jamesp

Anyone know where I can buy the DCD995M2 kit? or is it not released yet? (if not when is it supposed to be released?)

The "phihong" part that's above the power input and capacitor and to the left of the big electrolytic cap looks to be a common mode choke (inductor), it shouldnt matter which way its assembled. HI-POT is an electrical insulation rating/test. If you post high-res pictures of the faulty one (or both) we might be able to see (IF its a fault that is visible) any faulty parts. May well be something that is not visible though. Easiest thing to look for would be electrolytic capacitors that are bulging (top and/or sides), leaking, or split. Or anything that looks burned/scorched/cracked. IF it doesnt even power on, no lights/sounds/etc... AND your handy with a soldering iron you could de-solder the fuse (reddish colored component marked "F1") and then check it with a ohm-meter, should be very low resistance. Only really need to de-solder 1 leg of it to test it, but may be easier to just remove it for testing. (the fuse is not polarity sensitive either.) IF you have any warranty on it though this WILL void it.

Resistors are not polar, they will work in either orientation equally, the problem is likely elsewhere in the circuit.

Complete and utter crap, they will work fine. (AS LONG AS you have the appropriate charger for your country, which you say that you do.) Batteries are DC devices, they get charged with DC power. Very simply the charger converts your local AC to DC for the battery to be charged with. (the charger does much more, but beyond the scope here). Keeping it simple, DC doesn't have frequency (hz) like mains AC. Be careful with ebay batteries, can be just as easy to get fakes as "real" batteries. amazon.com should ship most items to australia, they may be worth a look.