My 950 caught fire...

[SixOneGiraffe]

How very unfortunate. I am so sorry to hear about all of the material loss.

Glad though to hear you and your family are okay.

Point well taken and committed to memory about charging the battery.

Thinking of you during this difficult time.

[ShadySmurf]

Damn, sorry man. Glad your family is ok though.

Thanks for sharing the lesson.

[DesertSurfer]

You may have just saved many others with your willingness to pass on this personal experience. I am deeply sorry, but I'm positive your rebound will impress us all.

I'm am feeling especially guilty. I had the exact experience earlier in the year. I walked into my garage and could smell that of smoldering wires. I immediately switched off the breaker and called in my electrician friend. My garage had the original wiring from the 50's and they started to smolder behind the outlet where my charger was plugged into my 950.

I figure 20 minutes later and my garage would have been toasted, including everything inside... It was just a fluke that I walked into the garage on that morning. Fate, really.

I have a '70 classic 2wd convertible Chevy Blazer resoration project in near completed stage which would have crushed me to loose. I can totally sympathize about your Mustang.

I immediately replaced all the wiring in my garage, put in and added new dedicated circuits, replaced with all new outlets, inside lighting and did a complete garage revamp... new counters, new work bench, shelving, cabinets and rafter storage. It was way more then I would have ever budgeted but I figured lucky to have a garage to spend it on.

It also motivated me to go through all of my boxed up possessions, clear out the unneeded, unused and unwanted items, and catalogue anything of value for insurance replacement purposes moving forward.

I also got rid of several old pieces of machinery tooling that were also plugged into wall outlets... an old drill press and mini ban saw. These items were passed down to me an though still worked, I questioned their safety and hauled them off, yet to be replaced with newer.

I'm now very sorry I didn't relay my experience on advrider. At the time I was in reaction... mode and dealing with electricians and in doing the garage refresh I got sidetracked.

I should have posted my experience immediately. And I feel I've learned another important lesson today... Post it!!! It could save others...

[Patrick C Buckl]

Pardon my language but you are either in shock or damn cool in your calmness. Hang in there, I hope your insurance makes your whole world new again. Keep us updated.

[rtadlock]

Man, I'm sorry to hear that. It really creeps me out because I had my bike on a tender for 2 months strait while it was stripped down and I was travelling a lot. Glad to hear no one was harmed.

[Ladukebob]

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.

[larryboy]

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

[Themastermike]

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.

[liftedlimo]

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.

[killurtv]

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.

[Questor]

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~

[Meeners]

Man.. I'm sorry for your loss :(

[Unkgd]

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

And thanks for the warning.

[BELSTAFF]

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

[Beema Killa]

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.