Another phone charger death - police issue warning


Image: Thairath

UTTARADIT: -- A 26 year old Uttaradit man was found dead in his room yesterday by friends who had not heard from him since Saturday.

Khomsan Thepso was lying on a phone charger cable that was plugged in, reported Thairath.

He was found on his bed and decomposition had already set in. Friends had gone round to his room in the Muang Mai housing project in Bang Plee and broken in after detecting a foul odour.

Bang Sao Thong police said he had been dead for three days and sent his body for autopsy to the Police Hospital. But they said that likely cause of death was electrocution from the cable.

They warned people not to charge phones and other appliances in this manner especially while sleeping on a bed as it can lead to death.

Source: Thairath

-- 2016-07-27

Chances are it was a cheap after market charger and the police won't even bother pursuing it as it is the norm in Thailand to have them.

RIP.

RIP young man.

I bought a True 4G phone and the charger was garbage. My wife had two True chargers with problems as well. Quality in Thailand really stinks and those selling it fail to demand better quality from those they buy their products from. Just look at all those useless extension cords they sell at all the stores which quickly break or have parts falling out. It's a wonder more people don't die from them too. Anything with a long wire extending outside of it doesn't seem to last long here.

Not a good look , Thailand invites hundreds of thousands of tourists a year , some will buy a cheap mobile to phone home , I now can understand now why they want all foreigners information , to contact their next of kin , really this is third world country territory ,Thai has stagnated since 1997 and has become a dumping ground, and it isn't going to improve in the short term.............................................

Edited July 27, 20169 yr by chainarong

Puzzled by this. How do you get a lethal shock from the very low voltage needed from a phone charger? Are they saying that somehow, due possibly to poor manufacture, that mains voltage passed through the transformer and rectifiers in the charger? If so, how on earth could such a shock pass through a vital organ (normally the heart) and cause death? Bearing in mind he was lying on the bed so not earthed. There also has to be a return path.

Puzzled by this. How do you get a lethal shock from the very low voltage needed from a phone charger? Are they saying that somehow, due possibly to poor manufacture, that mains voltage passed through the transformer and rectifiers in the charger? If so, how on earth could such a shock pass through a vital organ (normally the heart) and cause death? Bearing in mind he was lying on the bed so not earthed. There also has to be a return path.

It’s not volts that kill you it’s the Amps…. You only need 50mA across your heart to kill you and there is enough in a 9v battery to kill you under the right conditions.

Puzzled by this. How do you get a lethal shock from the very low voltage needed from a phone charger? Are they saying that somehow, due possibly to poor manufacture, that mains voltage passed through the transformer and rectifiers in the charger? If so, how on earth could such a shock pass through a vital organ (normally the heart) and cause death? Bearing in mind he was lying on the bed so not earthed. There also has to be a return path.

The phone chargers don't have transformers per se, they are a switching power supply. Most likely a cheap knock-off that had a short inside. A safe-t-cut would have worked, again.

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

Edited July 27, 20169 yr by DrTuner

Much better off buying and using authentic chargers! DO NOT BUY CHINESE KNOCK-OFFS!!! You risk your own life!

WHY does the Thai Gov ALLOW these on the market?!?!

Edited July 27, 20169 yr by ThaiWest

if we can invest in a phone it is penny wise

pound foolish not to get a good charger.

but even good electronic equipment can malfunction.

lap tops are known to have caused fires.

another risk is that of surge from lightening strikes

if one is using the phone while it is being charged.

Much better off buying and using authentic chargers! DO NOT BUY CHINESE KNOCK-OFFS!!! You risk your own life!

WHY does the Thai Gov ALLOW these on the market?!?!

Because they are cheap,,,,that's what the public want,,,,

Much better off buying and using authentic chargers! DO NOT BUY CHINESE KNOCK-OFFS!!! You risk your own life!

WHY does the Thai Gov ALLOW these on the market?!?!

Because they are cheap,,,,that's what the public want,,,,

So... When they DIE from the CHEEP knock-off, the family NOR government has any right to complain!!

if we can invest in a phone it is penny wise

pound foolish not to get a good charger.

but even good electronic equipment can malfunction.

lap tops are known to have caused fires.

another risk is that of surge from lightening strikes

if one is using the phone while it is being charged.

