Thai man electrocuted in Pattaya - with his phone and the charger by his side

[webfact]

Thai man electrocuted in Pattaya - with his phone and the charger by his side

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

Police were called to an address in Soi 15, Thing Klom - Tan Man, Nong Prue late on Sunday night after relatives reported that a man had died in his bedroom. 

 

Aron Yohyoei, 21, was found with burns to his face and arm. He had been dead about six hours. There were no signs of foul play.

 

Next to the body was a plugged in phone - police believe he was electrocuted because of this. 

 

Distraught relatives explained how they had wondered why Aron was being so quiet. 

 

They broke down his door after someone climbed up and peering through a vent saw him lying on his bed motionless.

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

 

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[SammyT]

I'd be interested to know in cases like this if they were knock-off chargers being used. I bought one from the 7/11 once, plugged it in and heard a loud pop an hour later - it blew up and clean out of the wall. 

 

Will stick to using a power bank when playing on my phone from now on, I think. 

[trainman34014]

Not the first and won't be the last; the electrical system and all its gadgets here are death waiting to happen !

[Seth1a2a]

 

 

I ended up with a fried charger cable in Bangkok last March.

2 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

Not the first and won't be the last; the electrical system and all its gadgets here are death waiting to happen !

Just checked out these related headlines

 June 20, 2016  

 

[Rimmer]

troll post removed

[MartiniMan]

My condolences to his family and loved ones and hope this goes as a warning sign to many

 

1. never leave devices plugged in overnight
2. ensure the t-cut is installed on your property
3. never use cheap electronics - go for import quality with warranty (such as Japanese)

Edited July 17, 2019 by MartiniMan

[owenm]

I once bought a spare charger from a 20 Bht shop for my powerbank that I purchased in Oz. 20 min on the charger and bang, the powerbank was fried.. No compensation here, just a replacement 20 Bht charger.. The branded powerbank was about 1000 Bht from Oz dollars.. Consumer laws in Oz would have paid for repair or replacement.. In Thailand absolutely squat.. My stupidity in buying something electric too cheap.. Live and learn I suppose.. 

[Beggar]

Some cheap chargers have very poor insulation and at some point might send the full power through the charging cable. You can find videos on YouTube where they explain this problem by taking apart such chargers. 

[Briggsy]

Check out the guy's surname!! Is that for real.? 

[RocketDog]

6 hours ago, Beggar said:

Some cheap chargers have very poor insulation and at some point might send the full power through the charging cable. You can find videos on YouTube where they explain this problem by taking apart such chargers. 

Every time this happens I take the bait and post about using cheap knockoff chargers. Every time I get challenged, once by a TVF member claiming to be an electronic engineer (she wasn't) informing me that all chargers are the same and that these things never actually happen and her company makes cheap ones that are very safe.

 

Then there are the wags who question how insulated headphones or earbuds could possibly cause electrocution, especially with the low voltage on USB.

 

For the record I am a retired electronic design engineer with many years of designing isolated mains powered voltage converters for use in hazardous environments such as gas and dust as well as commercial water testing instruments.

 

Only well-designed voltage converters with proper voltage and current clamp circuits, properly I insulated transformer, etc. should be used, for any purpose.

 

Cheap chargers are cheap for a reason : they are potentially lethal junk. They can come from many sources but the Chinese cheap junk factories dominate the market. They can kill you, destroy your phone , or burn down your house, or all three at once.

 

If (when) they fail the high voltage mains voltage jumps the transformer and goes directly to your phone, destroying it. If you are wearing earbuds, the same voltage is easily conducted via surface perspiration film in your ears, through your brain to your heart and onward from there. Over the ear phones with large foam pads are probably safe, but 220 volts has a habit of finding a way to hurt people.

 

Nearly all the chargers available here and most of Asia are junk. They are purposely made to look genuine but are lower price of course. That's your clue. Cheap junk is cheap junk.

 

Next I try to helpfully recommend products that I know for a fact are properly designed, such as Anker brand which has a flagship store on Lazada (not ankerstore, just another seller of fake products) which I have verified with the factory. This brings replies that I'm a paid shill for the company just trying to raise business.

 

As one reader offered, Power Banks are only low voltage devices so are always safe UNLESS they are also plugged into a junk charger while your using them.

 

Car versions are always safe since the input voltage is 12V and can't hurt you unless you open your chest and put the leads directly across your heart, so don't do that????.

 

Pay the extra money and ensure that you find a good source of these products. Of course Samsung, Apple and others make safe chargers but they are also the ones that the junk purveyors target with lower prices. If you want to be sure you are getting a good one buy from the REAL Anker store on Lazada.

 

If you are an engineer with direct experience you are welcome to challenge me. If not, then don't waste your time acting knowledgeable about this topic as it is an arcane niche. It's a waste of your time and mine and I won't reply at all.

 

Or as always, you can simply ignore me completely. Up to you.

 

It's always possible that I can save somebody's life or house.

 

[Pferdlkrantz]

Very well reasoned, common-sense and informative.

 

Thanks

 

Pferdlkranz

[Stargeezr]

Yes , buy cheap and die, so spens the extra time and money to get a genuine brand product and

live a bit longer. It is sad to hear of people dying because of bad habits, but it happens all the

time.

Geezer

[Crossy]

@RocketDog no argument from me, and yes I am a real engineer. 

 

It is extremely worrying that the number of reports of people getting zapped whilst using phones seems to be increasing and it's not just Thailand.

 

I can only repeat advice which is given over and over:-

• Don't use cheap (invariably) Chinese chargers, pay the extra for a genuine branded unit.
• Don't use your phone with a headset whilst it's on charge (or use a BlueTooth headset).
• Don't leave your device unattended whilst charging (or at least place it somewhere that's not going to catch fire).
• Install an RCD/RCBO on your electricity supply.
• Need extra power? Use a power bank.

 

[RocketDog]

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

@RocketDog no argument from me, and yes I am a real engineer. 

 

It is extremely worrying that the number of reports of people getting zapped whilst using phones seems to be increasing and it's not just Thailand.

 

I can only repeat advice which is given over and over:-

• Don't use cheap (invariably) Chinese chargers, pay the extra for a genuine branded unit.
• Don't use your phone with a headset whilst it's on charge (or use a BlueTooth headset).
• Don't leave your device unattended whilst charging (or at least place it somewhere that's not going to catch fire).
• Install an RCD/RCBO on your electricity supply.
• Need extra power? Use a power bank.

 

Thanks Crossy for your post. Now there are two voices crying out in the wilderness.

 

All your recommendations are sane and sober.

 

Obviously though you are getting kickbacks from the safety breaker and Bluetooth headphone companies! ????