dbfrese Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 I was charging up my 14S to get it ready to commute to work tomorrow, and the charger seemed extraordinarily hot after about an hour of charging. I hadn't noticed it getting that hot during previous charges. The wheel had charged up to about 90%, which was enough, so I unplugged it. How hot do your chargers get -- not a quick charger, but the standard charger that it comes with? Mine was hot enough that I couldn't hold it with a full grip around it for more than about four seconds. Wish I had an IR type thermometer to read it's temperature, but that's not in my toolbox (yet). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmethvin Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 Chargers don't seem to be of the highest quality. I had a 2 amp charger with a fan that I used sometimes because it's light so easy to carry in a backpack. One day I plugged it in in a Starbucks and it started making smoke. Is your charger a fanless one? Is it the simple 2A black plastic "brick" that it seems like most wheels ship as standard equipment? I have 3 of those and none have failed, but I don't use them that often because I bought a 4A charger that I use with a Charge Doctor. If the wheel was really low on charge when you plugged in it might be normal to have it warm up a bit, I've even had the connector get a bit warm in that situation. When I use the fanless ones I put them tall end up on a hard surface (not a rug or sofa for example) but that's just me being paranoid, I don't recall them ever getting super hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve454 Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 15 hours ago, dbfrese said: I was charging up my 14S to get it ready to commute to work tomorrow, and the charger seemed extraordinarily hot after about an hour of charging. I hadn't noticed it getting that hot during previous charges. The wheel had charged up to about 90%, which was enough, so I unplugged it. How hot do your chargers get -- not a quick charger, but the standard charger that it comes with? Mine was hot enough that I couldn't hold it with a full grip around it for more than about four seconds. Wish I had an IR type thermometer to read it's temperature, but that's not in my toolbox (yet). Harbor Freight has some decent prices, especially if you find a super coupon for it. https://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?dir=asc&order=EAScore%2Cf%2CEAFeatured+Weight%2Cf%2CSale+Rank%2Cf&q=IR+thermometer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasenutty Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 The charger that came with my 14c gets hot as the flames of hell sometimes. Seems hotter the more depleted it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoother Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 My 14c charger gets warm, but my 16s charger gets as hot as you describe. I DO have an IR thermometer gun, so next time I charge up, I'll zap it and see. Personally, I see no reason not to drill small holes in my own personal charger (not a recommendation) for ventilation. I can't remember the last time I threw a glass of water on a charger of any kind. Of course, avoiding the internal components with the drill bit might be troublesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rehab1 Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 1 hour ago, Smoother said: Of course, avoiding the internal components with the drill bit might be troublesome. With all of your spare parts lying around you must a disposable charger to experiment with. Take a reading with your IR gun before and after the ventilation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbfrese Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 8 hours ago, dmethvin said: Is your charger a fanless one? Yep. Just the standard cheap charger. 4 hours ago, steve454 said: Harbor Freight has some decent prices, I saw some on Amazon, too, for less than $20 by a brand that I've bought before with good luck. 1 hour ago, Smoother said: I'll zap it and see. When I get mine, I'll post my temperature here after a good charge session. 1 hour ago, Smoother said: I can't remember the last time I threw a glass of water on a charger of any kind. Hmm. I kinda like that idea for cooling it off. Maybe I'll get a metal pail of salty ice water and immerse the charger in it while I charge the wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryman Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Used the factor charger a couple of time and it got hot. I currently use the charger I purchased from Jason at ewheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbfrese Posted March 17, 2018 Author Share Posted March 17, 2018 I got an IR Thermometer from Amazon today. I'll have to work on discharging the wheel and recharging for a temp check! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbfrese Posted March 19, 2018 Author Share Posted March 19, 2018 I got my IR thermometer and I now have some data. I discharged the KS14S down to 42% charge, and allowed the wheel and the charger to reach ambient room temperature, 72° F. I recorded the charge and temperature at start, and then every 15 minutes thereafter. I placed the charger on the carpet, as I usually do, with the LED on the top. I measured the hottest spot I could find at each interval, which was always a spot on the back, which corresponded to a house icon on the back. Also, I would unplug the charger from the wheel before I used the King Song Android app to get the current charge percentage of the battery. The percentage was always one or two percent higher when the charger was still plugged in. I had to do this twice, because after one hour and 45 minutes of charging, the charger apparently got too hot, and when I plugged it back in to the wheel, it started to flash alternating red and green on the LED. I let things cool back down considerably, and tried again. There are two separate charts for each attempt. Once the charger got back up to 197° F again, I ended the data collection. I know I won't use this charger on carpet any more. Doing so is unsafe. Suspending it somehow may allow the heat to radiate away from all sides and keep it cooler, as well as allowing air to circulate through convection. It is apparent that the charger is much more efficient before it gets "warmed up," as it makes a gain of 6 to seven percent charge in the first 15 minutes. After that a gain of only 2 or 3 percent every 15 minutes is typical. I'd appreciate others testing out their chargers, particularly their stock King Song charger, to see if they get similar results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esaj Posted April 13, 2018 Share Posted April 13, 2018 I have a FLIR thermal camera on my phone, but since it's been winter, no reason to charge up the wheel(s). Have to remember to take pictures of the charger once I do. Maybe just with single charger, I usually charge using two "cheapo plastic bricks" in parallel through a Charge Doctor V2. 