I just recently got a used Valence, and my laptop wallwart gets REAL hot when charging too. I actually blew another charger I had when I first tryed to charge the batt. I didn't realize that the Valence wants to pull like 3amps from the charger, the one I was using was rated 500ma
oops. Thats prolly why the laptop wallwart gets so hot. If your's is reated at less than 3amps, it may be working real hard. Mine is rated at 2.7, so it's close enough (I hope). I def won't charge mine when I'm not home...