OBC Explosion

[LouisC]

Does anybody really know there will be that much heat to cause a fire? I can understand if it is too hot to the touch, I should be really be concerned. My plan is to try charging my batteries in the Spring (April 15th) without the cube and see if the charger gets hot. This will make me decide whether I should add a fan or not. I like Sergio's idea of a control outlet for the fan, but again where do I install this piece while keeping it out of the rain? I have time to think about this. 2-1/2 months before I get to charge the batteries and bring the cart home from the campground to install my upgrades and return it for Opening weekend April 28th. We'll see. Meanwhile I will take a picture of the cube with the charger in it giving you all an idea of the space I have around it. Thanks for all the suggestions....Safety First....

[Sergio]

The temperature of the air inside the box will become the charger's "ambient temperature" and without proper ventilation it will continue to rise.

Excessive heat is not good for electrical or electronic devices life, even if does not cause the box to catch on fire.

The lower the initial SOC of the batteries and the hotter the ambient temperature when you plug the charger will directly affect how much heat the charger will produce.

If You do the temperature test, I would be curious to see the results of the charger temperature when outside vs inside the box.

I think using a surge protector is always a good idea and the power saving surge protectors are not very expensive.

In addition to a cooling fan You can also plug a light so You can see from a distance if the charger is still running.

I just did a quick search on Amazon and here is one example:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002K8S2J6/

[LouisC]

Here are the pics:


20180131_051705_resized.jpg

20180131_051856_resized.jpg

[Raystar57]

Originally Posted by Sergio

I would put the fan on the Top blowing air out in order to remove trapped heat from the box.

This!
And from your pics there would be room to mount two 3x3 or 4x4 fans at the top rear opening on the inside blowing air out.
They are not very thick maybe 1 inch.
Seems like you have plenty of entry and exit port size.
It would be interesting to see the temps with and without the fan.
In Texas the fan would run 24/7!