Have you ever had an inexpensive (less than $5 each) USB “charger” burn out or fail?

[Mooch]

If yes, I would like to hear about it! If you know the manufacturer and model number please let me know so I can order a couple.

I have a few different ones now, costing around $3 each, that I will be testing but I want to test more of them.



After that I hope to test some of the high quality ones that are available.

Thanks!

 

[Heartsdelight]

I would love to know the names of some higher quality ones.

 

[vaper1960]

Don't know what it cost (I used to get stuff from "lost and found" at my hotel job) but I like this Samsung Travel Adapter (model EP-TA50JWE) It accepts a range of voltage and Hz. Have another device that wouldn't work with other USB phone chargers, but works with this. Don't know if that helps. I can say that several cheap phone chargers I have get hot when using. Good idea Mooch.

 

[vaper1960]

When I first read the post, I didn't know it was you. Couldn't understand why someone actually wanted to buy chargers that burn up LOL

 

[susieqz]

i think mine from walmart cost $7, so i can;t help/

 

[Mooch]

i think mine from walmart cost $7, so i can;t help/

It burned out though? Do you know it’s model number?

 

[sonicbomb]

None burned out, but countless that have under delivered voltage and current. I would be extremely interested in the models of quality ones that deliver the advertised power levels.

 

[mimöschen]

None burned out, but countless that have under delivered voltage and current. I would be extremely interested in the models of quality ones that deliver the advertised power levels.

index of USB equipment

 

[sonicbomb]

@mimöschen thanks

 

[Mooch]

index of USB equipment

That’s the link I’ll be posting after popping open a few of these cheap units to show their crappy construction. No need for me to duplicate his amazing work.

 

[stratus.vaping]

I bought an unbranded dual USB EU plug charger on UK Ebay some years ago, about £3.50. After 5 mins it popped and the smoke was released. Opened up to find a badly burnt PCB, the DC side of the thing had a pcb track that was ridiculously close to the 240V side, about 2mm iirc, it was too burnt to reveal exactly what had happened but looking at the quality of components and construction it may be that a wee bit of stray wire or solder had bridged the gap.

Looked like this one that the Dane tested and was deemed lethal. Test of newCARPRIE 5V 2A 3 port usb charger EP-TA20JWE

There are plenty of identical looking units on Ebay even now, I did contact UK Trading Standards at the time but they said they had so many reports and piles of them they could do very little .... Just wait for the house fires I suggested?

I have also come across many fake Apple USB chargers of various types, missing most of the smoothing components and with very slapdash design and construction.

 

[Barkuti]

Came here looking for battery chargers LoL. Technically speaking these are power supplies.
Henrik's work in this respect is very appreciated, particularly in noise and safety areas. Thanks to his reviews I started using Fonken devices, very good performers at fair pricing. Blitzwolf @ Banggood usually does pretty good too. This is just my experience, of course.

Concerning actual compact single slot battery chargers, for which I came here in the first place, a few weeks ago suggested Henrik the following unit for a review:

US $4.27 26% OFF|18650 Battery Charger 26650 USB Smart Nickel Hydrogen AA AAA 21700 Single Slot Lithium Battery Charger For Rechargeable Battery-in Chargers from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
With support for 21700 cells and up to 2A charging speed in a very compact package.

 

[Mooch]

Came here looking for battery chargers LoL. Technically speaking these are power supplies.

Agreed. But many people call them chargers and would have no idea what I was referring to if I asked about power supplies.

It’s one of the big reasons why I am asking what everyone calls these things.

 

[susieqz]

my $7 one still works.
it was called a charger.