is it legal for a UK 13A mains plug to _not_ have a fuse? dodgy camera battery charger?

[David Robinson]

I've just bought a replacement camera battery charger from eBay.

Three things about it make me concerned.

Firstly, it gets hot. As in "almost wouldn't want a small child to touch it" hot.

Secondly, it never said the battery was fully charged. It kept charging (with the light red, rather than green), long after the battery must have been fully charged.

Thirdly, the supplied cable has a standard IEC_60320 C7/C8 at one end, but a UK mains plug without a fuse at the other end. The mains plug is very small and almost clover leaf shaped - barely 5mm larger than the pins in any direction.

Is it legal to have a UK plug without a fuse when it feeds a flex? The plug is marked 250V 10A.

Interestingly, the IEC_60320 C7 plug is optimistically marked 250V 25A (I doubt it could handle 3A).

Cheers, David.

[funkyoldcortina]

No, I have seen those plugs on IT equipment imported from the far east before.

Many far eastern countries use UK style 3-pin sockets for earthed appliances but other 2-pin types for non-earthed, and in some cases some very dodgy looking sockets that will accept 3-pin UK style, 2-pin euro style, 2-pin US style and even 3-pin Australian style plugs in the same socket.

Many 3-pin UK style plugs supplied there will fit the socket but have no plugtop fuse and do not have the normal large gaps between the pins and the edge of the plug. Many also do not have partially screened N&L pins.

If they do not bear the CE logo they are illegal to supply in Europe.

If they are displaying the CE logo without being approved, then that is even more dodgy.

Was your ebay supplier UK or overseas based? Because even if the shipment came from overseas, if the supplier is in the UK they are (afaik) legally bound to supply safe goods.

[airsmoothed]

These days 'CE' might mean 'chinese export' rather than proper CE!

[Roger Mills]

Doubt it - but needs must, on occasions!

The workshop attached to the place where I worked about 30 years ago was wired with 15A round-pin sockets. Then they changed them to 13A flat pin sockets - with the result that the arc welder kept blowing fuses.

Solution? Turn up a solid brass 'fuse' in the lathe and insert it into the 13A plug. No more blown fuses after that!

And no less safe than the system it replaced.

[Tabby]

If its hot enough to cause pain when you keep your hand on it, its too hot for safety or reliability.

what battery chemistry are we talking? NiCds dont mind overcharging.

not legal, and not entirely safe

hasnt been legal for decades

Could you give us a photo, or a few, if possible on a white background, for use on the wiki? Thanks if you do,

NT

[Man at B&Q]

MBQ

[dom]

I heard a radio 4 prog recently that cited after-market ebay chargers as a not-uncommon source of house fires.

Remember the function of the fuse in the plug is to protect the flex against excess current.

Does the flex look like it can handle 30/32A from your ring main?

[Andy Wade]

I'm not sure what the applicable safety standard is for a camera battery charger is, but if it's BS EN 950, let's assume, the max. allowable temperatures for external touchable surfaces, not being handles, knobs or controls, etc. are 70 deg. for metal and 95 deg. for rubber or plastic.

Min. allowed distance from the edge of the plug base to the L & N pins is 9.5 mm (BS 1363-1:1995, figure 4a).

Certainly not. Approval body (BSI, ASTA, etc. marks and the standard no. (BS 1363(/A)) are also required for legality. Similarly the fuse must be approved marked BS 1362.

The rating is 2.5 A. clearly the decimal point is missing.

This all needs to be drawn to the attention of your local trading standards dept.

[Andy Dingley]

Don't. Likewise the batteries themselves.

There seems to be no other market that is so prone to dangerous shoddy goods being sold through eBay.

[Andy Dingley]

I did that and was brushed off with a response that suggested I write to David Cameron and get him to look at it, as he'd cut the budget for trading standards so far that there were none of them left to turn the lights off.

[David Robinson]

Nowhere near that hot!

Not 2mm then?!

The interesting thing is that this looks superficially like the last one I bought from eBay. However, the last one didn't get too hot, stopped charging automatically, had a proper UK plug with fuse, and all markings were correct. Seems the Chinese are making cheap copies of their own cheap products!

Looking at the website suggested, the CE logo I have on these =3D China Export!

I'll drop them a line, but I bet they don't care.

Cheers, David.

[Old Codger]

[Andy Burns]

I've got an example lurking around that I could snap and upload, what size image is preferred for the wiki?

[David Robinson]

Here you go:

each photo, on the left is the last charger I bought from eBay, which seemed OK, and on the right is the present, extremely dodgy one!

Though the chargers look the same, the new one is much lighter, and feels like it would crack if you pressed the back too hard.

Cheers, David.

[David Robinson]

There must be some middle ground between =A35 on eBay and =A330 on Amazon!

Cheers, David.

[Andy Wade]

BS EN 60950 that should have said, but you knew that...

Surprisingly hot, innit?

Gordon Bennett...

Chargers do seem to have been recognised as a problem area:

[Andy Dingley]

My Fuji Finepix camera charger died, the eBay cheapie replacement broke in half with exposed 240V wires (!) Then I managed to find a S/ H Fuji charger off eBay, which had the usual clinically insane eBay seller involved in it (it wasn't a Fuji charger, it was a knock-off).

I ended up replacing the entire camera, as the cost of a new charger was so insanely overpriced. Panasonic Lumix TZ10 BTW, which is excellent and vastly better than the Fuji.

[The Night Tripper]

[...]

I've seen that done on Hifi equipment as well, for reasons of improved sound quality (takes cover...)

Cheers J^n

[airsmoothed]

Making sure that you use a proper audiophile mains plug of course, a mere 108 quid!:-

[airsmoothed]