FYI - For those looking to purchase multiple USB chargers, you might want to stick with the items your manufacturer offers.
I’d heard horror stories about off brand chargers in the past & gave them little thought.
Until this one tried burning our house down.
Glad it was caught when it was & the damage was limited to the outlet.
Losing a morning to fixing this was all I needed to learn my lesson.

This one was cooking off while nothing was plugged into it.
I’d had this for a year without any issues.

I have a couple of Ravpower desktop chargers that I've used for years with no problems. If one goes out though, I hope it's the one on my desk at work.

Wow! I have about 4 Ravpower chargers, they're all on surge suppressors which get turned off when chargers are not being used. Wonder if Ravpower will warranty the charger?

Ravpower is generally good to go. Their products are of the same quality you would expect from an oem. They're all made in China...

I'm not familiar with that brand, but it looks like a direct ripoff of the Anker branded one of that form factor:



I have a few hubs and chargers, along with their braided cables, by Anker. Good product, good warranty, the individual cables I have even have serial numbers on them.

They are both sold side by side on Amazon. Have been for years. For me, since I discovered Ravpower before Anker, Anker was the ripoff from my point of view.

Could this have been a simple outlet failure and not the charger? Last time I bought an outlet it was 99 cents.

Glad that it wasn't worse than it was Grumpy.

Anker is definitely the older, more established, brand, but who knows - they could be made by the same Asian children in the same factory line on the same day or they could be intentional knock-offs. I only know that in many venues (music gear, IT, etc) Anker is the go-to for quality USB hubs/etc. It's almost the only one you see suggested much.

Before today I'd never heard of (or paid any attention to) Rav Power. A quick Google seems to suggest they're the budget option that's generally OK, lots of comments along the lines of "works fine, costs less", but I don't see many people suggesting them for anything beyond saving a few bucks. Maybe this is why, but I can't say for sure.

Hopefully this is just a fluke.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
Could this have been a simple outlet failure and not the charger? Last time I bought an outlet it was 99 cents.

Those are made in China too.

Chargers are one of the things that I demand a UL mark on. I notice it's missing on the photos you posted.

Yes, I know they can be forged, but a UL mark on a trusted brand goes a long way in my opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
Could this have been a simple outlet failure and not the charger? Last time I bought an outlet it was 99 cents.

That would be my guess. The prong on the USB charger wasn't making good contact within the socket of the outlet and the heat generated from the increased resistance melted both.

I've had this happen when outlets get loose and don't hold the plugs tightly.

Anker and Ravpower were both established in 2011 according to wikipedia.

The range of quality that's possible from Chinese manufacturing is as wide as anywhere else... there is trash gear, knock offs, budget minded gear, and quality/premium gear, all from Chinese factories. Saying that's something is Made in China doesn't necessarily infer anything about quality, not anymore (see iPhones). That many Chinese goods are cheap or poor quality is because that's what the people wanting stuff made asked them to make...

quote:

Originally posted by Paten:
Anker and Ravpower were both established in 2011 according to wikipedia.

Interesting.

(who knows, then)

IMO. Looks more like a loose connection on the receptacle itself. Most of the damage was in the outlet box.

quote:

Originally posted by sandman76:
IMO. Looks more like a loose connection on the receptacle itself. Most of the damage was in the outlet box.

This, it was a loose connection on the back side of the outlet. Not the charger. If the charger shorted (drew too much) your circuit breaker should/would have tripped. Being that the outlet is totally melted where the wire attaches to it, the wire was loose and arching.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
Could this have been a simple outlet failure and not the charger? Last time I bought an outlet it was 99 cents.

That would be my guess. The prong on the USB charger wasn't making good contact within the socket of the outlet and the heat generated from the increased resistance melted both.

I've had this happen when outlets get loose and don't hold the plugs tightly.

Actually this charger had to be wiggled the day before to get it to connect.
I didn’t think about it (my wife reminded me after I’d posted here) but it was plugged into an older three head 9’ indoor extension cord.
I figured it was the cord.

As to the company, I knew nothing of them other than they were offering what I was wanting.
But I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on every charger from now on & unplugging them when not in use.

The wiring burned up behind the wall and the outlet, not the charger. It's clear in the picture.

Your charger didn't burn up. Your outlet did.

quote:

that I demand a UL mark on

This is the key. If it doesn't have some regulatory mark (*and its from a source where faking isn't a big deal) you don't want it unattended.