ageofwanton Hacker News • Recommends
On “Counterfeit Macbook charger teardown: convincing outside but dangerous inside”
Dave Jone's EEVBlog hosts a number of teardowns, here's a similar one from 2012: link to this video Good channel generally.
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#teardown#usbcharger#hardwaresafety
EEVblog #388 - Fake Apple USB Charger Teardown
EEVblog
1M subscribers • 8 videos on Hallway
- Recommended by 1 person: 1 on Hacker News.
- Presented by Dave Jones
Beginner. No background in the topic needed.
490K views13 years ago1 recommendation
Dave Jones tears down a counterfeit Apple USB charger to show the dangerous design shortcuts and lack of electrical isolation.
Teardown Tuesday. What is inside a fake clone A1265 Apple USB charger? WARNING: These fakes and cheap no-name chargers are DANGEROUS. If you have one, throw it out and get a quality one. Teardown of a real Apple USB charger: arcfn.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html EEVblog Main Web Site: eevblog.com EEVblog Amazon Store: astore.amazon.com/eevblogstore-20 Donations: eevblog.com/donations/ Projects: eevblog.com/projects/ Electronics Info Wiki: eevblog.com/wiki/Why it's here
1 person recommends thisWhat people say. Recommended as a clear demonstration of why cheap, counterfeit USB chargers are dangerous due to poor electrical isolation.
klodolphon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Teenage schoolgirl 'electrocuted after rolling on to iPhone cable in her sleep'”
…C power. The chargers are build very small, and cheap off-brand chargers have insufficient clearance between the LV and the HV side. This is dangerous, and can cause the 220V mains to go through to the USB port. This is also a very well-known property of cheap phone chargers, and you can find many teardowns online that show what I'm talking about. link to this video link link I have also seen a few videos of teardowns of actual faulty chargers. For example, there was one where some of the insulation in the transformer windings were damaged, and you would get a continuous shock just by touching the LV side of any devices that are plugged in.…
klodolphon Hacker News • Mentions
On “Teenage schoolgirl 'electrocuted after rolling on to iPhone cable in her sleep'”
Right, and the charger is plugged into the wall which provides 220VAC. The cheap chargers are unsafe because they don't have enough clearance between the high voltage and low voltage sides of the circuit, so the isolation can fail and energize the USB port with 220VAC, for example. This is a well-known failure mode of cheap phone chargers, and it should be obvious why these shortcuts are illegal in most countries. Teardowns of cheap USB chargers online explain what I'm talking about, for example, link to this video
behringeron Hacker News • Mentions
On “Amazon Caught Selling Counterfeits of Publisher’s Computer Books–Again”
There's been multiple reports of people dying through headphones. Maybe they're all bogus, but considering an ER doctor presumably knows nothing about electronics, I'll disregard his opinion. Instead I'll listen to what an electronics engineer thinks about counterfeit chargers: link to this video