A charger question for HKJ or any other expert..................

With all the concerns especially regarding Li-ion battery safety, I was thinking if one connected a charger to a power strip surge protector would this help prevent a fire? I don’t know if the resistance (if that’s the right word) that a hinky battery would cause at the charger is enough to trip an industry-standard surge protector or not. I realize every case would be different.

I’ve connected all my chargers nonetheless to power strip surge protectors. I figure it can’t hurt and it’s prolly better than relying on my main 20 amp house circuit breaker to trip first vs the 15amp surge protector.

They’re certainly cheap enough these days and this little one seems to work without a problem.

http://www.harborfreight.com/four-outlet-power-strip-91334.html

Your thoughts?

I don't think it matters, the problem with batteries is in charging them they can get overcharged, a circuit breaker will do absolutely nothing to protect it.

The surge protection and fuse will only protect against surges from the mains, not against anything with the battery. Your best protection is a good charger and high quality batteries.

If you use cheap chargers and cheap batteries it will increase safety to charge in a non-flammable environment, like the garage floor or outdoor. Remember that if a battery really vents, it might throw a flame a few meters. Luckily it happens very seldom.

Charging inside a metal ammo can or other strong box can help, too. What are the best sources for ammo cans?

Just go to any nearby army surplus store. I would recommend lining it with a bit of tape so a battery can't short out through the side.

surge protector power strip is that I’ve had a few occasions where I’ve connected for instance a big power mixer and when the cookie dough got too thick it tripped the protector reset button. So I figured……