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Post Info TOPIC: 450 House Fires in 18 months in Aus


Senior Member

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450 House Fires in 18 months in Aus


I was prompted to post this report after reading the topic on electric bikes.

According to reports fire fighting authorities are very concerned for our safety and the loss of our homes.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-02/lithium-ion-batteries-pose-new-fire-risk-says-firefighters-union/101888598



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Good post RickJ.

If you buy an electric bike (or almost anything electrical) in Australia ensure it has the Regulatory Compliance Mark (RCM)

Regulatory Compliance Mark

This mark should be displayed on any 240V parts of the bike and charger and most likely on other sections too. It is illegal so sell virtually all electrical items in Australia unless they are RCM compliant. Unfortunately establishing RCM compliance is usually expensive and time consuming so, particularly, small sellers often don't do it, I imagine their product liability insurance will not pay out if bad things happen.

The RCM guarantees the electrical aspects of the bike/charger have been put through a series of comprehensive laboratory tests to ensure electrical safety and other important design and construction aspects too. The seller should be able to supply a copy of the RCM compliance to you containing seller/product registration numbers which you can look up on the internet.

As it happens, I know a bit about these bikes and I know they are often sold without being RCM compliant and I know a number of those have gone up in flames. No way would I touch one without RCM.



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Being careful to charge lithium ion batteries with the correct charger to is very important as well. Power tools batteries, mobile phones and tablets left charging overnight with aftermarket chargers have also caused house fires. There are also aftermarket powertool batteries on the market that are very cheap compared to the OEM batteries but often are lacking the control circuit boards to prevent overcharging and battery run away. They have been known to go up in flames too. Very difficult to put out a lithium battery, once it has caught fire.

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I have quite a few battery operated tools and I always charge them in the open air. Risk to life and limb and property greatly reduced. I would never leave a charger on all night.



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Substandard made in China. Some of it is OK, some of it causes fires. Some of it is internal lack of
cut outs, some of it is the wrong chemical mix. Information easily obtain by Googling.

Initial laptops use to catch fire, explode etc. They were banned on aircrafts.

Do you charge you laptop outside?

Do you not use your laptop when connected to power.

 



-- Edited by deverall11 on Monday 27th of March 2023 11:46:37 AM

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Senior Member

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Posts: 345
Date:

deverall11 wrote:

Substandard made in China. Some of it is OK, some of it causes fires. Some of it is internal lack of
cut outs, some of it is the wrong chemical mix. Information easily obtain by Googling.

Initial laptops use to catch fire, explode etc. They were banned on aircrafts.

Do you charge you laptop outside?

Do you not use your laptop when connected to power.

 



-- Edited by deverall11 on Monday 27th of March 2023 11:46:37 AM


 Pretty much spot on.

In this country we are peddled JUNK on a huge scale.

Mike Harding suggested we should all be looking for the RCM and my view is that it should be an offence to permit any equipment other than tested and approved items into our country.

This list of items that we should be standing against in this country is just getting longer and longer.

Imagine charging your car or bike in a garage under the main roof of your house or workplace and having the whole show catch fire.

This is happening and as such we should all be aware of the dangers,



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Guru

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Posts: 1306
Date:

RickJ wrote:
deverall11 wrote:

Substandard made in China. Some of it is OK, some of it causes fires. Some of it is internal lack of
cut outs, some of it is the wrong chemical mix. Information easily obtain by Googling.

Initial laptops use to catch fire, explode etc. They were banned on aircrafts.

Do you charge you laptop outside?

Do you not use your laptop when connected to power.

 



-- Edited by deverall11 on Monday 27th of March 2023 11:46:37 AM


 Pretty much spot on.

In this country we are peddled JUNK on a huge scale.

Mike Harding suggested we should all be looking for the RCM and my view is that it should be an offence to permit any equipment other than tested and approved items into our country.

This list of items that we should be standing against in this country is just getting longer and longer.

Imagine charging your car or bike in a garage under the main roof of your house or workplace and having the whole show catch fire.

This is happening and as such we should all be aware of the dangers,


 As I said in my post, early models of laptops and possibly phones were catching fire when overcharged.

This is now fixed due to a revised chemistry.

The new approved stuff, on larger then phones, has internal cut outs so that when a short circuit is detected, the cells are isolated

and therefore cannot collectively combust. 

It is a failure from whoever to allow this rubbish in this country. It is also a failure from people buying

this rubbish because it is probably cheap. The old saying, you pay fro what you get. In this case not only

a cheap and nasty piece of merchandise but also a house fire. All part of the deal. What you don't get

is a free set of knives, in this case a fire extinguisher. 



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