Warning - Dual USB 12V car charger failure

[Peahead]

I have fried two portable car GPS units this week and a cable for an iPhone before I figured out what was causing the problem.

I took a voltmeter to check my DC 12V car cig lighter readings and all was all good with output reading of 12V when car accessories on and a reading of just over 14V when engine running. Knowing all my other USB car chargers adapt the voltage out put down to about 5Volts DC (+/- .4V) I then took a reading from the USB ports on my new dual unit and both ports were reading a full 14V with the engine running!!!!! I now know why I have been killing my equipment. I suppose I am lucky I stil have a working iPhone.

Anyone else seen this happen? Not sure where to go from here but will be speaking to both the store and the manufacturer of this unit. At this point I won't get into what manufacturer and who sold it but the lesson here I think is test the unit's output voltage before plugging expensive equipment into them. The one that has failed was not a corner store cheapo either, it is a big very well known company and I paid more for it thinking I didn't want a cheap one that will fail - go figure.

 

[bigbruce]

Not sure why you don't want to let us know the manufacturer??? I have a couple of USB chargers and they have worked well. Might be more helpful to hear from people who have the same unit as you to get a better reading on the quality.

 

[Peahead]

Not so much I didn't want to let anyone know the specific brand but until I found out more info, the brand may be irrelevant. If I gathered info from others that most USB car chargers have a small percentage of failures then pointing out a specific brand may represent the problem only with one brand.

I had my problem with this one:

http://reviews.canadiantire.ca/9045...-dual-usb-12v-car-charger-reviews/reviews.htm

 

[Sotally Tober]

Thanks for the info.
I was going to buy a double USB plug for my vehicle to charge the devices while I drive.
There are so many products made by one manufacturer and labelled for other companies to sell it as their own.
Reading the reviews of a product before buying it now seems to have become very important as there are too many poor quality items out there

 

[sly_karma]

My truck has two USB ports built in. Not sure if that's good or not? Should be well engineered, but if it does fail, getting satisfaction/compensation from Chev would take years, if at all.