• Risks of Counterfeit iPad Chargers Revealed By Teardown

    by
    Akshay Masand
    Published on 2014-05-14 05:00 AM
    6 Comments Comments


    A teardown by an engineer comparing the differences between counterfeit and genuine iPad chargers found that there were big internal differences. Despite the two looking almost exactly the same externally, the internal differences impact both safety and power delivery.

    One safety difference is obvious: the Apple charger has much more insulation. The upper high-voltage) half is wrapped in yellow insulating tape. Some components are encased in shrink tubing, there are plastic insulators between some components, and some wires have extra insulation. The counterfeit charger only has minimal insulation.
    The counterfeit charger only delivered 5.9W whereas the genuine one delivered slightly above the 10W claimed. Engineer Ken Shirriff also found the fake charger power delivery to be “noisy and low quality.” However, the biggest risk for using a counterfeit charger is the safety issue. According to safety regulations, a 4mm gap (at minimum) has to separate high and low voltage sides of any transformer. Genuine Apple chargers exceed that minimum by far with a 5.6 mm gap while the fake one only has a 0.6mm gap. Apple’s genuine iPad charger also uses triple insulated wires whereas the fake one is completely un-insulated and only has a thick varnish coating.

    Source: Ken Shirriff's blog
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Risks of Counterfeit iPad Chargers Revealed by Teardown started by Akshay Masand View original post
    1. Categories:
    2. Apple,
    3. Accessories,
    4. iPad
    Comments 6 Comments
    1. ProfessorJack's Avatar
      ProfessorJack - 2014-05-14, 11:47 AM
      One place to watch out for is amazon as they sell the lightning cable for £2.99 it's third party s selling through amazon
    1. bigboyz's Avatar
      bigboyz - 2014-05-14, 03:10 PM
      Yeah, i remember the articles about the guy charging his phone while he was sleeping and it caught on fire and burnt his hand and arm. I'll pay for quality. I'd much rather live to tell the tail haha!
    1. tree720's Avatar
      tree720 - 2014-05-15, 04:57 AM
      -sigh- you could at least specify on the photo which one is the real and fake charger. Not everyone is completely Apple and electronically competent.
    1. Tony1979's Avatar
      Tony1979 - 2014-05-15, 03:01 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by tree720 View Post
      -sigh- you could at least specify on the photo which one is the real and fake charger. Not everyone is completely Apple and electronically competent.
      Please tell me that you're joking. The brown one with the plastic bolt screams "counterfeit." The white one with the metal bolt is authentic.
    1. 805 93003's Avatar
      805 93003 - 2014-05-15, 05:53 PM
      The "Engineer" referenced for this article is clueless. The fake charger on the right is clearly a copy of an original iPod charger. The plastic holding pin "bolt" is identical to the Apple iPod charger which is plastic. The electrical port is also identical to iPod charger with the two bumps giving it the (∞) infinity sign shape. The measured output is right where an iPod charger should be. The fake iPod charger may be crap, but this article is a fail.
    1. docmagoo2's Avatar
      docmagoo2 - 2014-05-18, 11:07 PM
      I bought a 12w iPad charger "genuine" on eBay for £10. Noticed it felt light and rattly compared to my 10w one. Took it to the apple store and they confirmed it's fake. The outer is VERY convincing right down to a serial number the the USB port. It also only measure at 5w. Got my £ back and reported them to eBay. Bought a new charger from apple. Don't risk it

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