I just know that my father was an electrician and he unplugged everything he wasn't using even the toaster etc.Better safe than sorry.Just my opinion.
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A slight downside is the wear and tear on the plug. There is no downside to taking the batts out. That is what you should always do.
Any device undergoes a certain amount of additional stress when power is applied. Ever notice how a lightbulb almost always burns out the second you flip the switch? That same bulb may have lasted another 2 weeks if it had been on the whole time. I'm not saying to leave your lights on. I'm just illustrating the point.
The downside is negligible to unplugging everything all the time. So is the upside. But if it makes you feel better, go for it. Myself, I've seen too many electrical problems that just coincidentally happen at the instant something is plugged in. With electronics/electrical devices, stability is your friend.
UL doesn't test for the kind of issue your talking about, so it's irrelevant.
But I'm curious how many people's chargers have blown up while just sitting there, empty, and plugged in. I don't mean the cord shorted. That can be caused by physical abuse or bad manufacturing, but even then, it's very, very rare for a cord to suddenly short out while it's already been plugged in awhile.
Compare that number to how many people's chargers (not cord) have blown up the second they plugged them in, either full or empty.
When a charger blows up with batts in it, it's almost always an issue with the batteries, but occasionally the charger itself.
When it blows up when it is first plugged in, it's almost always an issue with the cord.
When it blows up while just sitting there, it could be the cord or the outlet, but generally that would indicate a problem with the charger. And that almost never happens.
If a charger unit is defective, it will fail soon. Or, it will fail the moment it is plugged in or a load is applied to it. The chances of it failing with no load and after it's been plugged in for awhile is about nil.
If you want to prevent charger problems, replacing that cheap OEM cord is 1000 times more effective than unplugging it every time you're done with it. But DO remove the batteries.
If you want to really take the safe route, a lot of these chargers, like the TR-001, have a DC adapter jack. Get a good AC/DC wall wart and run your charger off DC power.
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I guess the UL in the Circle of One of my Chargers doesn’t stand for Underwriters Laboratories.
Maybe it stands for “Unplug Later”?
UL tests sample units and approves the design. They don't do QC. They don't supervise the manufacturing. Millions of the same model of these chargers are manufactured and, like anything else, they have a certain defect rate. It's got nothing to do with the design. It's the QC. Something for which a UL "seal of approval" is irrelevant.
If you read your own link, you would see that the entire article was talking about a charger under load. A charger with a battery attached. There was nothing whatever to do with a charger at rest.
I guess you think that the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval means you're going to get a product with no defect rate as well?
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Yeah, seriously. These cords are cheap. They aren't even made by the same company as the charger. If you want to be safe, trash the cord as soon as you get it. Get a better quality cord. The vast majority of these incidents relate to the cord, not the charger itself. If you want to keep that cheap cord, expose it to as little stress and flexing as possible. That means don't plug it and unplug it a million times.
Does your charger have a detachable cord? If so, does the cord carry a separate UL label. If it doesn't, then it's no safer than my Chinese charger with a CE label. A charger is only as good as its weakest link, despite what feelings of American exceptionalism might lead you to think.
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Maybe it stands for “Unplug Later”?
Who cares? My cheap Chinese charger has a CE label. That's the European analog to UL, and it's got much more stringent standards than UL, which has turned into little more than a trade association for the electrical product industry. Europe won't even allow UL labeled stuff to be sold there. A UL label has gotten to the point where it is not much more meaningful than a Better Business Bureau seal of approval. It's as much a marketing gimmick as an assurance of safety.
BTW, That's an EverReady. A couple years ago, EverReady put out a line of UL approved chargers that were notorious for overheating and catching fire (again, when they were charging). So the UL label doesn't impress me. It very well could have been made in the exact same factory as the Trustfire Chargers. The cord probably comes from the same place as well.
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Thanks, I will.
I can see Five chargers from where I sit, and they're all plugged in, and have been for the last 2-5 years. Continuously. They're all empty except the NiMh charger and a SLA charger because those are designed to be left plugged in to maintain those types of batteries in tip-top condition. Only the LIPO charger is unplugged, just because I rarely use it anymore.
As soon as I hear about a charger that just spontaneously exploded or caught fire while it was just sitting there plugged in with no batteries in it, I'll reconsider.
As it is, all I've ever heard about are chargers that malfunction when they're charging batteries.
Or, charger cords that short out as they're being plugged in.
UL has standards that deal with the former. So does CE, which the Chinese chargers adhere to.
The latter is addressed by neither institution.
Get a UL or CE approved replacement cord and there'll be no issue.
One thing I know is that I will never have a cord short out when I'm plugging it in.
Because it STAYS plugged in.
Can you say the same?
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