Which are trustworthy brands for a simple USB wall charger?

[NeverDie]

I want a small USB wall charger of about this size:

However, I want to make sure it's not some no-name pos from China (i.e. no accountability) that might burst into flames at any time, especially if it's permanently plugged in and I'm not monitoring it. Are there any trustworthy brands, or is it a hopeless question because any brand could be counterfeited? Anyone have one or more links for a trustworthy unit?

It's not an academic question. I have had various friends who have had things burst/flame/melt on them out of the blue after they've been plugged in for months or years. I suppose the part that's most likely to fail would be a capacitor (the usual suspect anyway), but I don't know that for sure.

[hek]

A genuine Samsung/Iphone charger is probably the safest bet.
They don't want any new "Sorry, you can't bring that Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on this flight" stories in press.

Or do you mean "safe" imported aliexpress stuff?

[NeverDie]

@hek said in Which are trustworthy brands for a simple USB wall charger?:

Or do you mean "safe" imported aliexpress stuff?

^ This. Is there such a thing?

[robosensor]

If safety is on the first place you can make your own power supply using miniature transformers like this (lower half of PCB):

Such transformers are very small for low-power nodes:

UPD: link to the topic: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/6259/encapsulated-transformers-instead-of-traditional-switching-power-supplies-like-hi-link

[NeverDie]

Maybe I worry too much. Provided that as a USB charger's plastic housing isn't combustible, then any failure would be "contained"?

[mfalkvidd]

@NeverDie yes, as long as it doesn't send too much voltage on the 5V output (and fries whatever you have connected)

[robosensor]

@NeverDie you can just google for images for "exploded/burned phone charger"

Just an example:

[NeverDie]

Yeah, your example is the sort of thing I want to avoid. From what I've read, the electrolyte in capacitors can boil off over time, creating a kind of time bomb.

[sundberg84]

@NeverDie - I have also posted pictures in this forum and other forum about personal issues with "genuine" (fake!) iphone/samsung charger. Just a search on ali/ebay makes it impossible with that amount of results to know which one is good vs bad... i guess it some way you pay more for good.

My guess is that we are going to see more fires... I watched a morningshow here in Sweden some time ago and it was considered safe so far with the chargers (13 fires / year) verses stove fires (1500+/year) but the last linked charger (samsung) was bought at a market here in sweden in a nice packaging sold as a genuine... it was not so i guess the market is getting quite flooded with fake ones.

My second guess is as the charger is safer using it as just a charger than putting a unknown DIY load as well. Might be the work fine charging phones but what happens when you add to much load to them?

[gohan]

As usual it is always the problem of attaching to mains a supposedly certified shitty power adapter or make your own high quality and safe adapter but not certified. Probably phone chargers are just not designed to be used 24/7

[NeverDie]

@gohan said in Which are trustworthy brands for a simple USB wall charger?:

Probably phone chargers are just not designed to be used 24/7

No, of course they are. Good ones anyway.

[NeverDie]

@sundberg84 said in Which are trustworthy brands for a simple USB wall charger?:

it was considered safe so far with the chargers (13 fires / year) verses stove fires (1500+/year)

I suppose one could monitor the temperature of the charger since, after all, it would be used to power a sensor node anyway. Maybe that would give some advance warning if things are heading badly before it goes catastrophic?

[robosensor]

Seems like this is offtopic, but there are good meanwell power supplies designed to run 24x7, like this:

http://www.meanwell.com/webapp/product/search.aspx?prod=DR-15 (MTBF 1.1M hours)

Or even something like this:
http://www.meanwell.com/webapp/product/search.aspx?prod=PM-05 (MTBF 1.5M hours) and so on

I used long time this NFM-05-5 power supplies, very good, no problems at all:
http://www.meanwell.com/webapp/product/search.aspx?prod=NFM-05

[gohan]

@robosensor nice, but not very handy as a wall charger.

