Phone on charge permanently

[Dazstoke]

Tried out the Alfred security app today using an old phone propped up in my front window.
It works but obviously the battery drain is enormous having the camera running constantly.

Would it be safe leaving the phone connected to the wall charger permanently ?
It would need a longer usb cable mind to reach the nearest socket

 

[Richy888]

Safe until the charger overheats and burns your house down

I personally don't like to leave things charging and leave the house for the day. House nearby suffered badly from a fire started in a bedroom when a battery charger overheated and started the fire. They were all out but seeing the house burn so fast made me more cautious about chargers.

I should add it can often be the battery that overheats and then burns whilst charging.

 

[Rroff]

Safe until the charger overheats and burns your house down

I personally don't like to leave things charging and leave the house for the day. House nearby suffered badly from a fire started in a bedroom when a battery charger overheated and started the fire. They were all out but seeing the house burn so fast made me more cautious about chargers.

I should add it can often be the battery that overheats and then burns whilst charging.

Ni-mh (had a few instances where it can't seem to detect the battery state and just keeps charging while the batteries get extremely hot) can be bad for over-charging but it "shouldn't" be an issue with lithium ion batteries in a phone as the charging controller usually has fairly comprehensive regulation of over and under voltage and temperature monitoring that will disable charging.

It might also be possible to use the phone with the charger connected but the battery out (depends phone/device to phone/device).

I'm still not a big fan of leaving stuff charging unattended though :S

EDIT: Can be a risk if you use cheap replacement batteries though - the ultra cheap ones often are refurbished batteries without proper protection circuits.

 

[Richy888]

Rroff - I agree most will quite happily sit on charge all day and have no issues. Cheap chargers and cheap batteries probably best avoided.

Having seen a house go up in the village and occupants pretty much lose everything. Then some some friends of my parents, daughter lives in Austria and one of the kids left a phone charging on the bed. If overheated and fired according to the fire brigade and pretty much destroyed the house. They too were out for the day. Those aren't urban myths and my advice is don't leave them unattended.

I'm a bit OCD unplugging appliances when out for the day There's still a fair ammount of stuff that has to remain plugged in.