[Attendee] Warning USB car charger from nac.net

Fri Feb 14 05:04:27 UTC 2014

On Thu, 13 Feb 2014, David Diaz wrote:

> Just a heads up. I know we all get these chargers from china so I waited 
> till I was home before trying
>
> The car charger from given aware during break from nac prompted shorted 
> out my car port. Briefly lighting for 1/10 of a sec

I didn't think to test mine in the rental, but I do have a couple of 12V 
splitters, that are fused...so I dug up a 7A fuse, swapped it out for the 
10A that was in it (which is the same rating as the car's fuse) and tested 
the car USB charger.  No magic smoke from mine...and my Iphone 5s didn't 
complain when connected to it.

This brings up an interesting question though.  If a company gives out 
cheaply made swag, and it catches fire, fries a phone, etc. is the company 
that gave it away liable for the damage?  My current 12V USB charger (that 
I bought) has a user replaceable fuse.  The giveaway 12V USB charger 
appears to be a sealed unit.  Is it fused?  Sounds like maybe not.

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