Safety alert over mobile chargers

File this one under 'public safety announcement' for, while it’s not exciting, the information might just save your life. Buckinghamshire County Council’s Trading Standards department has taken it upon itself to warn the whole country about some potentially lethal chargers arriving from China.

Of course, it’s hardly news that electronics imported on the cheap from the Far East might suffer from shoddy construction but Bucks’ consumer police reckon that the build of this latest batch of grey-market chargers is so poor that there is a risk of the internal soldering coming loose, causing wires to disconnect and this could conceivably result in arcing and possible electric shock.

Sounds pretty nasty as it is but the posh district’s Trading Standards folks really crank up the worry factor by singling out chargers designed for Nintendo’s DS and DS handhelds. These products are used by children, for goodness’ sake!

Okay, so now you’re scared, what else do you need to know? Well, the Trading Standards testers also found that the pin size of one tested charger was "below the required standard", which could cause the charger to overheat. The department was also advised that the three-pin body of the tested adapter is mass produced, meaning it could be modified charge pretty much any mobile phone or portable gizmo. It says that such chargers are "typically sold by traders through online auction sites", but you might want to watch out at car-boot sales too. For what it’s worth (which really isn’t much), the charger tested by the Bucks team carried the product code DE62347066.

[ Buckinghamshire County Council Trading Standards]