Is it possible to leave a charger in a socket without a phone: three myths and one truth
Of course, you can leave the charger in the outlet. Millions of people have tested this from personal experience. But so many myths have been created around this practice that it is very difficult to distinguish the right advice from the wrong ones. Let's look into the issue and find out the opinion of experts - after all, there is a risk in any case, even if in most cases it is not very large.
Electricity consumption
The charger does consume electricity constantly, even without the phone. But don't try to reduce your energy bills by turning off charging. In passive mode, the device consumes a tiny amount of energy; in a month it will reel in a few kopecks. If you do not unplug the charger from the outlet for a whole year, the consumption will be 1/3 of a kilowatt. With such savings, the family budget cannot be improved. But if you fundamentally do not want to pay for overruns, even such an insignificant one, remove the charger from the outlet. This is not a question of money, but of desire.
Reduced service life
Another popular myth states that the charger has a limited “lifespan”. The longer the charger is connected to the outlet, the faster it will deteriorate.
There is some truth in this. The operating life of the device is an average of 50,000 hours. This is about 2000 days, that is, almost 6 years. Therefore, the power supply can be connected to the network for as long as 6 years, and it will not be damaged.
Let's say you constantly turn off the device. Then the service life will increase by several years.But does this make sense? In 5 years, the power supply will probably have to be replaced - it will get scratched, the connectors will become loose, and maybe even break. Many people even change their smartphones after 3-4 years, because the models become outdated.
But if you want the charger to work for 10–15 years, and you are sure that it will not break for other reasons, be sure to unplug it.
Fire hazard
There are outlets with USB ports. In appearance, this is an ordinary socket with the usual round connectors, below which there are rectangular ports - the same as on chargers. And the “filling” of the socket is the same as that of the charger. Not only wires, but also circuits are hidden under the cover. This means that this is the same power supply, only stationary - mounted directly into the wall. And it is connected to the network - constantly. Nothing lights up. So you don’t have to worry about a fire - the power supply won’t catch fire and set the house on fire.
But be careful if there are common risk factors in your home:
- old or faulty wiring;
- lack of automatic protection against short circuits and overloads.
In this case, anything can happen. But the problem is not charging - a short circuit can occur anywhere in the circuit. To reduce the risk, do not leave plugged-in equipment unattended—even your TV or refrigerator. Better yet, replace the wiring and install a reliable machine and don’t worry about anything.
Another good reason to turn off the charger is a thunderstorm. But again, the problem is not with the power supply. All equipment must be turned off from the sockets; these are standard fire safety rules.
And of course, you should not leave a faulty power supply in the outlet. You don’t need to use it at all - you could lose your phone.
Children in the house
This is the only compelling reason to turn off the charger and put it away. You can put a plug on a regular outlet, but you can’t do that with a charger.
The power supply is dangerous even in a passive state. The baby is unlikely to stick his finger into the port - the connector is too narrow. But the child may well use some kind of metal object - a knitting needle, a nail, a narrow handle of a spoon. In addition, the cord is easy to break or bite through; even strong insulation is not designed for children's games.
The charger has an output current of up to 2 A, and a voltage of up to 5 volts. This injury is very painful, so don't take any chances. Hide chargers in places where kids can't get into them.
If there is a dog or cat in the house, the power supply should also be removed away. Animals love to chew on wires. There may not be a short circuit, but you will definitely lose your charger.
But let's look at the problem from the other side. What happens if we turn off the device as soon as we charge the phone? We'll just waste a couple of seconds of our lives. If you can turn off charging, do so. It's safer this way.
Just the same, the statement that a voltage of 5 Volts can cause electrical injury to a person is complete nonsense. Any person with an electrical engineering education will confirm this.
But the fact that a significant part of the chargers on the market are rootless Chinese handicrafts, with simplified circuits and minimal protection (or no protection at all) and are simply unsafe to use, is true. Therefore, it is still worth unplugging the charger from the outlet if it is not in use.
Any person with an electrical engineering education knows perfectly well that “electrical injury” is caused not by voltage, but by current. Voltage is a value that is calculated based on the resistance of the circuit and the speed of movement, as well as the number of electrons passing through a unit of cross-sectional area per unit of time. You must have studied very poorly if you don’t know that 10,000 V at 0.001 A is no more dangerous than 1 A at 2 V.
It’s safer to turn it off anyway. It’ll be calmer that way.
A man's room burned out... and the reason was that the charger caught fire. The author of the article is a genius.
