To say it straight away: the title is not clickbait. When it comes to power supplies, it is always about transforming the mains voltage, which is 110 or 230 volts depending on your country and is available in households with up to 16 amps of current, down to smaller, non-lethal levels, for example to 5 volts for a USB charger. So the little boxes, often dismissed as uninteresting, stand between you and death. There are enough cases where a cheap USB power supply was the reason for the instant death of a person. So don’t save in the wrong place and don’t exchange a few bucks for your life.
Cheap PSUs can kill you – really.
Here we have an example of how a cheap USB power supply that is currently sold everywhere can endanger your life and that of your loved ones. It is usually the case that the external design already shows that the devices are identical in construction. So if you are offered this power supply, do not buy it. If you should be offered the power adapter when you want to charge your cell phone, don’t do it. You should definitely not charge a cheap power supply and hold it to your head to make a call at the same time – then you have no chance at all if there is a problem with the device at the moment.
You don’t have to be interested in technology and who wants to know what power supplies look like from the inside, of course. But everyone knows that you don’t stick a screwdriver in the socket. These bad power supplies are the equivalent of that. Cheap products are cheap products because they save on something and make you pay differently. With these junk power supplies, in the worst case it is your health or even your life. So please don’t just barely avoid death with cheap power supplies – life is dangerous enough.
Buy something from Apple or these manufacturers
In the following video you can see how a good power supply is built: Clean structure, good separation between the primary and secondary side (i.e. 230 volt and 5 volt side), high-quality, many components, fixing adhesive, etc. Just looking at it shows lay people why good power supplies have to cost something. Also, here’s a teardown of Apple’s most powerful power supply .
So the tip is, if you’re going to buy a power adapter, buy one from Apple. These are really really good and last almost forever.
- The Apple 20W USB‑C Power Adapter offers fast charging at home, in the office, or on the go.
- While the power adapter is compatible with any USB‑C enabled device, Apple recommends pairing it with the 11-inch iPad Pro and 12.9-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation) for optimal charging performance.
- You can also pair it with iPhone 8 or later to take advantage of the fast-charging feature.
- Works with iPhone, AirPods, iPad and Apple Watch
- USB-C wall charger only, charging cable sold separately.
But that doesn’t mean everyone else is dangerous. Just make sure you buy from a brand name manufacturer. Then you can be sure that security has been taken care of there. You should ignore and never use power supplies whose brand names you have never heard of. Or if a power pack with lots of USB ports and a lot of power should only cost 12 dollars – just leave it as it is. In our experience, we recommend the following brands that have been on the market for a long time and have made a good name for themselves:
Fight dangerous cheap shit!
Now that you know, keep an eye out on your friends: maybe they or their kids are using power supplies that are cheap. Point them out to the circumstance and take themselves out of service. Electrocution from such a bad power supply can kill you and them instantly.
