Tony Read 2 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 I’ve had an Imax B6AC+ balance charger for nearly a year now and its given good service. Until now. Last weekend I plugged in my lipo and switched on, programmed the settings and started to do a couple of chores in my workshop. After about five minutes there was a loud pop. I went over to investigate and found that the moulded on mains three pin plug had neatly dissected its self from the power cable! I was more than a little amazed by this, but the rest of the cable looked ok, so I put it down to a minor short (is there such a thing?) in the cable and proceeded to wire another plug on. I must admit I was not happy with the thought of using the power cable so this weekend I picked it up for a closer examination and it fell in half in my hand! I’m lucky that the cable was not plugged in at the time otherwise I could have had a bit of a jolt. I also noticed that another section of the outer sheath had split as well. What caused this? I know it’s been rather cold of late but all my other cables/extension leads in the workshop are fine and not brittle. I've never had one blow itself/fall apart before. I don't whirl the cable around trying to imitate a helicopter, it just sits on my bench and never moves. If you have an Imax charger please check your power cable with care. Better safe than sorry. Me, I now have a charger that I can't use as the socket on the charger does not match with anything I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Mackey Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Blimeys Tony - thats not good. I suggest you contact the supplier immediately, return the cable for exchange and await their investigation results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Read 2 Posted March 2, 2010 Author Share Posted March 2, 2010 Not wrong there Timbo. I'm going to take it back to the model shop from whence it came PDQ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Tony Since it's a matter of public safety you should contact your local Trading Standards office who will get it investigated properly. If you go back to your model shop they will simply give you a new one and forget about it. Is the mains lead like This One? Bert (safety test engineer)Edited By Bert on 02/03/2010 16:20:26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Read 2 Posted March 3, 2010 Author Share Posted March 3, 2010 Hi Bert, My lead looks exactly like that - except its in two pieces! I have to say that looking closely at my cable there is probably more copper in a servo wire than there is in the power cable! I'm putting the fault down to the cold weather and inferior materials and, yes, I will be sending it to trading standards. My local model shop told me that this was the second Imax power lead problem they had seen in a week, so this is not an isolated problem. They tried to contact Ripmax while I was in the shop but could not get through. I'll get a replacement lead but it makes me wonder how good the charger is itself. Imax owners PLEASE check your power leads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Tony The lead will be an off-the-shelf item. It's most unlikely that the manufacturer of the charger will make it themselves so the charger quality isn't really in question. The sooner you get it into Trading Standards the sooner they can act to get something done about it before someone gets hurt. These leads may turn up elsewhere on other products - laptop power supplies are increasingly using this type of detachable mains lead. Bert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy watson Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Interesting. I bought a logic power supply unit for my new charger 2 weeks ago, and that went pop last weekend too. Took it back for an exchange, no probs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Read 2 Posted March 3, 2010 Author Share Posted March 3, 2010 I'm going to post the lead to Essex trading standards this week. Should I contact Ripmax who I believe are the importers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Tony You could do that if you want they may be able to check their stock - why don't you 'phone Trading Standards and tell them first? Bert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Read 2 Posted March 3, 2010 Author Share Posted March 3, 2010 I must admit I thought TS would want to see it in the flesh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Well they probably will, but the sooner things get rolling the less chance there is of someone getting fried. Bert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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