A warning has been issued to British holidaymakers after “highly dangerous” travel adaptors were found for sale on major online marketplaces.

Electrical Safety First said all 14 devices purchased from AliExpress, eBay, Amazon Marketplace and TikTok Shop failed its basic safety tests, with the worst offenders posing a risk of serious electric shock or even electrocution.

More than 10,000 of the unsafe adaptors may have already been sold to UK shoppers, according to information available online.

In six of eight universal travel adaptors tested, more than one set of plug pins could be exposed and live at the same time while the adaptor was plugged in.

This means users could come into contact with up to 240 volts of electricity, posing a serious risk of electric shock.

The plug pins on all eight universal travel adaptors also failed to meet the dimensional and mechanical strength requirements, meaning that they could break off inside a socket.

Six basic travel adaptors failed a variety of safety tests, including: some missing safety shutters, which protect users from touching live internal parts; missing fuses, increasing the risk of fire; oversized plug pin holes, making it easier to come into contact with live electrical parts; and devices that accepted three-pin plugs without providing an earth connection, removing an important layer of protection against electric shock.

Four universal and two basic travel adaptors underwent further testing in an external specialist laboratory to assess the fire resistance and flammability of the plastic materials used in the product.

All six samples failed this test.

Earthing and bonding are two related but distinct concepts in electrical systems.

Earthing refers to the process of connecting electrical equipment or a system to the earth, typically through a grounding rod or plate. This provides a safe path for electrical currents to flow to the ground in case of a fault or short circuit, protecting people and equipment from electrical shock.

Bonding, on the other hand, refers to the process of connecting metal parts of electrical equipment or systems together to ensure they are at the same electrical potential. This helps to prevent voltage differences between metal parts, reducing the risk of electrical shock or equipment damage.

To illustrate the difference:

- Earthing connects electrical equipment to the earth.
- Bonding connects metal parts of electrical equipment together.

In many cases, earthing and bonding are used together to provide a safe and reliable electrical system. For example, bonding metal pipes together and earthing them to the ground ensures that the pipes are at the same electrical potential as the earth, reducing the risk of electrical shock.

In the context of electrical installations, understanding the differences between earthing and bonding is crucial for ensuring safety and compliance with regulations, such as the UK wiring regulations BS7671 mentioned in the post.

#plug #socket #electricalwork

Well, the one stray strand ignored during installation had OCD me on edge! . . .
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Another interesting example of people making products without understanding what they’re doing. In this case it’s a simple lamp adaptor with a built-in design fault that can make the shell of a bayonet cap lamp-base live. If the adaptor is used in a plastic ungrounded holder this won’t be noticed, but it does pose a shock risk due to exposed metal.
If the adaptor is put into an earthed/grounded socket then it will either bridge live or neutral to earth. That will either result in instant RCD/GFCI tripping if live is bridged to earth, or unpredictable tripping if neutral is connected to earth.

When neutral is bridged to earth it can result in some of the neutral current bypassing the RCD and causing an imbalance. That results in the RCD/GFCI issues when a load reaches a specific level, even on other circuits. It can be quite hard to trace, because turning off single pole circuit breakers will not remove the neutral to earth short.

I’m not a huge fan of built-in electronics. It means that in an instance like this, the densely packed electronics can fail dramatically with the awkwardness of it still being built into the house wiring with no easy way to remove or replace it without electrical skills.

For charging USB devices I recommend using good quality plug-in chargers, and better still, plugged into a fused adaptor or extension.