[sundberg84]

one could monitor the temperature

@NeverDie - this is the exact approach I have in my In wall AC/DC nodes.
https://www.openhardware.io/view/13/In-Wall-ACDC-Pcb-for-MySensors

[NeverDie]

If you've guys have never seen any of the videos from:
https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom/videos
many of them are quite entertaining. I think he may have been a Scottish electrician or something. He routinely buys things from the pound shop, tears them down, and often shows them to be "deathtraps," especially for mains connected devices.

[gohan]

most cheap stuff is potentially a death trap if it is mains powered

[NeverDie]

Noticing now that at least some of them claim to offer various protections:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/LED-Display-3-USB-Charger-ROCK-Universal-Mobile-Phone-USB-Charger-Fast-Charging-Wall-Charger-For/32832813133.html

So, what would be the cheapest one but offering good protections?

[gohan]

I wonder how they achieve over charge protection

[NeverDie]

I guess the way to do it would be if someone credible like Dave Jones did a tear down and vetted a particular USB charger. Then get that make and model. Ignoring counterfeits, maybe then it would be deem-able as "safe."

[mfalkvidd]

When I need multiple ports, I use the IKEA chargers. Reasons:

• They are the cheapest per mA and port that I can buy locally
• They are a big brand with a reputation to protect
• bigclivedotcom has done a teardown and deemed it safe

[NeverDie]

@mfalkvidd Good find! I also just now found a teardown by bigclive for the ~$1 usb wall chargers that I was thinking of getting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNoGCdX1IdQ
and it has convinced me that it would have been a mistake. So, I guess around $7.50 or more is what it's going to take for a decent, safe quality usb charger. So, suddenly batteries start to look like a reasonable alternative, whereas before I wouldn't have thought so.

[gohan]

battery or wall charger it is a choice that depends on the kind of sensors you want to use

[Nca78]

If you didn't you can have a look there too, there are many tests of Ali / Ebay products:
http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/indexUSB UK.html

Go back to root of website if you are interested in battery tests, battery chargers or led drivers.

[NeverDie]

@Nca78 said in Which are trustworthy brands for a simple USB wall charger?:

If you didn't you can have a look there too, there are many tests of Ali / Ebay products:
http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/indexUSB UK.html

Go back to root of website if you are interested in battery tests, battery chargers or led drivers.

Wow! That's extensive. Is there a short-list somewhere for the best of what they tested? I want to jump ahead to the final recommendations and not read every review if I can avoid it.

[NeverDie]

Aha! Nevermind, I think I found it: http://lygte-info.dk/info/ChargerIndex UK.html

[NeverDie]

I like how he tests them for noise level as well. Might as well pick one with low noise if possible.

[NeverDie]

I think I'm starting to warm-up to this one:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NTONPOWER-US-Electrical-Plug-and-Socket-Wall-Mounted-3-Outlet-3-USB-Charging-Port-15W-with/32757740342.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.263.PgEo7J

It's made by the same company that got a good review in the above list (although, maybe not, because Orico appears to have an identical one). However, the intangibles in its favor are:

1. I get more wall plugs, not fewer for having plugged it in, and
2. It has a minimalist shelf meant to hold a phone for charging, but it might just as well hold a sensor node or gateway, which would be convenient.

[zboblamont]

@NeverDie Was "starting to warm-up" an example of Texan humour, or accidental, given how this thread started off....?

[fredswed]

I second the IKEA alternative for USB chargers. They are hard to beat as a huge company with focus both on cost and safety. And the lygte-info.dk is a great resource.

Just remember that a USB charger is optimized to deliver 1-2 A for a couple of hours at a time. That is very different to providing 50 mA continously. I'm thinking of heat dissipation but also efficiency at low power. (So use the lygte-info.dk link to find a good one that performs well at the power you need.)

[NeverDie]

What a strange world we live in that Ikea has become the "go to" source for USB chargers.... Not saying that I disagree, but it's just plain odd that we have to resort to that in order to get something trustworthy.

