Computer technician noticing dangerious cables

[NewOrder]

I forgot about this forum hence didn't mention at the time. A customer had damaged his external hard drive, the drive itself was fine but the casing was wrecked. I replaced it with an external caddy from a well known supplier.

A few weeks later the customer phoned me up to say it was sparking. I had a look at it and could see the power cable had melted slightly (kettle style). I was very surprised at this as the maximum current the device used was around 0.5a. I cut open the cable and discovered while the insulated (which had melted) was very thick the cable itself was thinner than doorbell wire.

To top it off, it had a 13 amp fuse in it! I now check every time I buy computer equipment that the right type of fuse is fitted.

Has anybody else noticed a major problem with branded Chinese goods having counterfeit cables?

 

[Alarm]

http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=286990&start=60


Mentioned here.

 

[NewOrder]

Spotted that after I posted this, flipping hell. I am shocked and sickened by some of those photographs. It really makes me quite scared as I sell a lot of electrical equipment and I do buy it from legit sources (e.g not ebay etc).

Short of making these cables myself how I can I be sure they are safe? I guess I could measure the resistance of each cable but that is a lot of faff.

 

[NewOrder]

Could this thread be merged with the existing one if a mod is reading this? No point on having two threads, as the other one is on this very subject. Thanks.

 

[Alarm]

Click "alert moderators" and ask them on the form that appears.

 

[NewOrder]

Done it Too blind tonight

 

[aptsys]

I had a look at it and could see the power cable had melted slightly (kettle style).

It's an IEC C13 connector. Not a kettle connector (C15)