200 Fahrenheit (about 93 degrees Celcius) does seem excessive, especially since it's the outer plastic chassis temperature, meaning that likely the internals are running even hotter. Then again, how much quality can you expect for the cheapos? Sounds like they're set up to run pretty close to their limits, hope my house won't burn down... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borg666 Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 The standard charger of my KS-16S gets about 55°C/131°F warm (battery charging level was approx. 70%), measured by a chinese IR Gun Thermometer. That value seems reasonable to me, because I still could hold the charger in my hands. Cheers, Borg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbfrese Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 20 minutes ago, Borg666 said: 55°C/131°F Wow, that's significantly cooler than mine. Maybe a few more people can weigh in on their charger temps to get as good sampling of what "normal" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novazeus Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 22 hours ago, dbfrese said: Wow, that's significantly cooler than mine. Maybe a few more people can weigh in on their charger temps to get as good sampling of what "normal" is. i burned up my kingsong chargers trying to use them in parallel i guess with the charge doctor trying to get an 100% charge on my wheels so got another brick charger from china, and it charges the wheels the same, 90% for the ks18s and 92% for the ks16s so it wasn’t the chargers. i hang the brick so it has airflow and it’s about 145 degrees f. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLars Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Hi. I just bought a new ks14s and my charger also gets insanely hot. Maby that’s just how this charger behaves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Backe Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 15 minutes ago, JLars said: Hi. I just bought a new ks14s and my charger also gets insanely hot. Maby that’s just how this charger behaves. Yes, the chargers do get insanely hot. It's normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacPara Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 4 hours ago, Marty Backe said: Yes, the chargers do get insanely hot. It's normal. I run mine with a little 8" fan blowing at them on a low setting just to help with cooling and avoiding electrical issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 On 5/8/2018 at 5:03 AM, novazeus said: i burned up my kingsong chargers trying to use them in parallel i guess with the charge doctor trying to get an 100% charge on my wheels The Charge Doctor is just a electricity meter and an off switch, it's not capable of increasing charger's properties. I just had a conversation about the possible dangers of connecting two chargers to a Charge Doctor v2 Dual. He told me that as some wheels may give out the 67V in the charging socket, all chargers are required to withstand the voltage in their output. Which does make sense. He doesn't know of cases where Charge Doctor v2 Dual would have caused a charger to burn. What was the situation when your chargers blew? How did you connect them up, were they plugged in the wall, etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Circuitmage Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Ok, so I measured mine. Top hotspot: 165F Bottom hotspot: 197F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novazeus Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 On 5/9/2018 at 10:42 PM, mrelwood said: The Charge Doctor is just a electricity meter and an off switch, it's not capable of increasing charger's properties. I just had a conversation about the possible dangers of connecting two chargers to a Charge Doctor v2 Dual. He told me that as some wheels may give out the 67V in the charging socket, all chargers are required to withstand the voltage in their output. Which does make sense. He doesn't know of cases where Charge Doctor v2 Dual would have caused a charger to burn. What was the situation when your chargers blew? How did you connect them up, were they plugged in the wall, etc? yeah it’s pretty simple connecting them. i plug the charging cord to the wheel first and then plug the chargers in the wall. it worked on the ks16s but when i tried to do the 18s everything looked fine but when i came back to check on them both chargers were doa. idk how to take one apart to see what broke. i don’t think they want them serviceable. i’d like to get a 5 amp charger from @Jason McNeil someday. a replacement charger as good as or better than the supplied kingsong charger is $20 off aliexpress so for grins i might order another one and see if i can use the charge doctor without smoking the chargers. i don’t remember how i set the chargedoctor ie amp cutoff or voltage cutoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novazeus Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 45 minutes ago, Circuitmage said: Ok, so I measured mine. Top hotspot: 165F Bottom hotspot: 197F depending on where the brick s set, that’s very possible. i try to hang the brick which keeps the temp about 146. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Circuitmage Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 @novazeus The "hotspot" is very small, approx 1 sq. cm. on both sides of the brick. It goes down rapidly away from that spot. Using a laser IR thermometer, it was easy to scan the whole brick to find the hotspot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novazeus Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 3 minutes ago, Circuitmage said: @novazeus The "hotspot" is very small, approx 1 sq. cm. on both sides of the brick. It goes down rapidly away from that spot. Using a laser IR thermometer, it was easy to scan the whole brick to find the hotspot. yeah i guess they are designed that way but hanging them by the power cord so there's airflow all around seems to lower the temperature by 20 degrees. makes me feel better. having a fan on the battery packs while charging would probably be good too, i just don't know how i'd do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Circuitmage Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Just keep blowing on it.....for 6 hrs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novazeus Posted May 15, 2018 Share Posted May 15, 2018 my japanese electronics engineer friend used to have a contraption set up for his batteries he was using in his rc planes using a computer fan and pvc tube. i have a giant fan but i'd need a huge diameter pvc tube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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