That is definitely a risk with fake chargers, many of which have little or no separation between their AC and DC sides. It's not uncommon for the 5VDC to have a not-insignificant 230VAC component to it.
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Man dies charging iPhone while in the bath
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DaleCooper
Established Member
If that were the case it wouldn't be 5VDC but 230VAC with a 5VDC offset, unless you mean a significant 50Hz component which is very different and unlikely.
That is indeed what I mean. The poor/absent isolation means that the DC side of the charger is actually live at mains voltage. Take a look at the bigclivedotcom YouTube channel for examples of these poor quality chargers.
Natural selection at its finest.
Other contenders for the Darwin Award include:
Man enters tiger enclosure, gets killed by tiger
Man climbs pylon, gets killed by pylon
Man jumps off cliff, gets killed by ground
Other contenders for the Darwin Award include:
Man enters tiger enclosure, gets killed by tiger
Man climbs pylon, gets killed by pylon
Man jumps off cliff, gets killed by ground
trainmania100
Established Member
My thoughts are :
Why would anyone run an extension cord into the bathroom , to charge their phone, whilst resting it on their Chest area just inches from water conducting the rest of the naked body...
I can't see the extension cord being in the hallway? The length of chargers for smartphones today is shorter than arms reach
Why would anyone run an extension cord into the bathroom , to charge their phone, whilst resting it on their Chest area just inches from water conducting the rest of the naked body...
I can't see the extension cord being in the hallway? The length of chargers for smartphones today is shorter than arms reach
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ExRes
Established Member
Probably because the coroner is covering his own backside, don't forget we live in a world where someone else is always to blame
GW43125
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Suggestion: Don't read the Darwin Awards.
GW43125
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Or the guys trying to light fireworks using the starter battery on their motorbike.
The explosion was audible two kilometres away.
GW43125
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Check out this channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtM5z2gkrGRuWd0JQMx76qA
He loves pulling apart cheap Chinese electronics, chargers are good ones.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I'm not laughing at it. I'm just stating that it is blindly and obviously stupid to use anything plugged into the mains (other than a shaver in a shaver socket) in a bathroom.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
At very low current. It's not, as they say, the volts that jolts, it's the mills that kills.
FWIW MacBook chassis are live at 230V if a non earthed charger is used (including the official one). You can feel a slight buzz. But it's deliberate, something to do with RF shielding, and it wouldn't kill you if you did stick it in the bath.
Bletchleyite
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HSTEd
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As bigclivedotcom demonstrates some cheap chinese chwrgers have little or no isolation.
Still remember when he lit a filament lamp by connecting it between the AC neutral and the USB connector shell (notionally 0V)
DaleCooper
Established Member
Deleted, not what I meant to say.
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GW43125
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Ahem.
My bad. That'll teach me to only read one of three pages before posting.
D365
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Still disconcerting when I'm trying to use it. My older PowerBook needed a replacement charger which wasn't grounded at all, but I tend to use an earthed lead for any of my Apple chargers.
camperdown9
Member
Go house hunting in central London and you will often find plug sockets and even washing machines in bathrooms. Sometimes its due to space and sometimes its because the previous owners have lived in other parts of Europe where having a socket and keeping your washing machine in the bathroom is the norm.
Electrical sockets can be installed not less than 3m from the limit of Zone 2. That allows the idiots to remove themselves from the gene pool if they insist on using an extension lead whilst they get wet in zone 2 (or zone zero in the case of the bath).
RichmondCommu
Established Member
It's sad day when a forum member is spiteful enough to laugh at someone who has lost their life, no matter how stupid they have been.
It's not spite. I feel for his family and friends, but sometimes someone is so creative in managing to kill themselves that it's impossible to feel any sympathy.
CarlSilva
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Anyone can make a mistake, but thats' a pretty bad one.
Unless he was trying to replicate a jacuzzi.
Joking aside, it's only easy if you knwo the answer as Tarrant said. Plenty of people don't know a lot about electrics. I heard a lad once ask what happens when the power runs out on a pushbike dynamo.
I saw a youtube video of a fella who investigates badly made leccy appliances. One of them was a mains usb charger, but it had a short in the transformer and the metal outer part of the actual usb socket had 240 volts on it.
Anyway, if you really want danger, you wanna try repairing your heated drivers seat using some old jump leads and a big roll of wire wool. Make sure you bypass the fuse or it won't work. And ideally, you need to live quite near a fire station.
Unless he was trying to replicate a jacuzzi.
Joking aside, it's only easy if you knwo the answer as Tarrant said. Plenty of people don't know a lot about electrics. I heard a lad once ask what happens when the power runs out on a pushbike dynamo.
I saw a youtube video of a fella who investigates badly made leccy appliances. One of them was a mains usb charger, but it had a short in the transformer and the metal outer part of the actual usb socket had 240 volts on it.
Yeah, that's the chappy.
Anyway, if you really want danger, you wanna try repairing your heated drivers seat using some old jump leads and a big roll of wire wool. Make sure you bypass the fuse or it won't work. And ideally, you need to live quite near a fire station.
RichmondCommu
Established Member
In that case I'm afraid that it is spite. No matter how stupid that individual might have been it beggars belief that you don't feel any sense of sadness that they've lost their life.
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Tough one. There's a whole section on Horrible Histories called "Stupid Deaths", and very funny it is too.
But it is very disrespectful towards his family...it's too soon.
But it is very disrespectful towards his family...it's too soon.
Maybe I'm a monster, but the only sadness I feel is that a 'big boy' put using his phone higher in his list of priorities than staying alive.
He simply could've taken his bath later.
Agreed. I wonder if people who compete to say "Darwin Award" to any fatal mistake consider Darwin risked life and limb setting out in what was commonly known as a "coffin brig" following the number of the class wrecked and foundered. Darwin might easily have become the first recipient of the Darwin award for his imprudence.
I will point out for our younger viewers that some of the aforementioned bigclivedotcom's channel is more adult in nature so just be warned.
And as for the reason for this thread, maybe the bath was getting a bit cold and he as trying to recreate an electrode boiler to warm it.
And as for the reason for this thread, maybe the bath was getting a bit cold and he as trying to recreate an electrode boiler to warm it.
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DaleCooper
Established Member
There's a big difference between taking a calculated risk in the pursuit of knowledge and plain ignorance.
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