I can only speak for iOS and Apple chargers... I dare say, should any charger transfer any electrical charge to kill the 'user', it IS NOT AN APPLE CHARGER!

There is no electical approval regulation in Thailand that I know of.

Shops can sell any appliance they can make money on.

Its different of course to most developed nations.

The failure of a phone charger can allow the mains voltage to pass to the secondary and to the phone.

As the bed and the human have a large surface area, the capacitance is the return path and can supply enough current to stop the heart.

An ELCB or SAFETY SWITCH would generally detect this loss of return current and trip the switch within 30 milliseconds and save lives

There is no electical approval regulation in Thailand that I know of.

TISI, http://app.tisi.go.th/eng/tisi.html , but the knock-offs are imported from China by boatload and conform to nothing. The Chinese send the bottom of the barrel stuff here, better knock-offs go to the west.

And the moral of the story? Don't watch porn in bed!

And the moral of the story? Don't watch porn in bed!

Unless it's her name ...

Puzzled by this. How do you get a lethal shock from the very low voltage needed from a phone charger? Are they saying that somehow, due possibly to poor manufacture, that mains voltage passed through the transformer and rectifiers in the charger? If so, how on earth could such a shock pass through a vital organ (normally the heart) and cause death? Bearing in mind he was lying on the bed so not earthed. There also has to be a return path.

The phone chargers don't have transformers per se, they are a switching power supply. Most likely a cheap knock-off that had a short inside. A safe-t-cut would have worked, again.

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

Thanks for the link. I'll try to be more careful with my (cheap) ipod charger in the future. Just one thing, though. I understand that these chargers use a diode to change current from AC to DC, but how do they manage to step the voltage down from 220 to 6 without using a transformer? Still confused by this.

I understand that these chargers use a diode to change current from AC to DC, but how do they manage to step the voltage down from 220 to 6 without using a transformer? Still confused by this.

They chop the DC to pieces, f.ex. 10% duty rate out of 220 is 22V. There might be a transformer component connected to this chopped up line that may further reduce the voltage and provide galvanic isolation. Wikipedia has an article on the buck-boost and flyback converters. In the traditional transforming power supply you'd have the transformer on the AC side followed by a diode bridge.

It's usually easy to see if it's a switching one, the input voltage has a wide range such as 110-220V, simple transformer power sources have a small operating voltage range.

Puzzled by this. How do you get a lethal shock from the very low voltage needed from a phone charger? Are they saying that somehow, due possibly to poor manufacture, that mains voltage passed through the transformer and rectifiers in the charger? If so, how on earth could such a shock pass through a vital organ (normally the heart) and cause death? Bearing in mind he was lying on the bed so not earthed. There also has to be a return path.

It’s not volts that kill you it’s the Amps…. You only need 50mA across your heart to kill you and there is enough in a 9v battery to kill you under the right conditions.

True that 50mA can cause ventricular fibrillation and therefore kill you, but the voltage from a 9v battery is not enough to cause this.

Puzzled by this. How do you get a lethal shock from the very low voltage needed from a phone charger? Are they saying that somehow, due possibly to poor manufacture, that mains voltage passed through the transformer and rectifiers in the charger? If so, how on earth could such a shock pass through a vital organ (normally the heart) and cause death? Bearing in mind he was lying on the bed so not earthed. There also has to be a return path.

Bed can often mean a thin mattress on the floor.

An auto-transformer can pass high voltages as it does not isolate.

Puzzled by this. How do you get a lethal shock from the very low voltage needed from a phone charger? Are they saying that somehow, due possibly to poor manufacture, that mains voltage passed through the transformer and rectifiers in the charger? If so, how on earth could such a shock pass through a vital organ (normally the heart) and cause death? Bearing in mind he was lying on the bed so not earthed. There also has to be a return path.

Cheaper ones do not isolate. Return path maybe moisture in the mattress -

Nice clock.

Puzzled by this. How do you get a lethal shock from the very low voltage needed from a phone charger? Are they saying that somehow, due possibly to poor manufacture, that mains voltage passed through the transformer and rectifiers in the charger? If so, how on earth could such a shock pass through a vital organ (normally the heart) and cause death? Bearing in mind he was lying on the bed so not earthed. There also has to be a return path.

It’s not volts that kill you it’s the Amps…. You only need 50mA across your heart to kill you and there is enough in a 9v battery to kill you under the right conditions.

