To not allow phone chargers to be on overnight?

[RamblingRita]

Massive issues with adult and teen DC over this. Not only phones but ipads as well.

I have told them I do not want them to be charged overnight as the plugs heat up and they are a fire risk.

They are arguing as they never let devices charge enough in the day as they're always on them.

Sick of same old bullshit argument every night when I just want to get into bed.

So AIBU?

Just to add I am the type to unplug everything but the fridge overnight after a relatives house was burned down due something being left plugged in and fire officer said always unplug everything it's possible to at night.

I thought it was only if you lay the phone/ iPad on a soft surface it's a fire hazard like on a bed of sofa I always charge mine over night by my bed

Modern phones have smart charging.... So turn themselves off. But Y don't you either charge on a timer or invest in power banks that you can charge in the day n give them on a night. Not worth the major argument in my opinion though

London Fire Brigade advice is never to charge phones or laptops at night, or to use laptops connected with a mains lead in bed, because of the risks of lithium ion batteries. No specific advice to unplug all devices, or to unplug chargers when not in use. Anyone have a link to authoritative advice about this?

Oh sorry, yes they do say (on a different page) to turn off and unplug everything not designed to be left on (like your broadband router which is designed to be 'always on', and doesn't get to full speed until it has been on for 3 weeks, to answer another poster)

Ha ha! nomorechickens ..3 weeks to get up to speed

I completely agreed with you! I don’t like anything charging overnight. During the day if there’s a problem I can sort it straight away, but if I’m asleep and it starts to smoulder for example then the dangers are obvious.

My husband is an electrical engineer with advanced degrees. He is ADAMANT that all devices be put on airplane mode or turned off and placed away (next room if possible but not just on night stand by bed) from us. He's never been difficult about charging things at night but all of our chargers are on power strips. We also have chargers that are pretty fast. There are differences in cords/chargers which i couldn't tell you and he isn't home to ask.

Obviously if you feel charger heating up, you have trouble but fires don't wait for you to sleep. If dd is out and may text/call me, i keep my phone away from my head and eventually move it away.

Ds wraps his charger in foil to keep it by his bed. Dh agrees but as i dont know why, i'm not recommending

like your broadband router which is designed to be 'always on', and doesn't get to full speed until it has been on for 3 weeks, to answer another poster

Eh?

YANBU I know they are a fire risk; I wing it sometimes if mine is really low and I need the alarm, but if I can, I put it on to charge early in the morning while getting up/breakfasting. I think your family should have some respect for your concerns, frankly. So what if some people on here think you are over anxious; this IS a risk and if someone in a household is bothered by it then the others should tailor their lives a little. I don’t think it’s a massive sacrifice.

Ridiculous. No different to fridge etc. In a well ventilated area it is not a problem. If you’re going to put them under a pillow or covered space then it’s a fire risk. But in a well ventilated space then it’s fine.
Why are you telling your husband what to do like a child!?

Oh for goodness sake of course it's different. You don't sleep in the same roof as your fridge. If it goes on fire in the middle of the night your alarm will go off and waken you and you will escape.

If you have a phone on charge in your bedroom you may not have an alarm in your bedroom that will wake you up in time to do that.

I'm the same , have to switch everything off before bed because it's better to be safe than sorry! Don't care if I'm paranoid I've definitely heard of fires starting through appliances left on and chargers, especially the cheaper ones.

Ds wraps his charger in foil to keep it by his bed

I am always paranoind about handling foil.

I always think it is linked with brain type diseases. I certainly wouldn’t let my dc handle it.

Some people are more paranoid about certain things others about different stuff.

Ds wraps his charger in foil to keep it by his bed

What? What? I think this thread is full of obsessive fussing over nothing, but is dangerous.

...but that is dangerous.

Totally agree and I turn everything off much to my husbands annoyance. This is because years ago i dated a fireman and he said they came out to so many house fires caused by chargers, dishwashers on overnight (which was really common!) and electronic devices with lithium batteries. He turned everything off, as did all his colleagues so the habit stuck and for good reason. I’ll never forget his face when he came home after a fire involving a dishwasher where people died. Charge phones in the day, if your children are on them so much that can’t be done then you need to think About cutting down their screen time!

OK i get the charger thing but for other electrical items isn't it a bit OTT? I'm just wondering - if it's that important to switch off the plug why then in other countries are the plugs without switch? Surely it's not realistic to actually unplug a bunch of stuff? Or are electrical circuits different there?

if it's that important to switch off the plug why then in other countries are the plugs without switch?

