How safe are hoverboards?   Aside from the natural concerns of balancing and falling off, there are much more serious concerns. Namely: "How do I know that the item will not explode, melt, or catch fire when I'm charging it? "   Indeed, there have been several mishaps recently, related to the charging system in these hoverboards. To understand why, it helps to have some background knowledge of the product.   You can find over 20 factories in China that make these things. Some are reputable, and some are not. When you order off of eBay, Amazon, or Alibaba, you are likely buying from a re-seller who imports them. Might be they buy a quality product, or maybe they buy from the lowest prospective buyer to earn more income on the turnaround. In other words, that is a wager. When someone buys a new product from Amazon, the last thing on their mind is burning the kitchen down, but it is worth considering. In fact , it has happened to at least two people in the UK within the last 6 weeks. So , the first step is to buy from a reputable source that will not use cheap electronic devices on the interior, especially the batteries and charging mechanism.     Hoverboards are powered by the hottest generation of Lithium-Polimer, or "Li-Po" chargeable batteries.   For those fresh to Li-Po batteries, Cheap Hoverboards Under $200 they are distinctive from previous battery technologies in this they maintain a practically full charge right up until they may be almost fully depleted, and they are empty almost immediately. They produce a lot of power, and are prone to thermal runaway (meltdown) when overly depleted, so in addition to buying a quality product, we have some more words of caution we would like to discuss with you.   First, for that reason steep drop-off in energy when the battery gets low, it is important to stop riding the board when the battery pack alarm starts. Although you can continue to trip it due to the frequent voltage, accomplishing this could reduce your permanent battery-life. If you continue to deplete the battery for simply a fwe minutes longer, you can actually force it to a point from which it cannot restore, and it will no more accept a charge whatsoever. In this case, the battery is prone to get very hot and possibly damage other internal components. So, the moral of the story is: stop riding when the low battery alarm (continuous beeping) starts.   Secondly, unlike other sorts of batteries, it is not recommended to maintain a li-po battery with a full charge, as this will also reduce the permanent battery life. The good news here is that our engineers have already thought of this, and our chargers use a straightforward red-light/green-light charging system. Once the charger turns environmentally friendly, the battery is optimally charged for safety, electric battery life, and a sufficient battery duration. The phrase of caution here is that you should unplug the charger when it turns green so that you don't continue to charge your board. Doing so COULD, yep, you received it, slow up the battery life. There is circuitry in spot to prevent this, but it is always a good practice and unplug a li-po battery whenever it is not charging, in case that circuitry does not work out. Use the protection as a backup, not as your going-in plan.   Thus it's easy: Buy from a dealer to know the value of solid electronics, and set a 3 hr timer. Unplug the phone chrgr when your timer will go off and also the light turns green.