My 950 caught fire...

Wow, such a huge loss doing something so innocent as a trickle charger. Glad to hear everyones ok. Would love to hear what went wrong if they ever figure it out. I don't even give it a second thought in the winter when my bikes sitting on the trickle charger, but I will now.

Good luck with everything.

Usually not the charging of a battery that is the problem, it's the charging of a BAD battery that causes explosions and fires. Used to work with a guy that would charge a battery that had just tested BAD, one finally blew up on him, he's lucky it was the third battery in the back of the battery box or he wouldn't have a head...he finally listened to me and stopped doing that.

Anybody with a bunch of bikes and old cars can benefit from a good battery tester, it's only a couple hundred bucks and worth every penny.

http://www.otctools.com/products/digital_battery_tester

I leave my tender plugged into a GFCI outlet. Hoping that gives an exemption to this situation.

Good luck with getting thru your melt down dude.

Holy shit is all I can say. I have left my charger on my truck battery several times overnight in the past and I shall not do that again. Thank you for posting your story!

I hope something positive will come out of all your turmoil. I really do.

Hmmmm, I have my 990 in my living room on a trickle charger, been on it for years now. This makes me a bit nervous, hate to lose my bike, the house.... not really too concerned about it. Glad no one was injured, I hope it all works out for you in the end.

Ugg...

That's the worst story ever.

I'm really sorry to hear about the loss of your bike.

But I'll try to learn from your experience.
Thank you for sharing.
Q~

Man.. I'm sorry for your loss

Brent,
Glad that you and your family are unhurt and safe - that is the important thing.

And thanks for the warning.

There are no amount of "Sorry to hear this" that can make up for the feeling you have when you drive up to your home &

find all you shit smoldering in the front yard. Believe me I know, I lost half a house, 2 pets and 250cc MX CZ racer in a fire

started by the ballast in over head florescent lights.

That was over fourty years ago and I know exactly how you feel. You get over it ,But you never forget .

Just be thankful that the important things in your life, YOUR FAMILY, are safe, ever thing else is just stuff

Sorry for your loss man. Terrible thing to go through. Very fortunate that no one was injured which is really the most important thing. The 'stang is a tragedy but like anything, time and money can probably fix it. Thanks for sharing. Thinking of you and yours. Take it easy man.

Brent,

Obviously there are no words which will make this feel better, but I am going to try anyway.

A very good friend of mine lost his entire house to a garage fire last year. Luckily for him (as was the case with you) no human loss. I have been helping him through the process and watching from a distance. The only real positive light I can shed is that his insurance company has been very "stand up" and in the end he will come out ahead with a nicer house on the same lot. Clearly the sentimental stuff can't be replaced, but I just wanted you to feel like maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.

As for the battery...simply so the rest of us can learn...do you know if the fire was caused by a bad charger, bad battery, faulty wires in the garage, etc? I don't mean to make you rehash the whole event, but the more info you can share with us will hopefully eliminate the possibility of this happening to someone else.

I generally leave batteries on a trickle charger in my garage all the time, but now I am having second thoughts...

Good luck, my friend.

660

Sorry to read this mate.

Hang in there Brent. Glad everyone was OK. Hopefully insurance will replace all your material losses.

Think of how many millions of lead acid batteries are on charge right now in millions of homes, from UPS’s, alarms, cars, power tools etc. The exotic batteries, lithium based need to be treated with care and lithium-ion polymer shouldn’t be left to charge out of sight.

If you’re worried buy yourself a battery charging bag, the bag seals with charger and battery inside, it breaths but is fire retardant and will contain batteries that go bang, lithium-ion polymer or catch on fire.

Oh man Brent, I am so sorry to read this. I am happy your wife is ok though. You will make it through this, as bad as it all is, it is still better than it could have been.

Im so sorry to read this. If there was anything you needed help with, do post it hear. I am sure you will get help.

I had a bad episode in my life just recently. The only thing that help me keep going was this : Life must go on.

I'm so sorry to read about this Brent.
It is times like this that you will truly find out how much your family and friends mean to you (and how much you mean to them).
Be strong for your family and you will all come out closer and stronger because of this tragedy.
And of course, your extended family here on AdvRider wishes you and your family well.

This is some really bad news. I am glad to hear that the damages are limited only to property. Your kid is going to have a hell of birthday story to tell for the rest of his life. I wish you and your family a fast and easy, as possible, recovery process.

I'm glad to hear that everyone is physically ok. The mental recovery is a slower process. I'm surprised to hear that it was a trickle charger that created the problem, I thought it was usually the regular battery charger/Jump start variety that created situations like this. Let me know if you need any help with the claim process, I've been in the insurance business for 20 years now. I might be able to help with some suggestions about how to compile your lists, etc. Be sure to take as many photos as possible before things start getting thrown away. Photos of everything, burned or not. They will be invaluable as you try to remember what was in "that "drawer, or "that" box. The pictures will save/make you thousands in things you might have forgotten. Ask the adjustor to explain the process for "Replacement Coverage" in detail, it's frequently misunderstood. Good luck