Squirmy high-street USB charger

I had a similar charger which had an improperly rated capacitor. I reported it to Trading Standards via Citizens Advice, who appear to have done absolutely nothing.

I have a couple of those IKEA ones, no problems at all.

Paul Slootman

I still have a few of the ones you recommended years back.

John Carr

Yeah that's poor. There's halfwave mains across that tiny gap with respect to Earth. The negative of the bridge will follow L when it goes below N. When it goes above N, it will follow N which in the UK should be close to E. Not always the case in Europe eg with Schukos. Inspection-wise it looks around 0.6mm which is bugger all if you get a negative spike on L and definitely not to book. Testing wise I'd expect it to breakdown around the 2-3kV mark. I'm not an expert on tracking as my products tend to be for intermittent use on quality PCB material with a low tracking index - I follow the rulez and don't get any complaints. And after all that the weak link was the "safety" capacitor!

Mike Page

At the very least Apple should have made the charger an optional FREE accessory. If it was really just about e-waste they could have let anyone who bought a new iPhone and didn't have a good charger add the charger to their order for free. That they didn't, and instead made it an expensive accessory, tells you all you need to know. Gotta try and keep/reclaim their title of world's most valuable company somehow (by nickel and diming their customers).

Shuken Flash

There's a good chance that may be the case. But I regard the lifespan of modern chargers as being low enough to justify a fresh one with a phone upgrade.

Big Clive

Yes they are. The construction is actually quite impressive.

Big Clive

My A52 S 5G came with a fast charger, and that's a budget Samsung.

Mike Page

"Apple ... can quite literally go and fuck themselves." :-)

Stuart

A great demo of tracking across too narrow a gap on a PCB.

Gerry BVR

Are the Poundland/Dealz ones still safe?

John Carr

And personally I've no problem with that plan, especially now most folk have had at least one generation of USB charged phones.

Jon Knight

I'm sure my Samsung S21 came with a charger... one moment, please... Sorry, No it didn't, As you were, My previous S10 did though!

Dr Andy Hill

Apart from the colour it resembles the charger that came withy my wife's Doro phone That only lasted a week before it died so I bought a far more expensive one to replace it.

Jeremy Travis

"Arc n' Spark" - I won't be shopping there any more!

Ymir the Frost Giant

Clive did an IKEA one a good while ago. Think it's the one he uses, It was very good quality

Tazz1669

That is bugger all isolation between the mains and heart seizure side. New Samsung phone now only comes with a USB C cable, no charger.

Rob Googe

Re supply of chargers with phones; It's in my mind that the EU were 'dissuading' manufacturers from supplying chargers to save electronic waste Google, Samsung, and others, also don't include chargers.

Mr B Shepherd

These USB charger teardown are my absolute favorite. Would love to see a good quality one torn down / compared with the dodgy one.

c

Apple are such despicable cunts in every way.