[Homestead] Homestead tools

Wendy crazygardens at nationi.net
Fri Nov 19 21:25:10 EST 2004


Here, I would agree with your building code guy.  All that low-level 
circuitry that is always on (even when the "Power" switch is off) are a fire 
trap, but that is not the same thing as leaving your battery charger plugged 
in.  A battery charger is designed to deliver the high current required to 
charge a dead battery.  As the battery charges, the charger needs to deliver 
less and less current. A fully charged battery draws only the little bit of 
current required to make up the self-discharge current of the battery, so 
the charger and battery sits there idling at a small fraction of its 
designed current rating.  Piece of cake for it.  On the other hand the 
"always on" circuitry in many of our house hold equipment (anything with a 
remote control or is functioning 24/7) is always drawing its nominal 
operating current.  Since most of this stuff is made as cheap as possible, 
there is not a lot of safety margin built in in these components, so there 
is a higher chance of a catastrophic malfunction.  Got it?
Wendy

  >>The DeWalt guy said, no, you can just
  >>leave it in there;
  >>the battery will not overcharge and it will always be ready
  >>at top charge.

  That's good information to have. My chargers weren't on the list, but 
after
  reading about how many were I decided not to take chances and leave my
  charger plugged in unattended. It's inconvenient in a way, because a fully
  charged battery will bleed down over a week or so.

  One of our local building code guys says the biggest cause of house fires
  are those blamed transformers that are all over these days. Cordless 
phones,
  computer printers, etc., etc. He is the type of guy who would work for the
  code department, though, so he may be exaggerating.



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