re 240v Swallow Chargers

Just posting this as a heads up for Aussies who may be considering buying a Swallow Charger from an eBay seller - the charger with a 240v supply built in.

I am just passing this along from another group and have no personal knowledge of the issue

I UNDERSTAND THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO THOSE UNITS SOLD BY MODEL ENGINES, WHO FIT THE CORRECT POWER CORD TO THESE UNITS

It seems the power cord supplied with these units is not in accord with Australian standards, and may present a danger for users.

Interesting tale behind it all... but the summary is MEA received the units from the Chinese factory with these dud cords, but they replaced them (here in Australia) before they sold any. The ebay seller is not known to them, and their policy is not to supply to on-line sellers. I have also spoken with the company acting as the compliance agent for MEA for this product and they don't know anything about the ebay seller either. So, my guess is the ebay seller may have either got some that escaped the cord replacement process, or is importing directly and passing them off (through mis-labelling) as units imported by MEA. The Chinese factory making the charger doesn't make the cordset and simply would have bought an "Australian cord" from a Chinese cordset maker. This cord would be cheaper than an ordinary duty three core lead and was probably created by the cord maker as a cost-down option.

I don't want to revisit the previous discussion, but this graphically illustrates what I trying to say before. There are a great many factories in China making products for which they have little understanding of the final use - they just know how to make it, and that it will work/fit/operate if it is the same as xxxx. The greater understanding of how and why comes along as the industry matures.

The NSW DFT has been informed and reviewed the pictures on the ebay website, but won't do anything till a written complaint is made (which I have done). Even then they can't act decisively since its a NSW approval for the charger only (excluding the cord), the charger approval is held by a Victorian company (so they have to refer it to the OCEI), the cord is being sold by persons unknown, operating from location unknown and if it is being delivered directly from overseas then there is little any regulator can do anyway (the seller states it is AU delivery so they must have a location

here somewhere).

Wherever the seller is located is where the offence is being committed and that State's regulator is the one who has to take action - so don't anyone hold their breath waiting for anything to happen soon from that side of things. If anyone has purchased one of these chargers with a crook cord

please pass the sellers details to the regulator in the State where the seller is located. This will get the fastest response. You will most likely need to send the cord to them too, so don't throw it away yet.

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quietguy
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