Mains mobile phone chargers without fuses.

[daventess]

Having read a story in the paper about "clover leaf" shaped sealed mains plugs from China not having fuses and catching fire, I decided to break open one of my mobile phone sealed plugs (not clover leaf shaped) to see what was inside.

Sure enough, no fuse. Not even a circuit breaker on the PCB (that I could discern, anyway).

So, I thought, let's go on Amazon and buy a proper, fused plug. But I can't find one anywhere.

My question - does anyone on here with electrician experience think I should use these unfused, unearthed, sealed plugs? To me, on a domestic 240v house ring, a short could spell fire, couldn't it?

 

[nickq]

Are you sure there was no fusible resistor? They look more like resitors than fuses.

 

[tonyidle]

Having read a story in the paper about "clover leaf" shaped sealed mains plugs from China not having fuses and catching fire, I decided to break open one of my mobile phone sealed plugs (not clover leaf shaped) to see what was inside.

Sure enough, no fuse. Not even a circuit breaker on the PCB (that I could discern, anyway).

So, I thought, let's go on Amazon and buy a proper, fused plug. But I can't find one anywhere.

My question - does anyone on here with electrician experience think I should use these unfused, unearthed, sealed plugs? To me, on a domestic 240v house ring, a short could spell fire, couldn't it?

There isn't a fuse of low enough value (that fits a 13A plug). The PCB tracks would likely fail first and may be designed to do so or there may be a surface mount fuse. An earth is irrelevant as there are no metal parts you can touch.

 

[daventess]

There isn't a fuse of low enough value (that fits a 13A plug). The PCB tracks would likely fail first and may be designed to do so or there may be a surface mount fuse. An earth is irrelevant as there are no metal parts you can touch.

On closer inspection I found a surface mount fuse. Wish I hadn't broken the PCB when taking it apart now

Shame you can't check that kind of thing without a hammer ...