It isn't important to switch off at the wall. The plug is fused, so any fault which causes excessive current to flow will blow the fuse within about 50ms. Assuming we're living in the 21st century the ring main is not only protected by a circuit breaker that will trip at 30A, but also by a residual current device, so a fault to earth of more than 300mA will be stopped within a few tens of milliseconds.

Electrical fires are common with high-current devices which get intentionally hot. Like most people here, I wouldn't leave a tumble drier running at night (and didn't even when we had Economy 7). I wouldn't leave an oven running unattended on anything other than a slow-cook setting. I considered an instant boiler for the kitchen when we were rebuilding, but decided against it (and at the same time had all the gas removed and capped off, and replaced it with Induction, because gas is massively more risky).

But the idea that properly maintained appliances randomly burst into flames when attached to properly maintained wiring is just fanciful. There's a reason why house fires massively disproportionately affect people with lower incomes living poorer quality housing, and that is something that demands attention and action. But middle class families in houses which have current (ho ho) wiring obsessing about chargers? You're more likely to trip and fall down stairs while wandering around unplugging things than you are to be harmed by the things you're unplugging.

Electricity is nasty stuff: I've had a couple of mains shocks when I was younger, I've been involved in a horrible DC shock incident and I shared an office with someone dealing with a death resulting from contact with 11kV. I am obsessive about RCDs, to the point that I am about to have my consumer unit replaced with one that has separate combined circuit breakers/RCDs on each circuit, and I have plug-in fast-action RCDs on all portable devices including vacuum cleaners.

But fire risk from 10W chargers? Nah.

I'd be interested to know how many of the "OMG unplug everything" posters have checked their RCD in living memory, or have a a fast, sensitive RCD for their lawn mower or hedge trimmer. That shit kills people.

www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/warning-issued-over-electrical-items-after-fatal-fire-1.3070243

Google the You tube

LAX airport lithium battery laptop fire

Whilst left charging

Lithium batteries folks

if it's that important to switch off the plug why then in other countries are the plugs without switch?

There are counties without clean water ffs. Let's not do the 'but it's ok in X comments'

We are talking about the UK power supply.

Lithium batteries folks

For extra paranoia, lithium batteries are a fire risk when they aren't charging, too. That's why you will have noticed on recent plane flights that the safety video now includes "if you drop your phone into the seat, please call cabin crew immediately", that a lot of airlines won't let you check those silly "smart bags" with built-in batteries and there is a lot of nervousness about lithium cells in the hold more generally. If you short out a lithium battery, which can also happen just by bending it, then it's a massive fire risk: lots of charge density, and the battery will burn very hot, too.

It's not at all obvious that lithium batteries are significantly more likely to catch fire while charging than otherwise.

www.thoughtco.com/why-lithium-batteries-catch-fire-606814

"Over charging" isn't a risk in any well-designed device: modern equipment assumes that the charger is shit (ie, that it might provide roughly the rated voltage, at roughly the rated current, but might not) and shuts down charging either on reaching capacity or on the charger mis-behaving. Indeed, one thing that's a pain is you can't power a phone from a power pack: once it's charged, the phone disconnects, and the phone's battery is then used.

Unfortunately, some laptops aren't "well-designed", and rely on the smarts for dealing with the battery being in the charger, not the laptop. That's going to go away with USB-C, because there the charger doesn't know the laptop from any other load, but for a lot of older laptops, charging with a replacement charger is less safe, because it continues to charge the battery even when it is full.

But this started out with a discussion about phone chargers. Has anyone got a phone in 2018 where the charger isn't a USB connection of some sort? In which case, all the charge protection circuitry has to be in the phone.

We are talking about the UK power supply.

BS1363 (British square-pin) has fused plugs, unlike every other system, and British domestic wiring has had RCDs on all sockets for the past 20 years, which is rare elsewhere.

British BS1363 wiring is arguably over-engineered, but it's immensely safe.

Now, socket covers... :-)

I have recently bought a Huawei phone and my husband has a OnePlus phone. Both come with amazingly fast and safe chargers which fully charge in 30 - 45 mins. The charger is designed so that the phone does not get hot when charging. Excellent phones with very high spec, high MP cameras and less than half the price of iPhone or Samsung.

My chargers are on a smart plug schedule, they come on at 5am and go off at 7am.
2 hours is enough for a full phone charge on mine.