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Apple Recalls iPhone 3G USB Power Adapter

Dammit Cubs said:
I think you're looking at this all wrong. Apple approve every piece that goes into each part, but all of apple's manufacturing parts are from different vendors...Including the power supply.
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Apple are responsible for what gets shipped with their name or logo on it. Well, aside from forgeries, but then if you do some digging you'll see that legitimate manufacturers list impact to their reputation as one of their biggest concerns with forgeries, too.

Dammit Cubs said:
Apple stuff broke all long before as well. It's just that its getting alot more media attention. They aren't perfect and neither is anyone else.
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This is probably true too.
 
Snowy_River said:
Jeez, if you can't find an appropriate way to schedule updates without interrupting the executives, then maybe the problem isn't with the phone.
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Except, of course, they can't really use the current chargers safely and new ones are not yet available. You either have to, you know, kinda mention this to them or take responsibility if you don't and the worse happens.

Snowy_River said:
We regularly have to have updates of all kinds at the company where I work. Usually, they are scheduled weeks in advance. Occasionally, when something that is critical comes up, they are scheduled days or hours in advance. In any event, it's a foregone conclusion that working with high-tech gismos includes taking time for updates. It's the IT department's responsibility to make sure that these don't have an unduly negative impact on the overall productivity of the business.
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And one of the ways IT departments do this is by looking for patterns of poor behaviour/performance/whatever from certain suppliers and ditching them if it appears that their products aren't quite robust enough for the business.

Snowy_River said:
As to the power adaptors, I would think that either you provide different power adaptors, or you inspect their power adaptors to see if they are suffering from loose prongs. In any event, you should provide an adequate solution for these five executives. After all, five of the standard power adaptors would only cost about $150. That should be chump change compared to any time lost to them to inconvenience. Right?
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Right. But businesses don't make money by throwing it away on things that shouldn't have been a problem in the first place.

Snowy_River said:
Sure, it's a nuisance. And maybe it's a bit of a PR black eye. But, if it's handled reasonably well by IT people who aren't inclined to try to convince the executives that Apple products aren't worth spending money on, then it shouldn't be a major issue. And it certainly shouldn't be something to lead to you screaming about Apple 'failing'.
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Well this much is true. But if you think things like this don't (and shouldn't) have an impact on business purchase decisions then you're very naive.
 
Phil A. said:
I don't understand what you're saying here: Yes, you can knock the adapter off the plug, leaving the plug in the wall, but the mains voltage bits are recessed into the plug and you can't accidentally touch them: Are you saying the entire plug will break away if you catch it right (wrong)? If so, it's not something I've ever seen, but I'll be more careful in the future :)
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If you look carefully, the UK plug adapter is made from two piecies of plastic. If you pull the PSU down, yes it will disconnect from the adapter and its harmless. However if you give it a knock in any other direction, there is a tendency for the two halves of the UK plug to split - the back half remains attached to the PSU and the front half stays in the socket which *does* leave exposed live pins...
 
Lershac said:
Well if your device develops a loose wire on the inside, say, and teh loose hot wire , say in your hair dryer, while still partially connected to the proper place, brushes against the metal housing... you get a nice shock!

With grounding, housings and such are connected to the "ground" or "earth" wire and this provides an alternate and easier path for the short to follow (not through you) and you dont get shocked, and the breaker trips.

On polarized plugs, they treat the "neutral" as a ground wire (its really connected to the same bus in the breaker box so they are the same) and this provides the same level of protection. This is why one side of most modern electrical appliances with two prongs have one prong slightly larger than the other and it will only plug in one way.
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Yes, but a power adapter such as the one recalled is all plastic, therefore nothing to ground, nothing to get shocked on, no reason for grounding.

Also, not to nit pick, but neutral isn't exactly the same as ground, there is a reason there is a separate ground line after all. They also shouldn't be connected to the same bus in the breaker box, the only place they should be bonded is at the master disconnect immediately after your meter, from that point on electrical code (in the US at least) demands ground and neutral be separate.
 
apple should look at all of their products to make sure everything is running correctly because they can't afford to get another bad publicity hit to their company.:(
 
Baffles said:
They also shouldn't be connected to the same bus in the breaker box, the only place they should be bonded is at the master disconnect immediately after your meter, from that point on electrical code (in the US at least) demands ground and neutral be separate.
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In practice, typically the "master disconnect" is the master breaker in the breaker box, and ground and neutral are tied together in the breaker box.

gfault.gif


My house has a couple of breaker panels (a master and a sub-panel, for code) - and each one has a separate ground wire tied to the neutral bus.
 
The plug's tabs always felt a little cheap to me. The ends of them are too straight, stiff and they never fit very tight in any of the AC sockets. Not surprised they're recalled.
 
Easy interim solutions

It seems like there are two other solutions, other than simply not using the recharger:

1. If it's already plugged in, leave it plugged in. I keep my phone recharged plugged into a spare outlet most of the time. I attach my phone to it every 3 days or so to recharge.

2. If it's not plugged in, plug it in via an extension cord. Then, if it breaks, simply unplug the extension cord. (Easier than flipping a breaker to get the remains out of a socket.)

Jim
 
JimMann said:
It seems like there are two other solutions, other than simply not using the recharger:

1. If it's already plugged in, leave it plugged in. I keep my phone recharged plugged into a spare outlet most of the time. I attach my phone to it every 3 days or so to recharge.

2. If it's not plugged in, plug it in via an extension cord. Then, if it breaks, simply unplug the extension cord. (Easier than flipping a breaker to get the remains out of a socket.)

Jim
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Yes, that's exactly what makes the Iphone worth its $2000+ price tag - convenience and elegance.

:D
 
I have one of the new plugs!

Received my new 3G black iPhone this morning straight from China - has the green dot on the box for the new power plug as does the plug itself. I guess thats what the whole hold up was (waiting since the 3rd for it)...
 
I just requested a replacement adapter. But I have 2 of them, so I clicked on "request an additional replacement" and entered my serial number again, and it said I had already requested a replacement. How do I get a second replacement from their web site, or do I have to go to the Apple store which isn't really all that close to me?
 
Has anybody received their new adapter in the mail?

What service did you send it back? I lost the piece of paper that came in the box.

I'm pretty sure it is FedEx
 
Which service for returning in Canada?

alexup said:
Has anybody received their new adapter in the mail?

What service did you send it back? I lost the piece of paper that came in the box.

I'm pretty sure it is FedEx
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Hi, I'm in Canada, and the letter from Apple says to use DHL, but the box has a UPS phone number on it. Anyone Canadians know which is the right courier to use? Thanks.
 
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