Dodgy USB chargers in the news

[king9017]

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?

Story:

http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/About_us/News_and_events/Media_releases/2014_media_releases/20...

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/faulty-usb-phone-charger-blamed-for-sheryl-aldeguers-death-20140627-zsoc8....

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/woman-found-dead-holding-laptop-in-apparent-electrocution-...

[padi*0409]

That's fine, my old globes and drills never had a problem with surges.................LOFL

Enjoy your meal.

[chezzy]

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@cq_tech wrote:
They're exactly the same thing, chezzy, just different terminology. They are more commonly called RCDs these days, but being old school I still call them ELCBs (which stands for Earth Leakage Circuit Breakers). If you look in your local suburban newspaper or the Yellow Pages, you should find a number of electricians who advertise that they'll supply and fit an RCD for around $150 - $200, which appears to be the going rate these days.

Thank you for your kind comment re my friend. I was barely 24 at the time and it was a horrible thing to experience and terribly sad because it could so easily have been avoided had an RCB been fitted to his parents' meter box.

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😞

Thanks for clarification. Local paper has plenty of ads, none mention even a ball park figure which is a tad annoying but will get onto making some enquiries.

[padi*0409]

Understand what you're saying ambridge,

Yes 240 volts can/will kill, but don't be scared of it, if you have all the devices in your meter box no harm will come to you.

[j*oono]

That's horrible for you Ambridge.

Things are a lot better these days and a circuit breaker will prevent that kind of situation.  Please don't turn it off because it is important.

By all means turn off power points and pull out plugs but please let the circuit breaker do it's job and keep away from the meter box.

[cq_tech]

Ambridge, I'm sure that what you went through must have been a terrifying experience for both you and your son and I don't blame you in the least for your very healthy respect for electricity. I realise that what you're doing may sound irrational but ever since I lost control of my car and drove over a 60m cliff, I've been completely unable to close my eyes while being driven as a passenger without suffering an immediate panic attack, and this happened over 10 years ago, so believe me, I do understand how you feel and what you are going through.

I won't even try to be glib and suggest that you'll get over it in time, because I haven't, and at my age, doubt that I ever will, and I'm sure you feel very much the same way. I'm very sorry that you had to go through that and sincerely hope that your son came out unscathed and nowhere near as psychologically damaged as you and I both did. I genuinely wish you well in the future.

[chezzy]

Hi cq

Does one "have" to get the switchboard upgraded in order to have a safety switch installed or can a safety switch be added regardless?

Making a couple of enquiries this morning to electricians (unknown ones as I don't know any) they seem to be suggesting we might have to upgrade the switchboard because it is an old house (actually it is 1960s/1970s). My other half seems to think because we have no problems with power and the ceramic fuse thingys in the meter box are not brittle/damaged that we should only need a safety switch?

If a safety switch is doable for around $200 or less that is what we want to occur, not be "pressured" into outlaying thousands (potentially)...

[cq_tech]

No chezzy, unless your ceramic fuseholders are cracked or otherwise dodgy, it's not mandatory to upgrade the switchboard to circuit-breakers instead of fuses, although it's probably desirable in the long term. However, it's a fairly expensive job to replace the board so unless you're really flush, I wouldn't bother.

I suppose you can't blame the electrician for trying to make it worth his while as there's not much profit in simply fitting a safety switch, but anybody who tries to tell you that you need an upgrade before they can do the job is essentially trying to rip you off.

[chezzy]

CQ, have received a quote late today (only quote received/only one who has bothered to get back to me!) for $275 for "Install 4 pole safety switch with enclosure to protect 2 power and 1 light circuit". Thing is, we have THREE power and 1 light so not sure what the go with that is, makes me think we wouldn't be sufficiently protected? (also goes on to say does not cover repairs to any faulty wiring that make cause new switch to trip?)

[cq_tech]

Chezzy, the fact that existing wiring is not covered against any faults that may cause the device to trip is fairly standard and I'm sure you can understand why he can't be held responsible for that, although having said that, it's highly unlikely that a house built in the 60s/70s would have any wiring issues anyway, unless vermin had been chewing on the wires, or something like that. It's a standard disclaimer and I wouldn't worry about it as they'd all say the same thing.

With your three power circuits though, I'm guessing that one of them would be for the electric stove and you can fairly safely ignore any protection on that one, so your two remaining power circuits would be switched, as would be your lighting circuit, which is all you basically want or need. Just check with your electrician to make sure that what I've said is correct, but I'm pretty sure it will be.

Regarding the price, I feel that $275 is getting towards the top end of the scale and would be ringing a few more electricians for quotes, although not knowing where you live could have an impact on what you'll be asked to pay. I'm in outer-suburban Brisbane where there are plenty of electricians competing against each other for business and none of them would need to drive too far, so that tends to guide the going rate up here, which is around $200, give or take.

[chezzy]

Suburban Melbourne here - have just counted 25 classifieds for electricians in my local paper and that is without even considering the Yellow Pages, Gumtree etc. Quote is from a small business. A shame none of the classifieds give a price range. Other half has been out checking the meter box and stove - that third 'power' is indeed for the stove (its sticker was missing).