Risks of Counterfeit iPad Chargers Revealed By Teardown
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Published on 2014-05-14 04:00 AM
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
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