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Comment by TeMPOraL | Hacker News Reader

How big is that a risk, though? Serious question - because I'm really considering using Chinese USB power supply units as power sources for my home automation project. I've been using one of those units for the last 5 days with no visible problems - no overheating, no noise, etc.

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I used to think that until I read these articles:

http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pr...

http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and...

Yes the articles are about fake and counterfeit power adapters but I expect these el-cheapo units have many of the same design and safety flaws due to cost cutting. Personally I'm taking no chances.

For that application it is better to get officially imported ones (eg. CE-marked in Europe), where at least the importer is vouching that the design meets minimum safety requirements.

See http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-ap... for some horror stories about crap USB chargers.

Mine[0] has CE on the back, but this is China, they print anything and everything on the back...

[0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10632118

I guess there's a market for importing Chinese USB chargers from Europe into China then ;)

But yep, the CE mark is related to the importing paperwork so only signifies something inside EU, would be interesting to know if it's a positive or negative quality signal inside China...

CE stands for Chinese Engineering :D

Close.. I believe it actually is 'Chinese Export' when you ask but the goal is the same, to imply certification (o;

CE is worthless, what you want is a proper certification such as GS, TUV, UL or CCC (possibly others).

Anecdotal, but I replaced my eeepc's charger with a cheap compatible charger from ebay and about a year later, I heard some buzzing on the speakers at my desk followed by a bang at my feet. The caps blew the wall wart's case right open. :\

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