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My cat water fountain comes with a spicy USB power adapter

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Re: My cat water fountain comes with a spicy USB power adapter

#251

Post by JCharante »

hammock wrote: post #147

I thought he was going to say there was current in the water. I remember showering in Costa Rica at a “hotel” and the shower head was one of those that heats the water (with an electric heater) and it was shocking me the whole time I used it. Probably shouldn’t have used it Apparently those are common in central and South America.

Yup. When traveling abroad in a developing nation it turns out no one bothers to ground their power, so my macbooks (or my friend's laptop) always shocks me if I touch it while plugging in. You kinda taste iron if you keep touching it, but all the locals are used to it.

Re: My cat water fountain comes with a spicy USB power adapter

#252

Post by avidiax »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #196
mint2 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a little too short, add: “and this email notification demonstrates you are aware of the hazard which will be relevant in lawsuits.”

and they will respond with "We sincerely thank you for your concern. We have a 6 month email retention policy in place to address your issue"

In recognition of your email retention policy, I shall be resending this complaint at 5 month intervals, along with a running history of the previous complaints.

Re: My cat water fountain comes with a spicy USB power adapter

#253

Post by paledot »

Wow, I appreciate the warning. I have a similar fountain that also uses a 7.5 V "USB" connector, and that adapter definitely would've ended up in my big box o' orphaned USB bricks when the fountain inevitably gives up the ghost or just becomes too gross to keep clean.

Re: My cat water fountain comes with a spicy USB power adapter

#254

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

sleepybrett wrote: post #247
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m pretty sure UL applies their testing to anything with safety ramifications.

Gotcha, I thought it was just an electrical certification. However if they won't certify a propane burner and a pot just because it's labeled 'turkey frier'... i'm not sure how they can certify any gas grill, gas range or propane burner of any kind.

Has to do with the large amounts of flammable oil that inevitably spill out.

Some years ago, I saw a video, done by Consumer Reports, I think, that showed a fireman, in full heat gear, using a turkey fryer, and showing how incredibly easy it is to spill oil.

Every Thanksgiving, there are always quite a few turkey fryer accidents.

Re: My cat water fountain comes with a spicy USB power adapter

#255

Post by moqmar »

ronsor wrote: post #237
anonu wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> respectively not sure I follow you. can you clarify what you mean by both 225v and 230v to ground? You are measuring the potential between ground and USB output?

Surely this is a violation of the specifications?

Definitely at least electrical standards in most countries, and probably USB also specifies that the voltage needs to be isolated from mains.

But yeah, usually those are illegal to be sold.

Re: My cat water fountain comes with a spicy USB power adapter

#256

Post by s1artibartfast »

_a_a_a_ wrote: post #248
s1artibartfast wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and they will respond with "We sincerely thank you for your concern. We have a 6 month email retention policy in place to address your issue"

If you can't add anything useful, stay out. Although I wonder if it was your house to burn down whether you might feel a little differently about doing the right thing. The answer is, you CC trading standards(Or your country's equivalent) as well.

What makes you think I have negative opinions about doing the right thing, or my comments aren't useful.

Perhaps CCing trading standards is actually a good idea, and Im glad I raised a valid concern about the utility of emailing the supplier alone.

Re: My cat water fountain comes with a spicy USB power adapter

#257

Post by [deleted] »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #196
mint2 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a little too short, add: “and this email notification demonstrates you are aware of the hazard which will be relevant in lawsuits.”

and they will respond with "We sincerely thank you for your concern. We have a 6 month email retention policy in place to address your issue"

[deleted]

Re: My cat water fountain comes with a spicy USB power adapter

#258

Post by astura »

repiret wrote: post #140
ajb wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insurance won't cover if you knew there was a fault and didn't fix it!

Do you have a citation for that?

Nobody can provide you with a citation because the specifics will be the wording that's in your individual policy.

But, generally, policies require you to maintain the property.

Re: My cat water fountain comes with a spicy USB power adapter

#259

Post by rollcat »

sleepybrett wrote: post #217
rollcat wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> While Nintendo's software implementation of USB-PD was flawed in some ways, it didn't cause this problem. I stand corrected. The dock however, still rejects non-Nintendo chargers. I have an MBP, a Thinkpad, an iPad, and a Switch - every device works with each other's (and third-party) chargers, except the Switch, when docked.

I think these usb-c pd (and other) issues were corrected in the oled switches and the docks that come with them but the fixes might not have been total. This comment, specifically about some of the technical details of the video out stuff points to at least some changes were done in the new generation: https://www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/171c3mj/comme... Someone can correct me on this as well. I've noticed…

> I think these usb-c pd (and other) issues were corrected in the oled switches and the docks that come with them but the fixes might not have been total.

I have the OLED model, and the accompanying dock refuses every single non-Nintendo charger I've tried. It literally tells me so on the screen.

> My theory has been that not all usb-c chargers are compatible with all voltages [...].

Correct. Both devices present eachother with a list of supported modes, and negotiate the optimal one. If you try a fancy charger/powerbank with a screen, it will even present per-port current/voltage stats. Fun to observe the changing power draw on different devices.

Also if you plug another device to the same charger, it will trigger a re-negotiation, possibly end up in a different mode. LTT had a whole video on modding ancient consoles to use USB-PD, and the possible resulting issues.

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1470228-how-to-put-usb-c-pow...

Re: My cat water fountain comes with a spicy USB power adapter

#260

Post by VoxPelli »

Increased voltage in itself is okay if done through any of the negotiated power delivery standards such as USB PD

Latest USB PD supports up to 48V and up to 5A, resulting in 240W

That’s also a reason why not all fast chargers work well for all products – if the required voltage + amperage combination is not supported then the closest supported lower combination will be used instead.

That said, 7.5 volt is not a supported voltage in USB PD at least and there seems to be no handshake that guards it in this case

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