Counterfeit and Illegal Plugs and Leads

[FatallyFlawed]

From time to time the subject of counterfeit plugs and power leads is discussed on this and other forums.

Counterfeit plugs are often distinguished by having partially sleeved earth pins in clear contravention of BS 1363, that means that they cannot be legally sold (The Plugs & Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations (1994)). Despite that they are freely available from (amongst others) many ebay sellers, and even Amazon!

Some of the counterfeits also have counterfeit fuses fitted, others have no fuses whatsoever!

For further information see www.bs1363.org.uk This includes samples of ebay and amazon sales listings, and links to reports from PAT testers who have come across these.

The safety of BS 1363 sockets and plugs is under threat from a variety of sources; it is time that the government and the IET took stronger action to counter this.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Just when you think it couldn`t stoop any lower......now its bs1363 plugs (which only cost pennies anyway).........

 

[Knobhead]

Thanks for the information FF.

As you point out our old friends Amazon are out to make their quick buck as usual.

Amazon = profit, never mind quality or safety.

 

[Knobhead]

The problem of counterfeit fuses isn’t new, the company I served my apprenticeship with bought a selection of 1000 fuse from RS. I had several fail to blow clear, they still had a high resistance path through them. I’m talking 30+ year ago!

 

[Marvo]

Hi FatallyFlawed,

When you talk about counterfeit products are you meaning products where they have stolen / illegally used a brand name or just general cheap and sub-standard products or sub-standard products that have illegally used a compliance mark such as UL, ISO or BS etc.
Counterfeit products aren't necessarily sub-standard and vice versa. Most multi-national companies have their own counterfeit departments nowadays.....that's how bad it's getting.

 

[Knobhead]

Marvo, have a look at the link FF gave.

 

[FatallyFlawed]

Hi FatallyFlawed,

When you talk about counterfeit products are you meaning products where they have stolen / illegally used a brand name or just general cheap and sub-standard products or sub-standard products that have illegally used a compliance mark such as UL, ISO or BS etc.
Counterfeit products aren't necessarily sub-standard and vice versa. Most multi-national companies have their own counterfeit departments nowadays.....that's how bad it's getting.

Plugs which are marked with "BS 1363" and "ASTA" etc, but they do not conform, and ASTA cannot have granted them approval because of that. It is fraudulent to claim that any lead/plug with a partially sleeved earth pin is a "UK Lead" or "UK Plug".

 

[Marvo]

Marvo, have a look at the link FF gave.

Hi Tony,
I tried the link but it couldn't be viewed from my geographical location. I jut tried it again now via a VPN and it worked.

 

[FatallyFlawed]

By complete coincidence a friend just asked me to take a look at their laptop, as soon as I went to plug it in I noticed it had a counterfeit plug, similar but not the same as the one pictured on the website. However, it did have all the same problems, plus an almost rigid strain relief moulding, this had fractured exposing the individual core insulation. I am assured that it is a replacement cord, not the one originally supplied.

 

[Mark_Burgess]

Just looked on ebay and there is loads, so have reported a few!

 

[russty]

A small video on this very subject.

[video=youtube;bV1yImG1hNM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV1yImG1hNM[/video]

 

[FatallyFlawed]

I have been looking closely at one of the counterfeit plugs fitted with the counterfeit BS 1362 fuses (similar to the one shown at www.bs1363.org.uk ).


Although the fuse does have continuity, it turns out that the plug wiring bypasses the fuseholder, so it is actually another version of an unfused plug.

Digging deeper finds more issues!

 

[FatallyFlawed]

[FONT=&amp]We are making some progress, with the help of my local Trading Standards department. All but two of the illegal listings on ebay which were originally published at www.bs1363.org.uk have been deleted! A further batch has now been published on the site (the deleted items remain there for reference).[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]Amazon continues to fail to respond to my messages, and has also not acted on the Trading Standards approach! A further batch of Amazon listed products has now been posted on www.bs1363.org.uk , these are laptop chargers for which the power cord is shown as having sleeved earth pins. Some of these have comments posted on their site indicating power lead problems.[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]Of course, not all counterfeit plugs will have sleeved earth pins, but it is the most obvious identifier.[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]In the absence of proper measures by government I urge you to contribute to the effort.[/FONT]

 

[FatallyFlawed]

Six deaths in the tragic fire in Neasden last weekend reminds us of the possible consequences of an electrical fire, and why legislation such as the Plugs and Sockets Regulations is so important.

eBay has been a bit slow in reacting to reports in the past few weeks, but Amazon takes the biscuit for lack of response.