[gohan]

It's a compromise between paying premium bucks for a branded charger and having a still tested certified charger still made in China (as per 99% of these kind of products)

[NeverDie]

This guy did a teardown on a particular dollar tree USB charger, and although he didn't take it all the way to bits like BigClive did, it seemed to pass muster as far as he was concerned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBBvdM9vGfs
Most sensors are just not going to draw much current at all compared to the 1.1a that this one cuts out at. So, maybe it is possible after all to get one for $1 that's relatively safe.

[gohan]

The problem is always reliability over long term that in teardown is not possible to measure

[Nca78]

@NeverDie said in Which are trustworthy brands for a simple USB wall charger?:

This guy did a teardown on a particular dollar tree USB charger, and although he didn't take it all the way to bits like BigClive did, it seemed to pass muster as far as he was concerned:
$1 USB charger teardown and test – 09:12
— JohnAudioTech

The "tests" are really basic, just enough to show it has a working overcurrent protection.
But the PCB is incredibly clean for this price range, with wide space + slot between high/low voltage, and some other slots in the high voltage side.

@gohan said in Which are trustworthy brands for a simple USB wall charger?:

The problem is always reliability over long term that in teardown is not possible to measure

Well with lygte website you can have an idea based on the temperature at full load.
At low load temperature stays low so the usual culprits in case of failure (capacitors) will not wear out too quickly.

[mfalkvidd]

For me, the big problem isn't to find reviews or teardowns. The problem is to find where I can buy the same model that was reviewed.

Take the dollar store charger as an example. Even if I could visit the same dollar store, I don't think it is likely that I would be able to buy the same model. Getting it in my part of the world (or on ebay/ali) would be even harder.

I like that lygte has info on where they bought it from.

[gohan]

then IKEA is the only reliable solution

[NeverDie]

Yeah, I guess IKEA it is. Thanks for your earlier post pointing it out.

[Nca78]

@gohan said in Which are trustworthy brands for a simple USB wall charger?:

then IKEA is the only reliable solution

Should I tell when the LNK36x chip of my Ikea bedside led lamp power supply exploded ? The small black plastic rectangle behind is the top of the packaging of the chip.
Good news is it failed but it was safe, I had a flash when the chip exploded but the fuse blew also (maybe a tad too late :)) and nothing happened to my house.
Ordered some LNK chips from AliExpress, replaced it and the fuse and it was back to life

[gohan]

you see, it was safe at least

[NeverDie]

@Nca78 Maybe it helped that there was a kind of "wall" separating the exploded part from the low voltage connections?

Back in the day it seemed like everything electrical was UL listed, and it meant something. I never did understand why the US now seems indifferent about the importation of junk that has counterfeit UL Listings.

[gohan]

China is holding a great deal of US public debt... could be the Americans are closing an eye on this stuff

[NeverDie]

I just now ordered two from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011LLGODS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ASQXP29CHGNZF&psc=1

[gohan]

If you have to order from Amazon, there are also Aukey products that are quite nice for the price, but I haven't done any tear down to actually check inside

[NeverDie]

By ordering from Amazon (actually from one of their "marketplace" dealers that's fulfilled by Amazon), there is some (hopefully only slight) chance that I'm actually getting a counterfeit unit. I know for sure that this happens fairly frequently with Samsung and Apple products. I suppose any well branded product is a possible target.

Eventually I'll get one from an actual Ikea store (my wife likes to shop there), and I'll compare the weights. I'm guessing a counterfeit has a somewhat different weight.

Does anyone reading this already have this precise model? If so, let's compare weights! It's at least a little different than the one that BigClive took to bits, since it has the American rather than the EU plug.

[NeverDie]

Dave Jones tried to do a videoblog teardown of both an Apple USB charger and a fake Apple USB charger, but it turned out they were both fakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE
I think this proves you can't be sure just by looking at something that it's genuine. Not all the counterfeits are obvious.