06-03-2016, 10:02 PM
(06-03-2016, 08:58 PM)ppppenguin Wrote: But remember we are often dealing with vintage equipment where designers didn't always get it right.
Hi.
Do we actually think that some of the tat sold these days is better than vintage gear?
Wall warts are a pet hate of mine, the number I have smashed open only to find no fuses, no fuse-able resistors, inadequately rated components is a joke.
One wall wart that was OEM on a Pure Evoke DAB radio that belonged to my sons mother in-law had partially melted when a fault occurred in the radio and went into overcurrent. It had welded to the 13a socket (unswitched) and after killing the mains all that could be done was to prise off the thing from the socket.
When I got it there was a burn up in the radio due to a leaky or shorted cap and the wall wart's mains transformer had burned out. Was there a fuse................. no chance!
Both Radio & PSU were binned!
I also have had a wall wart overheat, this was on a set of Christmas lights a few years ago, after an hour or so we could smell the classic plastic overheating fumes, the particular PSU was too hot to handle, in fact after pulling it out with oven gloves it was just getting soft. The following day when I looked at it (an open-able one) all it was, was a mains transformer, primary directly connected to the pins and the 24volt AC output to a din type two pin socket, no fuse and no thermal cut out embedded in the transformer, it must have had shorted turns as it got hot with no load.
So I'm sorry today's so called designers are no better than years ago. Perhaps our infatuation with so many items running with chargers, wall warts and the likes makes the problem more noticeable, in the days before the mid 60's say, there may have been one TV and one Radio so less to actually cause a fire or be a hazard. Lets also not forget chargers and wall warts have no ventilation, they are sealed and if a fault does occur the internal temperature can rise quickly and before you know it they burst into flames. An old Radio or TV due to its size and open construction would if a fault occurred be noticed quickly by those in the house by it either going off, smoke from a dropper or other signs, something that might not be seen bay a wall wart plugged in behind the curtain!
