
Tiny, cheap, and dangerous: Inside a fake iPhone charger - martinml
http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html
======
makomk
The larger Chinese-made chargers _generally_ don't have these issues (though a
few apparently do).

Notice that this fake contains all or nearly all the components required to
build a safe and working charger, including full safety isolation, fuse
protection, and output regulation. The manufacturer's entirely capable of
building one, they've just fatally compromised on safety in order to fit
everything inside a tiny fake Apple shell.

(The blog post says it doesn't have a fuse, but generally instead of having a
seperate fuse the input resistor on these power supplies is a special fusible
resistor which is manufactured to also work as a fuse. Saves a few cents and
some space at the cost of using a specialist component. Unfortunately it's
impossible to tell it apart from a normal resistor just by looking.)

~~~
coldtea
> _The larger Chinese-made chargers generally don 't have these issues (though
> a few apparently do)._

Hardly a re-assurance now, is it?

~~~
moogleii
Only electrocutes 5% of the time. What me worry?

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phasetransition
I have an friend's fairly expensive espresso machine in pieces in my living
room due to electrical "problems." The (indeterminate far east supplier)
blatantly omitted about half the input side circuitry, including the supply
filtering. Numerous components identified on the PCB were never installed.

One lonely resistor protected the IC V_in for far longer than I would have
imagined possible (years) before exploding.

As someone who is actively working to increase my electrical circuit-related
design chops, intuiting how this thing continued to operate has been an
interesting exercise.

------
js2
Previous:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3996171](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3996171)

~~~
M4v3R
Yeah, the blog post was posted a year ago, but it's relevant again because of
the accident in China.

~~~
dspillett
Which accident? Have I missed news of a recent problem related to chargers?

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telepoiss
Here's one link
[http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-07/16/content_167803...](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-07/16/content_16780313.htm)

~~~
S_A_P
Ever since clicking on that link, Google does not like me and is making me
submit a captcha :-/

~~~
stephengillie
Switch to DuckDuckGo

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jp_sc
This is how a real charger looks for comparison:
[http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-
teardown-...](http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-
quality.html)

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runjake
This article is old (March 2012) and has been submitted at least twice prior.
Here's the small discussion from the last time this was submitted to HN, over
a year ago.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3699293](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3699293)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3699293](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3699293)

~~~
js2
I mentioned that in a sibling comment and it was pointed out the article has
an update at the top due to a related news event.

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gamegoblin
I bought what looked like a legit iPhone charger in Turkey a few weeks ago.
However, if you touched the tip of the cord while it was plugged in, it would
shock the hell out of you. I guess they skimped on a ground wire? I am not an
electrical engineer. Would appreciate an explanation if anyone can speculate.

EDIT: I don't use this charger anymore, just to be clear.

~~~
kens
Chargers typically aren't grounded. The AC and output sides of the charger are
electrically isolated, but it seems like that isolation isn't working in your
case. It's not uncommon for enough high-frequency current to leak through to
be felt, but based on the description it sounds like you've got full AC
leaking through. I strongly recommend you don't use this charger, since
there's a real risk of electrocution in that case. I wrote the original
article, so if you send me this charger I'll tear it down, figure out what's
wrong, and post a writeup (my email is on the article page).

------
FootballMuse
Anyone have any thoughts on this slim 45w charger? [http://www.amazon.com/GPK-
Systems%C2%AE-Portable-Notebook-Sm...](http://www.amazon.com/GPK-
Systems%C2%AE-Portable-Notebook-Smartphones/dp/B00AQLCMRM)

They seem to have good reviews across their range of products and have
certification logos. However, I've been hesitant.

~~~
namdnay
I'm guessing Amazon would be liable if they sold non-conforming devices, no?
The charger described in the article clearly didn't respect the rules. Or
maybe it's different in the US.

~~~
kevingadd
Amazon sells busted, bootleg products all the time, and the reviews can end up
in the 1 star area. They don't pull them.

For a while literally all the XBox 360 wireless controller adapters on Amazon,
for example, were Chinese knockoffs. For some reason Amazon stopped stocking
the real ones, and let vendors put up knockoffs branded as the real thing,
despite the reviews making it clear that they were fakes (and broke easily).

~~~
duskwuff
Amazon often has problems with listing knockoff products under the same SKU as
the real thing. The Arduino project has had some serious problems with this in
particular - for a while, if you bought an Arduino board, it was a roll of the
dice whether you'd end up with a genuine one or a knockoff.

I bet the same thing was happening with the XBox controller adapters.

------
bohdan_anderson
One of my favorite electronics tear down, he looks at two fake apple chargers.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE)

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JimmaDaRustla
I guess we shouldn't think twice when buying proprietary device, even if
overpriced...

~~~
venomsnake
You should. This was common with PSU supplies back in the 90s - there were
those so called Chinese firecrackers that just blew up and had a concrete
brick to give the feeling of weight inside.

Then the market matured a bit and now you have gems like Seasonic and a stable
manufacturers like Fortron that in the 2003-5 were with extreme performance
for their price.

Don't pay the apple, samsung, MS and whomever tax if you can avoid it. It is
unhealthy for the market and for the wallet. Just do a simple research that
you are getting a kosher device.

~~~
takluyver
Any tips on how someone who's not familiar with these things can work out
what's legit and what's dangerous?

~~~
kens
If you buy a charger for $2 on eBay and it's sent from China, it's almost
guaranteed to be dangerous. If you buy a $19 charger from Apple, it's going to
be as safe as you get. If you buy a cheaper charger from a store like Target,
it'll be safe but probably worse power quality. More or less you get what you
pay for. (No charger is 100% safe of course; Apple chargers have had recalls
and occasional problems.)

I'm the author of the original post and I've torn apart and analyzed a lot of
chargers if you want to see the differences between them:
[http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-
ap...](http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-
is.html)

