It will probably be square in your case, but this is what they look like. They tend to get hot, then will burst with a bit of white smoke and a really distinctive 'Blown Electronics' smell. The other option, is that you had a component within the circuitry fail, in this case i would look for blown capacitors. those are replaceable and, I would say the unit needs to be fairly old for the brushes to go (ie less than 3 months with heavy usage)Īlternatively, you have a better change of the problem being electronic in nature, Seeing that you have a battery pack one option is that a battery cell has blown - do you have a replacement battery pack to test it with? While white smoke is not normally associated with the motors, you could have burned out the Brushes on the motor, (if its a Brushed DC motor). The fact that you saw smoke, means that something blew. If it ceases to function, unfortunately you will have to return the product or purchase a new one. Yes it is safe to continue using the hedge trimmer, however the electric motor will continue to fail until it doesn't work anymore if it is even working now at all.Īs noted by Wayfaring Stranger, the electric motor may survive a little over heating, but from what I've read specifically about this issue with B&D electric hedge trimmers is that it's finished or will be very soon. The smoke you are seeing is from the electric motor. After 10 minutes of use after the second battery charge dense white smoke poured out of the motor compartment, and that was that. I never cut anything larger than about 1/8' and only recharged the batter once. However within a short period it started to clatter. It seemed to be working great initially and trimmed small forsythia bushes great. I took it back to walmart for replacement but they told me to contact black and decker for a replacement. I just purchase it from walmart and while using it a smoke started coming out. Random reviews about white smoke coming from a electric Black & Decker hedge trimmer My opinion is that when you were having difficulty cutting larger stems, the motor was overworked and this is what led to the failure. Because you didn't provide the model it isn't possible to give you a more specific reason why it has failed. Your hedge trimmer sounds like it has died or is in the process of dying.Ī quick google search confirms that this can occur with Black & Decker hedge trimmers, although it does not appear to be wide spread.

Black decker battery hedge trimmer