All chargers burn out mostly when turned on.
You can also turn off the water after each hand washing. Just in case, otherwise you never know!
Addition to complete nonsense.
Answer please:
what a deadly voltage
for a person on the lower surface of the tongue,
closer to the base?
THAT!
What does the tension have to do with it??? In fact, it is the current that causes the danger, not the voltage...
In fact, current occurs in the presence of voltage and directly depends on the magnitude of the voltage!
5 Volts is safe for humans, but you can also find yourself under a voltage of 220 V if a phase wire breaks through to the output and the person has contact with the Earth (for example, stands on a wet floor that has contact with the Earth or zero)
There may be voltage, but there will be no current. I’m just reminding you about the old CRT TV. Kilovolts are a lot, but not dangerous. Got into it more than once during repairs.
All voltages above 36 volts are considered life-threatening, PTB,
If a child puts the connector of the connected charging wire into his mouth, he will definitely receive electrical injury and psychological trauma from the “pinching” of the oral mucosa by the current.
In a car there are 20,000 volts running on spark plugs.
Boys, don't quarrel. Basic safety rules should be instilled in children from childhood.
Catherine! Electricity is measured in kWh, and kW is measured in power!
I always unplug the charger from the outlet after charging the battery in my phone or other gadgets.
If there is no connected consumer, what kind of fire hazard can there be? Any schoolchild who has studied physics should know that something there will heat up and simply cannot catch fire.
The element that lowers the voltage in modern chargers are capacitors. Absolutely reliable capacitors do not exist. A breakdown between the plates can occur at any time, regardless of the presence of a connected load. When a ballast resistor is used, the output stabilizer consumes current, heating the resistor even without a load. B In any case, elements under mains voltage, and 220 V is an effective value, while the amplitude is 310 V, are dangerous.
Come on! What about power surges in the network? What if they turn off the electricity and then give more voltage?? Nothing will happen either?? You are talking nonsense, my friend, your own bitter experience...
I gave up on charging. I haven't pulled it out for several years now. I charge either a tablet or a smartphone.??
I gave up on the charger. I haven't pulled it out for many years. Do I charge either a tablet or a smartphone from one non-native charger?
Just another piece of madhouse nonsense! Author, move away from the keyboard and don’t clog up the Internet and the brains of normal people with your fabrications!!
A friend’s house burned down because a charger was left in the socket.
2019.08.13 A thunderstorm began. The woman told me to leave the outlet. I did some harm, but went to the opposite side. And then a miracle happened. First, a flame flew out - more than a meter long, the socket burned out, then a deafening thunder was heard. And you say...
Flew off to who knows where!
In fact, if you constantly keep the charger plugged in, the PWM chip and key transistors can degrade. I saw it myself. There is a charger, at idle it seems to produce its 5 volts, but under load the voltage drops to 3 volts. I look, where is the PWM chip, the textolite is characteristically darkened, which indicates its chronic overheating.
But this is mostly a problem with cheap memory devices. Good branded devices are usually no different.
5 volts and 2 amperes can be shoved even into a baby’s mouth - he will hardly feel anything, so there is no need to say that it is dangerous.
It has already been written that phase breakdown at the output may occur, with increasing probability as the capacitors age. However, there are always “experts” about 5 volts.The only category that, due to necessity, can remain constantly on is charging landline phones. everything else - mobile phones, smartphones, laptops, tablets - should, for security reasons, be turned off and not remain turned on without control.
author, don’t write again, listen to you, and 4.5 volt flat batteries are deadly dangerous, yay
And you chew it up! You can have a piece! Gygygy
You need to know Ohm's law.
Almost all modern power supplies (chargers) do not have galvanic isolation. Hence the danger.
Disable.
“do not leave connected equipment unattended - even a TV and refrigerator
"okay TV, but REFRIGERATOR!!!! how does the author imagine it?
??????
I laughed at the article and at the comments. Comrades! Site name purity-en.htgetrid.com: advice for novice housewives. And all the men are drooling to prove something!
Grown people, stop this kind of nonsense.
We found charging time to discuss.
You need to take care of business and family.
Kick
When leaving, unplug the refrigerator!!…
Turn everything off everyone! Don’t put too much in your mouth! Keep children, cats and dogs away from power outlets! Amen!
