A word of caution about iPhone 5S chargers

1 points by josefonseca 11 years ago | 6 comments

An original iPhone 5S charger blew up in our co-workers's hand.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125661418@N06/15242534155/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125661418@N06/15055971937/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125661418@N06/15219529876/

Fake chargers have been known to be high risk, and there have been deaths reported recently. But honestly, I expected higher quality from an original Apple product.

Just to add to the cringe factor, this happened on the toilet power outlet. Gladly, no one was harmed, despite the proximity the fingers to the actual short circuit as you can see on one of the photos. Also note that the mains pins are not damaged: the actual burst was on the USB side: who knows what transient went through that USB cable and into the user's hand.

If you've played with electronic circuits, you know carbon is a great conductor of electricity. Once a surface is carbonized, it spreads the short circuit around. The USB jack on this charger is now carbonized and should be considered electrically in contact with the mains pins.

Be very careful with any device charger. Never use your phone while it charges and never use another device while they're both charging as it may form a circuit. Just because it is 5 Volts USB it does not make it safe. There is a power line just 3 milimeters away from the USB jack inside this enclosure.

These switch-mode chargers are getting smaller and smaller and the physical shielding between 220VAC mains and the trusted USB output is literally just millimeters away. Distance means safety in electricity, and as great as these little charges look, I think safety's being compromised for aesthetics here.

Be extra careful with any charger, including original brand name chargers.

itazula 11 years ago |

I don't see the usual "Designed by Apple in California" sentence. Are you sure this is an original charger?

josefonseca 11 years ago | |

You're right. I am holding it in my hand now and it seems like a generic model. Below it says "for use with information technology equipment".

This charger came out of a brand new iPhone 5S box purchased in an Apple store in the USA.

Apple then shipped a lot of generic low quality chargers? Can anyone else please check theirs? This was purchased in late June 2014.

Also found this: http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/07/25/apple-warns-chines...

Mine definitely looks like a generic one cautioned by that article.

DerekL 11 years ago | | |

As far as I can see from your photos, it doesn't say "Apple" anywhere on the label, but it has the model number and design of an Apple charger, so it has to be a counterfeit. How the Apple Store was selling this, I don't know.

By the way the sentence “CAUTION: For use with information technology equipment.” also appears on legitimate chargers, so that isn't a sign of anything.

wesnerm2 11 years ago |

Fake chargers are often made to resemble the original product including the branding.

josefonseca 11 years ago | |

Sure, but this one came out of the Apple box, purchased in an Apple store in the USA

jgeorge 11 years ago | | |

Purchased new? Or refurbished? It'd be interesting to get the history of that device serial# from Apple to see if it was perhaps a return or something, and was returned with a fake charger. Granted the store may be on the hook for not verifying it was a legit accessory before reselling it, but that IS a pretty good looking clone so I'm not sure I'd really fault anyone too much for overlooking it.