Electronics > Beginners

Is it safe to power an Arduino project with a phone charger plugged to wall?

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gf:
Why not simply use an insulation tester and check if the particular charger withstands say 500V or 1000V with a sufficiently high insulation resistance?

Berni:
In general its best to take apart the charger and check how well built it is inside, but the problem is that the way these things are put together makes it a destructive process to disassemble.

In general tho the heavier a charger is the better. Every time i picked up a charger that felt oddly light i cracked it open and found utter shit inside before tossing it in the trash can. Supplies with actual heavy transformers inside are even better but they don't really make those anymore.

At least the OP is from the US so the 110V is less likely to jump the isolation barrier in a charger designed for universal 110-240V operation as they always tend to be.

ebastler:

--- Quote from: gf on April 04, 2019, 05:26:48 am ---Why not simply use an insulation tester and check if the particular charger withstands say 500V or 1000V with a sufficiently high insulation resistance?

--- End quote ---

Because everybody who asks questions about Arduinos and wall warts has an insulation tester at home?  ::)

Also, how do you know that the el cheapo power supplies are out of spec when they are sold, vs. fail spontaneously at a later point in time? Why not "simply" send you newly bought cheap power supply to a notified body for a full design review and safety test?  :P

Seriously, I would recommend to simply buy a brand name charger. With very few exceptions, the big brands have been doing a good job building safe products, because they need to protect their reputation.

Berni:
Yeah there is no way to easily test it.

But you can indeed avoid most of the danger by not using $2 USB chargers off ebay. Things you find in local stores with proper CE UL TUV approval marks on them are a safer way to go. Also chargers that come with name brand phones will generally be well made.

Similar for power banks, cheap Chinese ones will not have proper current limiting and might catch fire if shorted. But name brand ones should be safe. Id say try shorting it for half a minute and if it doesn't smoke or catch fire its good. (And do it outside away from anything flammable obviously, a lithium battery fire can be very bad on a wood table)

apis:
Your project might still catch fire though. That is the biggest danger if it's something that will not be monitored while it's plugged in imo.

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