You can leave it, but only the old type assembled on conventional transformers, modern chargers are structurally fire hazardous, since on a very small board there are elements with mains voltage and low output, a little moisture, dust, an explosion results, in addition, the mains voltage comes directly through the diode bridge directly to the electrolytic capacitor, after rectification, 308 volts are formed on it, the manufacturer saves by setting them at 400 volts, but at least 600, I personally had such a charge explode, it was well protected in the shield and worked.
Charging is designed for 220 and if the input voltage is exceeded, the air gaps will be broken and the entire input voltage will be exhausted. It’s just that the expensive ones need a lightning strike and kilovolts. And cheap ones may have enough phase imbalance. So in the city and normal charging is not a problem. And at the dacha - turn off the surge protector or turn it off
USB charging with shpmots on PCB? Where did you get it?
So that you all do not break spears here: it is not the voltage itself that is dangerous, but the current that will flow through your body. So this is a life-threatening value of 0.1 A. Another question is how it passes through you. If you have skin as thick as a hippopotamus, you can try 380V. I personally knew such a unique person. But try taking a small email. For the motor from the toy, connect the battery to it with wires so that it works. I would not recommend grasping the contacts of the battery or motor with each hand for each contact. The current through the hands and body is more than enough. And regarding exercises: well, if you want, risk your home or health - that’s your right. And I ask those who are self-confident to experiment further. Maybe we’ll read your obituary later.
Well, they wrote nonsense. This means you can touch the battery.But the contacts of a motor connected to a battery cannot. He'll kill, damn it. Throughout my childhood I played with square batteries and all sorts of motors. And I always kept contacts with my hands. And it's ok.
My laptop charger burned out with a slight explosion due to a power surge. Luckily I was at home...
My house burned down from the charger
Before. my. eyes. my. house. charger. caught fire.
Intelligible! Thank you!
I’ve had the charger on for about 10 years now, I should probably turn it off, I’ve never thought about it
Be sure to turn it off. Anyone who knows the typical charger circuit will confirm that after the rectifier there is a filter capacitor for 250 volts, but it should be 400 volts - this is the most unreliable element of the circuit. So it explodes and most often catches fire with all the ensuing consequences.
Electronics engineer with 45 years of experience.
IMHO, Alexander dated September 29, 2019 is closest to the truth. Only the capacitor is installed at 300 Volts. Yes, the effective voltage in the network is 220 volts, but the amplitude = 300 volts. And the capacitor is not a filter, but a step-down one. It replaces the transformer in older circuits and works like a capacitive reactance. We need to lower the voltage of the 220 Volt AC network to a lower one, relatively speaking up to 5 Volts in simple circuits and rectify it with a bridge of 4 diodes. With a filtering electrolytic capacitor at the output, which smoothes out voltage ripples. But what happens during voltage failures or when charging is manually turned on? The AC voltage varies in a sine wave from 0 to 300 Volts. If, when you turn on the charging, you hit a peak of the positive half-wave or the voltage in the network “jumps” for a fraction of a millisecond and the positive half-wave starts again, then the voltage will reach 600 Volts in amplitude.The capacitor may fly out. But even if it doesn’t fly out immediately, the electrolytic capacitor at the output of the circuit may fly out. Which, as a rule, is designed for 5 or 6.3 Volts (the Chinese save money), and without a load (smartphone, tablet, etc.) it works with overload. In addition, more expensive circuits use a transistor circuit (multivibrator) and a low voltage transformer at the output of the circuit. This is done to electrically decouple the network from the load. Transistors, usually MJE13001 (MJE13003 PCR606J PCR406J) also really don’t like doubling the voltage. In this case, your smartphone will not burn out. But an apartment can))). Hence the conclusion: do not keep the charging switched on without a load and turn it on and off via the switch. And you say the main threat is thunderstorm))). Even if lightning in a big city hits the electrical network (which is very unlikely), then the first thing that will happen is your TV will burn out, relatively speaking, it costs 40 thousand rubles, and the charger costs 100 rubles. can be neglected. Or do you, at the first sign of a thunderstorm, quit work, rush home and turn off the TV from standby mode?
Electronics engineer with 55 years of experience. 1.11.2019
The truth is spoken. (Electronics engineer with 100 years of experience) ))).Who is older? A joke of course, but he explained everything correctly. A charger without galvanic isolation from the network (i.e. without a step-down transformer) always requires increased attention.
?
It’s annoying when some people talk about the quality of the product, that it’s Chinese, etc., etc., but you have this production in the country, try to buy something that’s not Chinese, China doesn’t force its products on you, buy your own “domestic” one, find it, try it