Your Smartphone Charger Can Kill You
Buying a cheap charger from a shady retailer can wreak havoc on your devices – and even kill you! Tech Talker explains how to avoid charging fiascos.
Mobile devices have exploded in number and variety in the past decade and so have all the various ways they are charged. Many of us are caught juggling multiple chargers between work, home, and car in order to keep our devices powered up. In this week’s episode I’ll be covering some do’s and don’ts of gadget chargers.
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The idea for this episode was sparked by a recent story of a Chinese woman who was electrocuted by her iPhone 4. This obviously made for some pretty incredible-sounding headlines, but the reality wasn’t quite as fantastic as it was first made out to be. As the story unfolded, it turned out that the woman wasn’t using an official Apple charger for the device, but rather a charger made by a third party (not Apple). However, Apple released a statement that they would replace any third party charger with an official Apple charger for just $10 for a limited time (the normal retail price of an Apple charger is $30).
Let’s consider the mobile devices you may use in your everyday life: smartphone, tablet, e-reader, laptop, smartwatch, Bluetooth headset. All of these devices require recharging and, at some point in their life, you may have lost or damaged the charging cord. Or maybe you just want an extra to keep at work. Here are some of the things to keep in mind when you’re shopping for chargers:
USB Charger
If your device uses USB to charge, you’re in luck because almost everything that accepts a USB plug falls into the same range of a 5v charge with anywhere between .5 and 2.1 amps. Some USB chargeable devices require more juice – one example is the iPad which requires the full 2.1 amps – while others require only 1 amp (like most smartphones).
I don’t want to delve too deeply into the technicalities of voltage and current, so here’s an easy way to think about it: If electricity were water, voltage would be how much pressure the water is under while moving through a pipe and amps would be how much water is actually flowing through the pipe. So the more amps you’re pushing into your device, the faster it will charge. What’s great is that most devices nowadays are so smart that they can regulate how much they charge and will keep it at an appropriate rate. So when I plug my iPhone into a 2.1amp charger, it is still charging at 1 amp because the phone itself will regulate it.
So, in short, if you have a USB cable that will fit in multiple devices, such as a USB micro adapter, then you can use it across all of your devices. This is pretty handy because that means you can use one charger for multiple gadgets.
Next let’s talk about wall plugs….
Wall Charger
Wall chargers are more risky because when you plug something into the wall, you’re dealing with high voltages and currents that can kill you if they are faulty. A charger you buy from a reputable electronics store will generally meet all of the safety guidelines required in the U.S. Where people get into trouble is when they buy a charger from another country, like China, for the bargain price of $0.99. These are generally look-a-like devices that are not made with any measure of quality. Beware!
Why spend hundreds of dollars on a complex, expensive device and trust it to a $0.99 charger?
If you are set on buying your chargers online, be sure to read reviews, or look at the seller rating. Oftentimes, if you buy something on Amazon you can get a quick assessment as to whether or not the charger or chord is of a good quality. It may seem obvious, but you should stear clear of devices that have reviews with phrases like “shorted out,” “smells like smoke,” or my personal favorite “caught fire.” The reason that many of these chargers are so dangerous is because they use as little wire as possible, and as little insulation as possible.
If you have a thin wire with a lot of electricity running through it, the wire will become extremely hot, which can cause a fire. When the device doesn’t have a lot of insulation, the internal wires can touch and cause a short that can be dangerous to you and your device.
The way I look at it, why spend hundreds of dollars on a complex, expensive device and trust it to a $0.99 charger? While I do think many chargers are severely overpriced (I’m talking to you, Apple), for the most part I recommend buying whatever the manufacturer sells to get the optimal quality and safety.
Laptop Chargers
Now a quick word on laptops. Laptop chargers can have different voltages, currents, and polarities. If you don’t match all three of these things with your charger, you can cause serious harm to your laptop. Voltage should always be kept the same accross chargers, current can vary by a little bit, and the polarity must absolutely be the same. Polarity is the direction of electricity flow and reversing that on a battery could cause it to explode! Here’s a quick way to check the polarity of laptops and their chargers.
With that here are your 3 Quick and Dirty Tips on device chargers:
- USB chargers are pretty universal because they have a constant 5v, and are so ubiquitous.
- Be careful to read reviews of chargers you’re buying online, if in doubt, invest in the manufacturer’s charger.
- For laptops, you must match polarity and voltage exactly, and keep the current within 1 or 2 amps of the original charger.
Well, that’s it for today! Be sure to check out all my earlier episodes at techtalker.quickanddirtytips.com. And if you have further questions about this podcast or want to make a suggestion for a future episode, post them on Facebook QDTtechtalker.
Until next time, I’m the Tech Talker, keeping technology simple!
Charger image courtesy of Shutterstock.
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About the Author
Tech Talker demystifies technology and cutting edge devices so that even the most tech illiterate can understand what’s going on with their computer or gadget — and what to do when something goes wrong.