The worst example (so far) is on Cloverleaf Computer Power Lead: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics . On that one listing they have 31 suppliers, I have test bought from several of these, some have been legal (including Volex ones), others not. The cables supplied through Amazon by “Star e-shop”, and “eBlink” have to be seen to be believed, this is what I found:


· Counterfeit fuse ( a very crude imitation with no approval marks, no sand filling, loose end caps)
· The fuse was cosmetic and not connected to anything, the line wire is connected directly to the line pin
· Partially sleeved earth pin (resulting in intermittent or no connection to socket earth)
· All pins are the wrong size (and one sample has severely misaligned pins)
· The moulding of the plug/cable assembly has taken place with the fuse carrier and fuse in place, with nothing to prevent the moulding material flowing into the fuse chamber, one of the samples was almost entirely filled in this way completely sealing in one end of the fuse.
· The plug is marked: “ KING CORO”, “APProved bY BSI” and “Licence No 41231” with a counterfeit Kitemark
· The C5 connector is wired in reverse
· The flex cable is marked “CCC YF 227 IEC 53(RVV) 3x0.75mm[SUP]2[/SUP] 300/500V GB5023.5-1997 MADE IN CHINA”
· The resistance between plug and C5 connector is unusually high, suggesting that the conductors are far smaller than the 0.75mm[SUP]2[/SUP] claimed – confirmed by inspection. The actual conductor cross section is less than 10% of the rated value!
· The outer covering of the cable is so weak (approximately the consistency of liquorice) that it can be easily peeled off using the force of finger nails only.
· The colour coding of the wires is not in conformance with any known standard, the current carrying conductors are slate grey, and the earth is slate grey with a stripe of greenish white.
· The insulation on the conductors is of a similar consistency to the outer covering, very easy to pull off with the fingers.

I find it difficult to express just how bad these cables are!

Some extracts from customer reviews on your site confirm that the fire danger is very real, and has been reported to you for over one year:

“After only a couple of weeks use, the cable started to burn and melted through while it was being used by my daughter, thankfully no harm came to her or the house!”

“The cable started sparking then caught fire and burned a hole in the carpet. It was only the sound of the sparking that alerted me as I was not in the room. Very cheap but extremely dangerous. If the house had been empty this could have been a disaster. The thick cable is deceptive, it looks like good quality but the wires inside it are very thin, a bit like fuse-wire. This product should be taken off the market. I am reporting this hazard to Amazon and trading standards.”

“Cheap yes but as I type I can smell a distinct burning smell coming from my powerpack.”

“After two weeks it started to spark and strong burning smell came from it. Wouldn't advise buying. Tried it once more just to make sure and it exploded with a large bang and now has a small hole in the connector.”

 

[FatallyFlawed]

Amazon continue to sell these dangerous cables, they clearly believe themselves to be above the law!

Since last posting I have ordered and received a further three of the "KING CORO" models described earlier, and have now also received, from an Amazon seller in Hong Kong, another type with a counterfeit fuse.

You can see a photograph of the plug on the website www.bs1363.org.uk – (the picture is on the homepage and is the one shown against a blue background). The sample just received was of an even lower quality than the previous sample evaluated, it has very bad plating on the pins (looking somewhat like lumpy solder tinning) and the moulded material had been allowed to flow over all four sides of the red plastic fuse carrier, thus it was impossible to remove the carrier until that excess material had been cut away! Other features of this lead are:

• Counterfeit fuse ( a crude imitation, impossible to remove due to having been sealed into the fuse chamber by excess moulding material)
• The fuse was cosmetic and not connected to anything, the line wire is connected directly to the line pin
• Partially sleeved earth pin (resulting in intermittent or no connection to socket earth)
• All pins are the wrong size
• The C5 connector is wrongly labelled "10A", the C5 standard rating is 2.5A
• The plug is branded: “guida”, with a counterfeit ASTA approval mark.