Adaptors

[ericmark]

Just taken delivery of a battery charger for my camera which has USA type two prong built in plug rated AC 100 - 240 volt 50/60 Hz and with it an adaptor marked 10A 250V for export only travel adaptor converting 13A to near anything with no fuse and no shutters.

I thought these were outlawed? I will use it in an extension lead as there is a fuse in plug of extension lead. There is a 12 - 24vdc input also which was one of the main reasons to buy but no indication as to if centre is pos or neg.

The one I got for the Nikon looked near identical to this one for Pentax and I am sure the cig lighter lead can be used for both. I have three battery chargers for cameras and phone and I am sure the others do not contain any fuse in the adaptor however other two the adaptor is unique to charger and could not be used for other items.

So keeping the adaptor for use just with the charger it came with is no difference than using the other two however it does raise another question.

Should we as a matter of course use multi way adaptors in our sockets for small items like chargers so as to:-
1) Ensure no strain due to weight of battery or built in switch mode power supply is placed on the socket.
2) Ensure there is always a 13A fuse in the supply.

OK safe in my hands I have enough knowledge to know where to use, and they are so tall works out well with charger being over the top of the plug facing it. From a British Supplier
DSTE Technology, Amazon Way, Fife. Maybe Scottish rules allow these items?

 

[knowall]

If you use a british shaver adaptor it has a 1A fuse fitted.

Regards,

KA

 

[NewOrder]

I have no idea about the the legal aspect of it, but I have mention this before a lot of times and sometimes get stick from it, but amazon and ebay is full of illegal and dangerous cables with fake plugs, fake fuses, cables with not enough copper in them for their claimed rating etc.

It is a massive problem and as a reseller of IT equipment as part of my IT support business it worries me deeply.

 

[ericmark]

Out of the three adaptors shown only one is fused even an extension lead like this

will allow plugs to be inserted with earth pin only and open the shutters but this

arrangement will not permit plugs to be inserted wrong way around but question is how far to go?

Although a baby could insert a plug the wrong way around why would one allow a baby to play with a plug? The idea that it must be safe or we would not be allowed it is causing far too many accidents we need some risk assessment and some risks are not bad enough to worry about.

Most travel adaptors do not have shutters and if the house complies with BS7671:2008 the risk of being able to stick some metal into the adaptor and injury resulting (which still of course can happen even with RCD protection) is low enough not to really worry about.

The ability to plug in a device protected by a B32 MCB only with not even a 13A fuse however could result under fault conditions in fire. As to if the risk of fire is any greater than with a 13A fuse is of course the big question as 13A through a small switch mode power supply would still likely cause a fire so uncertain as to how dangerous it really is.

Even as an electrician I don't have enough sockets in the house and most wall sockets have a short extension lead plugged in with a 4 way socket at the end so all items will have 13A fuse protecting them. I would think most houses are the same.

Main problem today is the amount of cordless stuff in the house from phones to cameras and laptops plus tablets even the tooth brush needs to be plugged in for an extended length of time and laptop to aircraft we see how NiMh batteries have problems with fire which no amount of fusing will prevent.

The shaver adaptor socket I bought in Hong Kong has shutters on the socket I have to part insert plug and drag it sidewards to put it fully in but the one bought in the UK has no shutters so saying it's down to china is clearly wrong it's down to importers bringing in goods which don't comply in Hong Kong the customs were far more vigilant to what was coming into the country.

I do hate the letters IT to describe electrical goods to me IT means Insulated from Terrestrial and is an earthing or more to the point not earthing system. Information Technology would include my letter box but not my battery charger and as with some other letters like PIR they can so easy be miss understood. But the computer equipment used today is a problem as there are so many items which when you walk into high street shops are just not available. Nearest shop where I could have got the battery charger I wanted is some 60 miles return journey so only option is mail order be it phone or internet. The charger was less than £4 it would have cost well over that just to get to the shop.

Does not really matter if North Wales (local) or Scotland once one uses mail order and sent from a UK shop or warehouse to a UK private address we would expect it to comply with UK rules. Had I ordered from Hong Kong I would have been supplied with safer goods than from UK and clearly there is something wrong there.

However if I was a business then it would be up to me to provide adaptors not the supplier of the goods and I would be buying the charger and adaptor as separate items. It is the way retailers bundle goods which is the problem. I never ordered a US to UK adaptor it was provided to comply with 13A requirement in UK law this adaptor has nothing on it to say fused but if you look carefully on the picture it is but the adaptor costs more than the charger I bought.

