- Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:53 pm
#88257
I decided to take the 350 for a ride out today. I went to the garage and unplugged the mains lead of the "smart" charger which was topping up the battery of my Honda CB750, parked next to the 350. The charger had been resting on the seat of the 350. I moved the charger across to the seat of the Honda (which thankfully had a cotton cover on it). I moved the Enfield out of the garage and turned back to remove the charger from the Honda's "wired in" connector. As I turned round I immediately noticed that the charger was smoking heavily and the entire five foot length of the charging cable still attached to the Honda's battery was melting - and the insulation was going on fire! 
The connector to the battery was on the far side of the Honda (adjacent to my son's bike!) and I couldn't reach it so I thought the best thing was to physically yank the leads off the bike. I quickly realised it was best not to grab them by hand...they were glowing orange and setting fire to the bike cover! I grabbed a long screwdriver I had left on the front of the trials car that I've been working on and used that to rip the wires away and off the bike. I threw the entire smoking mess out onto the drive.
The bike's cover is badly scorched - that would have quickly gone up in flames. Thankfully, there seems to be no damage to the bike itself apart from the plastic case of the battery itself, where the charging wire was in contact with it. However, another few seconds and I reckon it would have got out of hand and I could have lost the lot - the big Honda, my son's NSR 125, the "one-off" Queen's Silver Jubilee AJS Stormer and my Liege trials car. Not to mention all my tools etc, collected over the last 50 years or so. Solar panels on the roof...gas meter in there etc, etc.
I can only assume that a diode must have failed, allowing the fully charged battery to send current back to the charger. I'll never trust another "Smart" charger" - this is the second one I've had problems with, my previous one boiled all the electrolyte out of the the battery it was supposed to be "maintaining".
The connector to the battery was on the far side of the Honda (adjacent to my son's bike!) and I couldn't reach it so I thought the best thing was to physically yank the leads off the bike. I quickly realised it was best not to grab them by hand...they were glowing orange and setting fire to the bike cover! I grabbed a long screwdriver I had left on the front of the trials car that I've been working on and used that to rip the wires away and off the bike. I threw the entire smoking mess out onto the drive.
The bike's cover is badly scorched - that would have quickly gone up in flames. Thankfully, there seems to be no damage to the bike itself apart from the plastic case of the battery itself, where the charging wire was in contact with it. However, another few seconds and I reckon it would have got out of hand and I could have lost the lot - the big Honda, my son's NSR 125, the "one-off" Queen's Silver Jubilee AJS Stormer and my Liege trials car. Not to mention all my tools etc, collected over the last 50 years or so. Solar panels on the roof...gas meter in there etc, etc.
I can only assume that a diode must have failed, allowing the fully charged battery to send current back to the charger. I'll never trust another "Smart" charger" - this is the second one I've had problems with, my previous one boiled all the electrolyte out of the the battery it was supposed to be "maintaining".
Built like a gun... could go BANG!
