Warning: Unsafe chargers in UK imported from China

[abvidledUK]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7514426.stm

"Hundreds of thousands of unsafe chargers for mobile phones, games consoles and music devices could have made their way into the UK.

Trading standards officers studying dangerous chargers being imported from China say vast numbers are available on the internet and in shops.

Their tests show one brand can overheat or cause electrocution.

One of the chargers concerned has the code marking DE62347066. Others have no code and are called Travel Charger."

 

[shadowjk]

"Fake CE mark". Hah, you can put the CE mark on anything, you just have to pretend you've certified it yourself...

The idea at the time was that surely people would notice faulty equipment and report it to appropriate regulators who would be able to independently test the suspected device and pull it off the market if necessary.

 

[zipplet]

I'm reminded of the cheap mains USB charger that was bundled with my zen stone plus that I obtained from ebay last christmas.

The charger had a european plug, and was shipped with an "anything -> UK" travel adaptor that was extremely poorly designed with NO fuse. You could even insert a UK plug into the travel adaptor sideways exposing one of the pins.

The charger itself was flimsy from the word go, and didn't work properly so I opened it. Cold solder joints on the live and neutral pins.

Another time I was actually emailed by an ebay seller telling me that the power supply for an IDE -> USB adaptor I'd bought wasn't compliant with UK standards and was being recalled. The original kettle lead which I had never used, had a moulded plug with no fuse...

 

[Essexman]

From the above BBC news page

Wires become detached after being used for a while leading to a risk of electric shocks. The pins do not fit properly into UK sockets causing overheating

The first part is bad enough, but I would hope most people would see a wire pulling out and then turn it off.

The second part is a real worry. Arcing between the poor fitting contacts over time will cause overheating, and in the worse case result in fire. This kind of damge won't happen over night, it takes time. Problems can aslo arise when the same socket is then used for another appliance which requires a higher current draw (like an electirc fire).

 

[shadowjk]

I don't think rest of europe has a fuse requirement for kettle leads and similar

 

[zipplet]

That is very true, in the UK electrical safety is better than that in most other countries.

 

[NA8]

I remember our company had a similar problem with wall warts back in the 80s. You'd pull the wart out of the socket and it would leave a blade in the hot slot in the wall. UL approved. Some new bozos didn't know how to pot the wall wart properly at our vendors. This kind of stuff goes on continuously. All the safety agencies exist due to horror stories from the good old days that weren't so good.