So the real problem is UK law if the law did not require all items to have UK plug or adaptor then I would never have been sent the dangerous adaptor. Yes I could have still bought the same adaptor shown here on flee bay but I would be making the selection not having the selection made for me.

 

[OwainDIYer]

Just taken delivery of a battery charger for my camera which has USA type two prong built in plug rated AC 100 - 240 volt 50/60 Hz and with it an adaptor marked 10A 250V for export only travel adaptor converting 13A to near anything with no fuse and no shutters.

I thought these were outlawed? ...

OK safe in my hands I have enough knowledge to know where to use, and they are so tall works out well with charger being over the top of the plug facing it. From a British Supplier
DSTE Technology, Amazon Way, Fife. Maybe Scottish rules allow these items?

All manufacturers and importers are required to ensure that electrical items they supply are fitted with UK three-pin plugs with the proper fuse.
...
Distributors and retailers must not sell any appliances without a correct fused plug fitted.
...
As an alternative to fitting a standard plug, it is permissible, if the appliance is correctly fitted with a non-UK plug which complies with the provisions of international standard IEC 884-1 , to be fitted with a "conversion plug" that has been approved for use in conjunction with the non-UK plug. The "conversion plug" must enclose the non-UK plug, and must only be removable by the use of a tool. The "conversion plug" must be approved by a notified body.

Hampshire County Council, The Safety of Electrical Plugs and Phone/MP3 Chargers

'plug transformers' are mentioned separately in the Plug and Socket Regulations which is why I cite the above which deals specifically with chargers.

 

[ericmark]

I would agree both the chargers I have for camera batteries do not comply with UK law.

Both have adaptors which can be removed without a tool either to convert from USA plug or to make it so you can swap adaptors to suit which country you are in. Both will also work from a 12-24 vdc supply and as a result are better to use than the official charger for the camera and also very much cheaper.

Because of the unique nature of our plugs if we were to stop the import of these devices the real loser would be us. The design is so both the main inlet and the charger outlet can be converted for many sockets and many batteries using the same base unit this is how they are able to make them so cheap.

Doing a risk assessment I do see there is some risk but nothing which in adult hands would be a problem. Only when children are allowed to use these devices is there a real problem.

The 13A plug law was in the main to stop people having to fit there own plugs and getting the wiring wrong and this has worked but although the centre charger which still does not comply is really OK the charger to the left has two major problems.

The space left for the USA plug to rotate into the body means there is access although limited to one of the blades.

Two the adaptor is not unique to the charger so it can be removed and used for other items and so allow there use without a 16A MCB in circuit or 13A fuse. The law does not require a fuse to be user replaceable and to have a built in fuse in a charger plug which the user can't access is normal non of my phone charges have user replaceable fuses.

Glueing the adaptor to the charger would remove the problem but then when used in the car one would have a 13A plug stuck to the charger. Also it does not have the clearance 9.5 mm between pins and edge but I don't see that as a great problem most of my phone chargers are the same and they are genuine.

The same applies to the other charger a bit of glue so you could not simply press the button and replace the adaptor with the euro or USA adaptors also provided would make it legal but should I travel abroad I want to be able to change adaptors.

So yes we can kick up a stink but at the end of the day it hurts us more than it hurts China Manufacturer what percentage of items are sold in UK will be small most likely as sold to USA.

 

[A2018]

Is the adapter plate on the top right missing the pin for the temperature sensor ? It looks to only have 2 pins or does the model of battery that the charger is for not have the sensor.

 

[ericmark]

Two connection only to battery guess delta V type charger.

Looking at batteries original genuine rated at 1650 mAh second not genuine rated 1750 mAh and third which came with charger rated at 1800 mAh how much one can go by the rating I don't know but it would seem when connected to PC which means it will not auto switch off all batteries seem to last around the 2 hour mark. Since number of pictures varied from one every 30 seconds to one every 5 minutes plus some used flash can't really say if the 1800 mAh battery lasted any longer.

I think these chargers are made to charge a whole range of camera and camcorder batteries so are made so one cradle will accommodate as many batteries as it can.

I have a third similar charger to charge phone battery although now not used as no longer have phone but that had a slider to fit many makes of battery.