still very happy here and will update my thread if I can find it.


Good to hear from you. Here is your thread: http://www.ecigssa.co.za/emigrating-to-portugal.t747/

Reactions: Thanks 1


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## Johnny2Puffs (11/7/15)

Thanks Andre. I could not find it myself but did read other posts on emigration. There seems to be some misconceptions that I need to address first.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Silver (11/7/15)

Johnny2Puffs said:


> Thanks Andre. I could not find it myself but did read other posts on emigration. There seems to be some misconceptions that I need to address first.



Looking forward to hearing more about Portugal @Johnny2Puffs


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