A Queensland coroner says a catastrophic fire that claimed a young man's life in 2022 was "most likely" caused by an e-scooter being connected to a charger that caused it to overheat and explode.
Couldn’t they have different plugs for different current and voltage. If something can fit, someone’s gonna get it wrong eventually. Safest to make it not fit.
Different approximate voltages: yes, different connectors are a good idea. Don’t put 150VDC into an input that expects 12V, its protection circuitry might not be able to block it.
Custom connectors for exact voltages, cell numbers and charging currents: next to impossible. Even within the traditional Li-ion family there is too much variation, let alone now that we have LiFEPO4, high-voltage Li-ion and sodium-ion on the market. You still need to integrate the charging controller OR at least a protection circuit into the pack itself.
I don’t know exactly what happened in this fatal fire based off just the coroner’s report, it mentions that much of the evidence was burned and destroyed. It’s worth keeping an open mind for unexpected things like adaptor cables that come with the charger or mislabelled connectors that both say the same (wrong) things.
Couldn’t they have different plugs for different current and voltage. If something can fit, someone’s gonna get it wrong eventually. Safest to make it not fit.
Yes and no.
Different approximate voltages: yes, different connectors are a good idea. Don’t put 150VDC into an input that expects 12V, its protection circuitry might not be able to block it.
Custom connectors for exact voltages, cell numbers and charging currents: next to impossible. Even within the traditional Li-ion family there is too much variation, let alone now that we have LiFEPO4, high-voltage Li-ion and sodium-ion on the market. You still need to integrate the charging controller OR at least a protection circuit into the pack itself.
I don’t know exactly what happened in this fatal fire based off just the coroner’s report, it mentions that much of the evidence was burned and destroyed. It’s worth keeping an open mind for unexpected things like adaptor cables that come with the charger or mislabelled connectors that both say the same (wrong) things.