Which are trustworthy brands for a simple USB wall charger?

[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 :D

[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 :anguished:

[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....:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: 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:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBBvdM9vGfs

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.