[weefa]

Be careful with those eBay battery chargers, whether they're for phones or cameras. Some of them are meant to be installed in only way in an A/C wall outlet but they come with the same size prongs allowing to mount it to the wall outlet backwards. The circuitry in many of the cheap chargers are simple and not designed for reverse current. The reason why they are so cheap on eBay is because there were shortcuts taken to reduce cost.

I purchased a battery/charger combo off eBay for my digital camera. I mounted it upside down due to the fact the other outlet was in use. I left the room for 10 minutes and noticed it was filling with smoke and could hear something shorting out in the charger. I contacted the seller and they sent me another charger/battery. I mounted it correctly on the outlet and the battery charged fine. As soon as I mounted it backwards, the charger started smoking and short circuiting again. Both times the batteries were damaged.

Most higher quality electrical devices are designed with basic circuit protection. Spend the extra few bucks and buy a charger from a well known company/manufacturer.