Nokia battery charger recall

Nov 21, 2009 5 Replies

Recently Nokia recalls 14m battery charger due to risk of electrical shock in use. Probably, it is another scarey case following Sony battery pack explosion in notebook computers. Nowadays, every home may have more than a dozen of mains adapters/battery chargers. I searched those models and it appears the two halves of housing are fixed by two screws. How come it will separate touching the live parts? Do anyone know or experience such case and willing to share the knowledge?



Thanks,



Scott



If it's anything like most recalls, it's probably some extremely rare case where someone misusing it could get a shock and sue them so they recall them instead.

While technically feasible, I would worry more about stepping out of my house and getting hit by lightning than electrocuted by a cellphone charger. In any house there are dozens of things that *could* potentially hurt you or start a fire, thankfully it's exceptionally rare that it actually happens without some help.

How about the recalls for the plug in transformer for their Princess telephone, or Texas Instruments TI99-4 computer power supply? Both caused multiple house fires. They were either replaced for free, or modified by adding an inline fuse to the power cord.

If it does happen, as an engineer we have to understand the cause and find a way to prevent from it. The luck will not be with you all the time!

Of course, I'm just saying that a recall of one charger doesn't mean one should be worried about using others.

If such mistake can be shared, I believe that is very useful material for training new engineers avoiding such mistakes. I am eager to learn about such mistakes too.

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