Power supply

techElder

techElder

Well-known member
Is it just me or is anyone else hesitant to click on a link that has it's destination obscured?

I'm not saying it's intentionally obscured, but why not just post the direct link?

This isn't Twitter where character limits apply.
 
D

Dippy

Moderator
Well, I clicked - and up it came ;).

I don't want to sound too negative, but there are plenty of cheap (and sometimes nasty) warts like this all over the place.
This may simply be yet another anonymous Beijing Banger which may or may not be fine. It's probably a carton load of leftovers for the USA market.
Caveat Emptor etc.

UL,CSA? Might be... must be true, the label says so.
How good are they? Dunno, don't intend to find out. They may be lovely.


A Slight Tangent (so not rel to this product of course):-

A few years ago there was a vendor in UK that was importing and selling some anonymous Chinese-made wall-wart phone-chargers. UL, CSA, CE stickers were prominent.
After someone's house was seriously damaged by fire, the Trading Standards people discovered that all the 'approvals' were bullshine. All the products were siezed and destroyed and the vendor/ importer fined 10,000s.
Caveat Cheapus-Skatus Tightus-Bottomus-twittus Emptor :rolleyes:
 
A

Andrew Cowan

Senior Member
My scare story:

I was using a 12V/1A power supply that had come with some equipment. It had a CA sticker, but even I can print stickers... Just for your reference, it looked like this.

It was a decent power supply - very smooth output, high current, switching so very light. However, one day I was using it to power a PICAXE project including a several hundered pound screen. Suddenly there was a loud bang, and all the lights went out (it blew the 60A circuit breaker to my workshop!). Looking at the internals showed an inductor had 'burst', and a fat PCB trace had vaporised. My PICAXE and screen were fine, but it had me very worried until I found no damage had been done.

I've thrown away all the others of that type I own - it is not worth risking expensive equipment (or your life) to save a few quid on a transformer.

Andrew
 
hippy

hippy

Ex-Staff (retired)
Even high quality products can fail and then you have to rely on their good design; including a fuse so a 'burn-out' blows that fuse and not the ring main, and physical construction so zero chance of a live to neutral/earth short within the unit.

I tend to use power-bricks which were supplied with well known branded equipment as there's a higher chance they have been properly designed. I prefer those which need 'kettle lead' connection rather than plug-in as that adds an extra level of fuse protection. Also easier to disconnect or switch off if the PSU is on fire or spitting sparks ;-)

In-vehicle and 'cigarette lighter' PSU's can have similar issues, and one mustn't forget that they are probably not designed for 24/7 use or extended operation. A ring-main cut-out is one thing, shorting a car battery at high speed may be even more worrying.
 
B

BeanieBots

Moderator
Even high quality products can fail and then you have to rely on their good design; including a fuse so a 'burn-out' blows that fuse and not the ring main, and physical construction so zero chance of a live to neutral/earth short within the unit.
Click to expand...
and that's what the certification is for. It is statement of what is likely (or unlikely) to happen when things go wrong. Unfortunately, even the "big-boys" are now suffering from home-made certifications where/when they outsource sub-modules to "alternative" vendors.

I am currenly involved in a case where the certificate is only fit for use as a fan for the flames and the supplier IS a reputable one.
 
fernando_g

fernando_g

Senior Member
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