Untrue!

Ohms Law I=E/R.

Therefore 6V divided by 1MOhm = very little current.

P = E x I so power would also be insignificant unless mains voltage has leaked and passed current through the heart.

Puzzled by this. How do you get a lethal shock from the very low voltage needed from a phone charger? Are they saying that somehow, due possibly to poor manufacture, that mains voltage passed through the transformer and rectifiers in the charger? If so, how on earth could such a shock pass through a vital organ (normally the heart) and cause death? Bearing in mind he was lying on the bed so not earthed. There also has to be a return path.

Its not volts that kill you its the Amps. You only need 50mA across your heart to kill you and there is enough in a 9v battery to kill you under the right conditions.

50mA DC, really? Is that by electrodes directly attached to the heart?

Puzzled by this. How do you get a lethal shock from the very low voltage needed from a phone charger? Are they saying that somehow, due possibly to poor manufacture, that mains voltage passed through the transformer and rectifiers in the charger? If so, how on earth could such a shock pass through a vital organ (normally the heart) and cause death? Bearing in mind he was lying on the bed so not earthed. There also has to be a return path.

It’s not volts that kill you it’s the Amps…. You only need 50mA across your heart to kill you and there is enough in a 9v battery to kill you under the right conditions.

So what are "the right conditions" then?

Bear in mind that people have also been struck by lightning and survived

An interesting article here among many others I found when I did a Google search on the electrical resistance of the human body.

http://www.establish-fp7.eu/sites/default/files/general/Worksheet_08.pdf

Bear in mind that the guy was found lying ON the bed which means that there was little or no ground for the electricity to pass through.

Puzzled by this. How do you get a lethal shock from the very low voltage needed from a phone charger? Are they saying that somehow, due possibly to poor manufacture, that mains voltage passed through the transformer and rectifiers in the charger? If so, how on earth could such a shock pass through a vital organ (normally the heart) and cause death? Bearing in mind he was lying on the bed so not earthed. There also has to be a return path.

The phone chargers don't have transformers per se, they are a switching power supply. Most likely a cheap knock-off that had a short inside. A safe-t-cut would have worked, again.

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

Thanks for the link. I'll try to be more careful with my (cheap) ipod charger in the future. Just one thing, though. I understand that these chargers use a diode to change current from AC to DC, but how do they manage to step the voltage down from 220 to 6 without using a transformer? Still confused by this.

They have a transformer, the flyback circuit works off a second primary winding on the transformer .

Some of these can be better than others due to quality parts, more signal filtering & better construction.

can be had as cheap as 12Baht each wholesale in thailand .

Best buying branded and with IC chip voltage control rather than flyback, I use happy-travel flyback for old nokia & sony ericsson and work fine (well over 1.5yrs use) as phones don't draw much over 350mAh . happy-travel ones I got have better insulation on transformer & plastic shielding over usb socket & neat internal construction .

Most are real nasty & input leads short easily or transformer insulation fails & some serious voltage ranges can be fed through the usb output killing phone or worse the user ...

Buy with care & don't be a tight arse .

Problem not just Thailand, this stuff available worldwide thanks to eBay :-/

Why don't they just say "Don't Buy Cheap Chinese Knock-offs!" Oh, Big Chinese Brother get angry. Ah! Unnerstan!

Why don't they just say "Don't Buy Cheap Chinese Knock-offs!" Oh, Big Chinese Brother get angry. Ah! Unnerstan!

800 Baht for an apple lightning cord from that reseller chain. Little wonder people go for the knockoffs.

Lightning cord not an issue as so easy & cheap manufacture, a 150Bt 1.5M golf brand with thick cable & strain reliefs is actually better than original Lightnings.

Chargers are different, they only 500Bt and could save your phone your house & your life.

If 500Bt too much shop about for aftermarket decent brands around 200Bt to 300Bt.

China make this junk as so many idiots want a charger for 50Bt and expect it be amazing too :-/

I have a friend who sells mobile accessories,she gets pi55ed right off with customers who won't pay for decent IC controlled charger and expect a 60Bt retail charger be the same :-/ people are tight & some stupid too .

How this same sh1t gets sold via eBay in the west is even more shocking in my opinion .

Edited July 28, 20169 yr by BuckBee