How long until .. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Things
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 11:48:31 am
content: These fucking pathetic excuses for "electronics" is illegal? Always weary of cheap crap Chinese power supplies after I had one blow up a $300 picoprojector, I plugged this in and it blew up instantly. Opened it up and I'm not surprised, at all.Or how about speaker wire mains cable?Or lithium batteries with no charging protection at all in consumer devices? It scares me to think my grandma even had this thing in her house with a battery in this state:Won't be long before these are burning peoples houses down, one after another. Pisses me off to no end, the lack of care in these things.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 12:04:07 pm
content: Actually given how many of these devices are in use in China (and elsewhere) without incident, I'd be more inclined to say the opposite... and you're just unlucky.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 12:05:25 pm
content: in most cases they are illegal as they don't meet your countries standards, its more a case of you buying a cheap fake charger or Chinese clone of a product where they have skimped on quality for price, whether or not you where aware at the time of transaction, and the people re-selling them either don't care or don't know just how shoddy they are.

author: Things
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 12:09:09 pm
content: The sad part is all of those except the speaker wire mains cable were purchased locally. Surely retailers should have some basic idea on what they're purchasing?

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 12:11:11 pm
content: The junk is already illegal. It is just that no one in power or being responsible gives a flying fart. Even the opposite, the junk is promoted because it is cheap. And all hell breaks loose when people feel threatened because they think someone is taking the cheap stuff away from them.

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 02:08:27 pm
content: Sorry to see.If its sold in the USA by a USA vendor you can bring that to easily to Federal attention, or the attorney general depending on your state, they will act quickly on it as its has both criminal and civil liability. The last time I pointed that out to a friend to complain, they were acted on in days from the moment we reported it. You should have aUKOz equivalent.http://www.cpsc.gov/https://www.dos.ny.gov/consumerprotection/

author: GeoffS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 02:20:41 pm
content: OP is from Australia where, in theory, it's illegal to sell any device that connects to the mains, without appropriate approvals (c-tick).

author: Len
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 02:31:10 pm
content: The problem is there's no way for an ordinary consumer to judge the quality of most electronic products. You don't know it's crap until you take it home and plug it in. All you have to go on is the price and the brand name, so naturally cheap useless crap proliferates. And it's very rare for anyone to get in trouble for fake approval marks.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 11:21:24 pm
content: Scary thing is, I've started seeing these types of devices in £1/99p shops.Recently, I saw my dad using a £1.59 car charger (cigarette lighter) on his £100 sat nav.I don't know if there are any approvals for 12V car chargers, but I don't know how well a cheap 30V DC-DC converter IC will cope with a +/-60V transient.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 12:34:38 am
content: Quote from: saturation on March 23, 2013, 02:08:27 pmCompliance is the importers responsibility in Australia, so if you buy from overseas you are becoming the importer and have no protection. On the flip side almost all electrical devices sold will require formal evidence of compliance, one of the testing labs offers great details on the (relatively cheap) process:http://www.saaapprovals.com.au/legal_requirements_electrical_products/If you can find a defect of design/specification in a device that is sold in Australia then you should contact the local regulator linked on that page with the details. They'll talk technical and will understand things like complaining that the clearances are too small or the capacitor is rated below its operating voltage, but its all referred back to the applicable AS standards which cost a lot of money to access.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 06:11:00 am
content: There are a lot of EU recalls of Chinese stuff ( and stuff that came in via member states) about lead, mercury, cadmium, explosive failure and other faults. Makes for interesting reading. Here the SANS warehouse was full the last time I went there, full of faulty paraffin stoves, lights and other gas appliances that do not pass any safety standard. When the case is finished they are going to be crushed and shredded as scrap metal.