I just became aware of a safety recall on USB Chargers in Canada. I wanted to share this information as it could affect devices sold in many countries....
Here's a list of the Chargers affected.....
Posted by
San Jose
1194 posts
Moral of the story...
Do NOT buy cheap chargers. Make sure it has the markings on it from safety inspection.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
I notice many of the recalled chargers have the CE symbol, but if they aren't being sold in Europe, I doubt the EU can do anything.
Note, the CE symbol does not require testing by any safety organization. CE is a "self-certification". The manufacturer is expected to perform an analysis to determine the safety of the product. The manufacturer analyzes the product according to guidelines for CE, which include the probability of a mode of failure, the seriousness of the results of that failure, and steps (e. g. warnings) to mitigate the results. The manufacturer is then required to keep that analysis in a file in their office. No one ever looks at the file unless there is an incident, then the analysis had better have been done correctly. If these failures happened outside of Europe, the EU might not ever know of the failures. Certification by CSA, UL, and TÜV (Technischer Überwachungsverein, in Germany) does indicate testing by that organization.
Inexpensive does not necessarily indicate unsafe; expensive does not necessarily indicate safe. It is easy to make a USB voltage converter safe.
By the way, I see plug adapters with the CE symbol. As I understand it, CE does not apply to plugs because they are different for each country and are, therefore, up to the individual country's safety organization to approve. (I'm not sure the Chinese understand this.)