"Renata" wrote in message
news
Would having the receptacle wired "backwards" cause a problem with
battery chargers for cordless tools, etc.?


That would be a safety issue (to you) in that any fuse in the charger should
be on the hot lead and it should be carefully layed-out so that it cannot
contact anything that might make the voltage present on a user-touchable
surface. As for the battery charging circuitry, it should be OK because the
AC comes into (usually after a step-down transformer) a full-wave bridge
rectifier which changes the voltage to something approximating DC (it has
ripple at this point which they filter out (smooth) with a capacitor). The
rectifier doesn't care as to which AC lead is connected to which side, it'll
work the same either way.

Both my Milwaukee batteries seem to have become basically unusable due
to their charges lasting a very short time, and I just found out that
the outlet I've been using has the wires reversed.

Have to check the one I've been using for the camera as well, since
that has dies an timely death as well.

And, if anyone has readily accessible any sites for getting new
batteries, I'd appreciate if you'd share (yes, I'm going to do a
google as well).

Thanx
Renata