USB charger exploded

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Master Geek
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#2232426 7-May-2019 19:36

I've also had a charger from PBTech blow up and had sparks coming out of it. Contact them to replace it and that it caused a fire. I got a different model for free. I find braided cables to be rubbish. Had a few blow up.

Batman

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#2232430 7-May-2019 19:51

third party chargers and cables are BOTH rubbish.

unfortunately you do have to fork out for original cables. chargers don't break and i keep accumulating them but cables do change and break.

Wellingtondave

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Master Geek
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#2232438 7-May-2019 20:04

I would contact consumer affairs / Mbie whatever the hell they are called this week just in case there are multiple reports of these failing and they need to recall them.

https://www.recalls.govt.nz/

timmmay

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#2232440 7-May-2019 20:19

Batman:

third party chargers and cables are BOTH rubbish.

unfortunately you do have to fork out for original cables. chargers don't break and i keep accumulating them but cables do change and break.

Disagree there. There are many poor quality aftermarket chargers and cables, but there are good ones too. Anker and Ravpower make great chargers, Orico make good ones that you can get from PBTech. I've found Covery and Monoprice cables both good quality from Amazon.com, and adata from pbtech seem effective.

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#2232441 7-May-2019 20:19

What was the load at the time? Im assuming one output was 2.1a and the other 1amp...so 3amps total right?

i.e. what was charging and were the cables rated for the voltage and max amps as per the output of the charger?

Obviously, an overload from something plugged into the charger.

I've fried a factory apple usb charger thinking I could charge my vape mod. Ive also nearly almost fried a 3rd party usb cable because I didn't want to use the supplied standard cable that was noticeably thicker than my 3rd party cheapo...(but longer).

food for thought.

rphenix

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#2232610 8-May-2019 07:41

That charger looks exactly like one I got when I purchased a device from PB came with that same white and grey plastic charger. Plugged it in and didn't like the humm coming from it, smelt it and it had that very faint burning electrical smell even though it had been plugged in all of 30 seconds threw it out.

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Nate001

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#2232612 8-May-2019 07:46

Goosey:

What was the load at the time? Im assuming one output was 2.1a and the other 1amp...so 3amps total right?

i.e. what was charging and were the cables rated for the voltage and max amps as per the output of the charger?

Obviously, an overload from something plugged into the charger.

I've fried a factory apple usb charger thinking I could charge my vape mod. Ive also nearly almost fried a 3rd party usb cable because I didn't want to use the supplied standard cable that was noticeably thicker than my 3rd party cheapo...(but longer).

food for thought.

Actually there was zero load on the charger. I use it for my watch and phone and I had both of them on me when it happened. But yes I could imagine if you connected something dodgy and drew too much current you could make it go bang.

If this had simply just stopped working I probably wouldn't have cared and just thrown it away, but because it failed in such a spectacular way I am more inclined to do something. If a pillow from the bed had fallen on top there would have been a real risk of a fire.

Nate001

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#2232613 8-May-2019 07:48

rphenix:

That charger looks exactly like one I got when I purchased a device from PB came with that same white and grey plastic charger. Plugged it in and didn't like the humm coming from it, smelt it and it had that very faint burning electrical smell even though it had been plugged in all of 30 seconds threw it out.

Sounds like PBTech are just repackaging cheap chargers from AliExpress. I think from now on I'll stay with branded chargers.

techocrazy

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#2232626 8-May-2019 08:08

I actually had this same charger explode on me while it was charging a phone. It was also from PBTech and bundled with a Redmi Note 3. The charger worked fine for about 6 months before failing end of 2018.

I came back to find the power to the room tripped, the charger on the floor with the electrical contacts still in the socket. (So guess the explosion was enough send part of it across the room?)

Went back to PB with charger and politely asked them to replace it with a charger that was less likely to burn the house down. They apologized and gave me two Samsung Fast Chargers for free.

If you have one, I recommend returning them asap.

Photos for reference.

Batman

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#2232630 8-May-2019 08:23

techocrazy:

I actually had this same charger explode on me while it was charging a phone. It was also from PBTech and bundled with a Redmi Note 3. The charger worked fine for about 6 months before failing end of 2018.

I came back to find the power to the room tripped, the charger on the floor with the electrical contacts still in the socket. (So guess the explosion was enough send part of it across the room?)

Went back to PB with charger and politely asked them to replace it with a charger that was less likely to burn the house down. They apologized and gave me two Samsung Fast Chargers for free.

If you have one, I recommend returning them asap.

Photos for reference.

Please let me clarify - the charger was not a Redmi charger but bundled as an extra to your redmi phone

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#2232631 8-May-2019 08:24

tehgerbil:
I would take it back and demand a refund given it almost burnt your house down.

I think saying it almost burnt the house down or that it exploded are over the top. Chances are that a voltage spike on the mains caused the diode bridge in the charger to short circuit and the breaker tripped. Many devices that fail "let the smoke out" without the risk of setting fire to surrounding objects.

Edit. I wrote the above before seeing techocrazy's post. That is something that would have failed any safety testing.

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Batman

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#2232633 8-May-2019 08:25

timmmay:

Batman:

third party chargers and cables are BOTH rubbish.

unfortunately you do have to fork out for original cables. chargers don't break and i keep accumulating them but cables do change and break.

Disagree there. There are many poor quality aftermarket chargers and cables, but there are good ones too. Anker and Ravpower make great chargers, Orico make good ones that you can get from PBTech. I've found Covery and Monoprice cables both good quality from Amazon.com, and adata from pbtech seem effective.

In my unlucky experience, it is 100%. So for me, there is no way of telling, I just go with original cables and chargers. If anything, the best ones seem to be the ones in Huawei flagship phones.

techocrazy

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#2232643 8-May-2019 08:40

To reply to @Batman
This was not an official Redmi charger. The charger in the photo is an extra bundled by PB so you don't need to buy an international power adapter to charge your new phone with the official charger etc.
Hopefully that clarifies things.

Cheers

Nate001

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#2232648 8-May-2019 08:46

techocrazy:

I actually had this same charger explode on me while it was charging a phone. It was also from PBTech and bundled with a Redmi Note 3. The charger worked fine for about 6 months before failing end of 2018.

I came back to find the power to the room tripped, the charger on the floor with the electrical contacts still in the socket. (So guess the explosion was enough send part of it across the room?)

Went back to PB with charger and politely asked them to replace it with a charger that was less likely to burn the house down. They apologized and gave me two Samsung Fast Chargers for free.

If you have one, I recommend returning them asap.

Photos for reference.

Far out now that one really did go bang. Did it cause any damage to the phone?

Fred99

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#2232649 8-May-2019 08:47

As I understand it, these chargers typically use a capacitor to suppress noise on the (5V) output.

They use an oscillator circuit on the mains voltage side, frequency is relatively high (several thousand Hz), that causes interference issues on the DC output.

The noise suppression capacitor is bridging between live rectified mains voltage and +5v output, this is not allowed unless the capacitor is a certified "Y-class" capacitor where fail mode is always open circuit.

Chargers with the wrong type of caps will probably test okay, and even if you were able to pull them apart and look at the circuit/components you probably can't tell.

I read an article where full teardowns were done on an assortment of aftermarket and "fake OEM" chargers, the latter were much more likely to have fake Y caps (just standard non Y rated) caps. If something happens (power surge, or just failure of the crappy components), then you get several hundred volts DC across the USB port, so as well as fire risk, they could electrocute you.

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