If you've read the news today, you will have heard about the NSW women who died from electrocution due to a dodgy USB charger. The person who sold her the charger face 2 years jail and $800K fine. I've noticed that the chargers pictured in the news today are currently available on eBay and many have been sold. Fair Trading has advised everyone not to buy or use these, and to dispose of them if you have them in your possession. I wonder what eBay will do about this?
@cq_tech wrote: Yes j*oono, the adapter pictured above is definitely approved and therefore perfectly electrically safe for use in this country. The biggest obvious fact is that it has insulated pins which is something that the cheap unapproved chargers all lack.
What about those items that come from overseas but are genuine brands/come in original retail packaging? eg I have a Sony charger (2 vertical prongs) that came with a Sony camera all in original packaging and barely used. I use the charger with an adapter that has the 2 diagonal (?) prongs. Neither item have ticks, the charger itself has some UL listed symbols and other numbers. The camera is an older one so doubt I would be able to get an "Aussie version" of the charger even if I wanted to.
My guess the concern is more about the cheaply made products...
Do you realise that had you not had an RCD, a burnt casserole may have been the least of your problems? You could well have come home to a charred mess on the ground where your home used to be. Your experience is a pretty good example of the necessity of having one installed.
Also, in case you weren't aware of this, the greatest cause of house fires in this country is faulty bedside clock-radios (data provided by the Qld Fire Brigade), and that is something else that RCDs will more than adequately protect you from.
That is correct for anything manufactured or imported into Australia since 2005.
Older equipment will not have the insulation (as it was not required back then).
"No new product will be allowed to be sold in Australia after 3 April 2005 unless the plug has insulated pins complying with AS/NZS 3112: 2000. There will be no dispensation given for any product."
