Article on BBC news website today about failed carbon monoxide alarms being sold on EBay and Amazon

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44563900

 

I suspect this is the tip of a very large iceberg.  I've mentioned before that a fair bit of electrical stuff, in particular, sold on eBay, Amazon and the like, is not properly inspected or approved, as I've had lots of examples of demonstrably unsafe stuff, including a car battery charger that had the mains line directly connected to one of the battery charge terminals, a earthed metal case power supply that had the line and neutral swapped internally, with the internal fuse in the neutral, several metal cased mains LED outdoor lights with the earth wire not connected internally and LED power supplies that didn't comply with the EMC directive and emitted lots of interference.  All were marked as if they had met the required approvals, including an LED light purchased from a well-known DIY store (which they took back and immediately removed all their stock from their shelves). 

 

I now work on the view that anything purchased online will be inherently dangerous, and do my own safety checks before assessing whether or not to use it.  At a guess, I'd say around 70% of mains-powered kit doesn't comply with approval requirements without some modification, often this is simple stuff like an illegal plug, cable or missing earth.

9 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

I suspect this is the tip of a very large iceberg.  I've mentioned before that a fair bit of electrical stuff, in particular, sold on eBay, Amazon and the like, is not properly inspected or approved, as I've had lots of examples of demonstrably unsafe stuff, including a battery charger that had the mains line directly connected to one of the battery charge terminals, a earthed metal case power supply that had the line and neutral swapped internally, with the internal fuse in the neutral, several metal cased mains LED outdoor lights with the earth wire not connected internally and LED power supplies that didn't comply with the EMC directive and emitted lots of interference.  All were marked as if they had met the required approvals, including an LED light purchased from a well-known DIY store (which they took back and immediately removed all their stock from their shelves). 

 

I now work on the view that anything purchased online will be inherently dangerous, and do my own safety checks before assessing whether or not to use it.  At a guess, I'd say around 70% of mains-powered kit doesn't comply with approval requirements without some modification, often this is simple stuff like an illegal plug, cable or missing earth.

+1

Just look at the deliberate similarities between the“Conformité Européenne” 'CE mark' and 'China Export'. 

 

Edited June 22, 20188 yr by Ian

5 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

I now work on the view that anything purchased online will be inherently dangerous, and do my own safety checks before assessing whether or not to use it.  At a guess, I'd say around 70% of mains-powered kit doesn't comply with approval requirements without some modification, often this is simple stuff like an illegal plug, cable or missing earth.

 

Wouldn't there be more accidents / fires etc. if this stuff was inherently dangerous? I'm not disputing that it might not comply with requirements but how would 99% of consumers even know? I don't tend to buy random unbadged electrical equipment if I think it may have come from China but so much stuff is made in China these days even when bought through a mainstream store, and even the branded stuff. 

 

 

 

35 minutes ago, newhome said:

 

Wouldn't there be more accidents / fires etc. if this stuff was inherently dangerous? I'm not disputing that it might not comply with requirements but how would 99% of consumers even know? I don't tend to buy random unbadged electrical equipment if I think it may have come from China but so much stuff is made in China these days even when bought through a mainstream store, and even the branded stuff. 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes there are accidents; fake iPhone chargers catching fire spring to mind, and I'm sure more than one person has had an electric shock from one of the many illegal lights that are around - the one I took back to a well-know DIY store had a 50/50 chance that the metal ring on the front would be at line potential. 

 

Thanks to other safety provisions we have in modern houses, like RCDs and sensible fusing, I suspect that many of the faults could well just result in a non-lethal outcome, with many, perhaps, putting the purchase down as a bad experience.

 

If you want other evidence of how dangerous some of this imported stuff with fake marks may be, then it's worth looking at Big Clive's YouTube channel.  Here are a few examples of some of the dangerous stuff he's bought from eBay, etc, and taken apart to illustrate how lethal some of it may be:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifTI0GfoAFg

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbt2ojkXPuo

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNoGCdX1IdQ

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW9ijW8Dkm0

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cNKGrvD1ro

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRNYDLp4zdM

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tMuXuIYkco

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0iFNKvkT6I

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvOTiQKkQMo

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNjA0aee07k

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB1DlBpyS9w

 

I've posted these as links to save filling up the post with video, but this is just a sample that I grabbed in 5 minutes - there are dozens more.

Big Clives channel is great.

 

I have to say that I've bought loads of stuff from China over the years but steer clear of safety critical and am very careful with mains powered stuff. I would never buy a smoke or Carbon monoxide detector from anything but a known brand!  

 

The classic is some LED spotlights (outdoor type) where thanks to Big Clives channel I opened them up to check and found the earth wires present but for some bizarre reason not connected to the metal body. Easily resolved. 

 

Of course lots of the electrical equipment we buy from UK and European brands is actually made in China but usually under supervision and subject to quality checks.