MDchanic

I use a high-quality BlueTooth headset for talking on the phone in my car.
The darned things cost $100 (I've bought a couple), but they let me talk on the phone in an open convertible with the other party being unaware that I am even in a moving car.

So a couple of days ago, the battery dies while I'm driving along, I plug the headset into the charger, and a surprising amount of smoke is released from it.
Like, probably ALL the smoke that had been in it.

Crap.

Finally today, I've got a chance to mess with it. I've got an old one that got stepped on and broke (small items, car floor, in the dark...), so I figure I can do a transplant.
First, though, before blaming the headset, I go out to the car, tape up the probes of my multimeter, and check the output voltage of the cigarette lighter charger I was using.

12.3V.

USB supply voltage is 5.0.

That'll do it.

I think that's the last time I buy one of those chargers that's next to the cash register at the hardware store.

#$^@*&%!!!

- Eric

Allan R

So the alternative is??? Spend the $$$$$ and get another one you can step on?

m371961

I am not important enough to have your problem, and do not want to be. I was important at one time, but have been retired for almost 10 years now.
Now, I am just broke.

wr1970

That makes two of us. 2 1/2 years for me.

oldcutlass

Again all things electrical are made of smoke... Once it cracks open and the smoke comes out it aint no good no more.

MDchanic

Don't buy $4 el-cheapo chargers.

In my case it was a headset.

In your case, it could be your $600 cell phone or your camera.

- Eric

chip-powell

I make it a point to "forget" my phone when cruising. If someone needs me, they can call my house and leave a message. Whenever I finally get home, I'll call them back.

stellar

Maybe this will help fix it. Just put the smoke back in. I'm not sure if this is positive or negative ground smoke.

MDchanic

Well, that's about the amount of smoke that came out of it -- and it's only about half an inch by two inches in size.


----


I checked out the two broken units I have - I could swap parts to make one good unit, but I can't find a soldering iron small enough to make the connections without wrecking the darned board. Grrrrrrrr... Damned cheapo charger...


- Eric

Allan R

You jest!
I would never buy a 600.00 cell phone, and my camera is a sure shot I've had for close to 9 years. It ain't broke so I don't need a new one. I suppose I could get a new cell phone if I needed one, but my trusty ol Samsung is like the energizer bunny. One day the battery will crap out and I'll have to get a new phone because they don't make batteries that old.

Also, I don't step on things like my camera or phone

stellar

Wrap a piece of copper wire around the tip of what ever solder iron or gun you have with a small piece sticking out past the tip. Tin the copper and solder the away. You can get into some pretty small spots that way.

MDchanic

I like that idea. I'll give it a shot when I'm feeling brave.

- Eric

Indy_68_S

I've used a thick-ish paper clip in a pinch. Wrap it around the tip as many times as you can to capture maximum heat.

RocketRonnie

I just bought a car charger from the shell gas station that lasted 4 hours and now smells like a typical electronic that had been fried. Dam China, if I wanted fried Chinese goods I should a went to the corner Chinese food stop.

Once I had an el Chinko charger fry my phone and once I even had a cell phone explode that was not in use for a whole year, just exploded in my closest like that.

MDchanic

I lost a $100 Bluetooth headset to a Chinese car charger.

Was PO'd that the headset went POOF (with wisp of smoke) when I plugged it in, then checked the output of the 5.0V USB cigarette lighter charger - 13.4V, just like the rest of the car.

I should have sent the charger and the headset with a thank you note to Chairman Mao.

- Eric

RocketRonnie

Hahahahahahahahhaha

Fun71

Hey Eric, since this thread is resurrected I wanted to mention that at work I often have need to solder a 42 gauge wire to a 10 mil wide trace on a circuit board. I started off using a sewing needle wrapped onto the end of a large soldering iron tip using 30 gauge bus wire, then I located a soldering iron with a 10 mil diameter tip. That made life a lot easier.

MDchanic

Ha. I forgot all about that part of the thread.

Yes, I did use a wire wrapped around the soldering iron tip, and yes, it did work for a while.
Then it didn't.

I'll buy another one when I get the chance, but for now, I've got a rental car with bluetooth, that a job is paying for, so I've just left it.

- Eric

Koda

So, since the thread is current (bah!), a question. Did the USB charger ever work at all, or was the first use? If it did work for a while, I'm guessing the transformer melted and fused solid? If it never worked, maybe it was just a straight wire connection (yikes).

oldspackrat

Eric,
I'll buy another one when I get the chance, but for now, I've got a rental car with bluetooth, that a job is paying for, so I've just left it.



Is the work vehicle pink?!?!

allyolds68

FWIW I bought a cheap Kenwood through Crutchfield that has Blue Tooth and an external mic for about $150. It sounds great and I can use the phone in my 40 year old convertible and I can actually hear it and the other person can hear me.

MDchanic

Worked fine for a couple of years, including about 3 days before, then POOF!

Instead of failure mode being an open circuit, failure mode was a dead short from the +12V input to the +5V output.
Quality design.

- Eric

MDchanic

Silver Kia Soul.

But they should have called it "Soulless."



- Eric

MDchanic

Yeah, I've got a Bluetooth / USB / iPod adapter in my BMW convertible that's reasonably clear with the top down, but this little thing, made by an American company called Etymōtic, lets me talk with the top down at 70mph, and the person on the other end doesn't even know I'm in a car.

- Eric

rustyroger

Go to Radio Shack or somewhere similar and get one with surge protection incorporated, or run it through a surge protector. I always do that when fitting 12 volt equipment to 24 volt systems, like a radio into a truck for example.
It will cost more then $4 but less than good blue tooth headphones.

Roger.