Fake Apple Chargers Fail Safety Tests (bbc.com)

Investigators have warned consumers they face potentially fatal risks after 99% of fake Apple chargers failed a basic safety test. From a report on BBC: Trading Standards, which commissioned the checks, said counterfeit electrical goods bought online were an "unknown entity." Of 400 counterfeit chargers, only three were found to have enough insulation to protect against electric shocks. It comes as Apple has complained of a "flood" of fakes being sold on Amazon. Apple revealed in October that it was suing a third-party vendor, which it said was putting customers "at risk" by selling power adapters masquerading as those sold by the Californian tech firm.

Comments

What's inside a fake

[spaceyhackerlady]

Here's a video taking one apart and reverse-engineering it to see why it's so crappy.

You get what you pay for.

...laura

This is going to get worse with USB-C

[cerberusss]

With USB-C, this is going to get much, much worse. Apple, Google and HP now have laptops that can get juice from every charger.

However, the protocol for that (USB-PD, Power Delivery) is a digital protocol. So companies that used to build purely electronic chargers will now have to build or more likely buy firmware for their chargers. There's bound to be bugs in there, but we're talking about chargers that can supply up to a 100W of direct current.

I dare not guess how much houses are going to burn down because of crazy power supplies.

Personally, I'm only buying cables and chargers that have been tested thoroughly. You can't trust Amazon reviews, you can't trust big brands, you can only trust guys like Benson Leung and Nathan K., who whip out the protocol analyzer and the benchtop electronic loads.

This is a real good source:
https://docs.google.com/spread...

And this is the Google Plus page, where they post an analysis every so often:
https://plus.google.com/collec...

Re:UL Is a scam

[sl3xd]

Any cost conscious product manufacturer uses another NRTL for the small USA market.

Um... no. The US represents the single largest single market in the world, and is roughly 25% of the entire world. No manufacturer can afford to ignore a quarter of the market, any more than they can ignore the E.U. or China.

There are plenty of PSUs which have good safety, and are not UL listed (but UL certified by another NRTL).

That makes NO sense: UL Certification means Underwriters Laboratory did the testing. Another NRTL cannot by definition, UL certify anything

But assuming you meant that the product is certified by a different NRTL: You're ignoring the scope and purpose of an NRTL.

An NRTL can do testing for OSHA compliance. OSHA is only an authority for workplace safety, and nothing else. An NRTL's certification is only valid for an industrial or commercial application, and has no value for products intended for a home.

There are only 17 NRTL's, but even then, they are limited in scope. Each NRTL is only licensed to test a specific set of criteria: For example, the NSF is an NRTL, but it's wholly inappropriate for the group to certify an electrical product. There only a couple of NRTL's licensed to test electrical products.

It's also important to note the origin and continued primary business of UL: UL was formed by and works primarily for the American fire/homeowner's insurance industry. They are the laboratory that the insurance industry goes to in order to underwrite the safety of a product.

UL listing of consumer products isn't, and should never be mistaken for any sort of governmental certification. It's an insurance industry approval, and means you're likely to get a payout should the product cause damage.