Charging tip melted, no phone attached.

[AC Question]

So, I was down stairs one morning and was very sick and couldn't smell anything. I turn around to see smoke raising up from my counter. I quickly saw it was my OEM charger micro usb tip melting into my counter top! The thing is it wasn't attached to anything. Not charging a phone or anything, just plugged into a USB charger outlet. I'm concerned that it wasn't the fault of the charger, but of the usb wall outlet. Cany anyone tell me was it the fault of the outlet or usb cable?

 

[nahoku]

If the cable was charred at the end that connects to the phone, then it's most probably just the cable itself that shorted. However, any short circuit anywhere along the charging path, including the cable and charging adapter, can damage anything in that path. You can attempt to use the charging adapter again with another cable, but I advise you don't. If something is wrong with the charging adapter... something you might not readily see... it may damage whatever is plugged in at the end of the cable... like your phone.

I'm unclear what the cable was plugged into. When you state "USB charger outlet", I can't tell if you mean the charging adapter that came with the phone, or an outlet in your house that's set up for USB cables. That said, if it's the charging adapter that came with the phone, then it might be better to buy a new charging set up (cable and adapter), and destroy the old stuff, so they don't ever get used again. If it's a built-in USB outlet in your house, I would have someone check it out to make sure it's ok.

As an aside, you should never leave any charging/power adapter plugged in while it's not being used. Consider yourself lucky no fires got started.

 

[Izabella Lambert]

I was actually sleeping at around 4:15a.m when it happened, I had moved my leg and something burnt me so I rubbed my leg to see if anything was on it then put it back down just to be burnt again. So this time I got up and looked to see what it was, my charger was melted and almost catching my bed on fire, there are burn holes in my sheet and the charger was only plugged into the USB port which was plugged into the wall. The entire end of my charger is melted. I have had tons of chargers, but this is the first time I've ever had a charger melt. :'(

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! That sounds terrifying -- I'm glad you didn't get seriously hurt! Where did you get this charger? This is always a potential risk, primarily with cheap 3rd party chargers. If the charger was from a well known company, I would contact their support and show them pictures of the melted charger.

 

[methodman89]

I was actually sleeping at around 4:15a.m when it happened, I had moved my leg and something burnt me so I rubbed my leg to see if anything was on it then put it back down just to be burnt again. So this time I got up and looked to see what it was, my charger was melted and almost catching my bed on fire, there are burn holes in my sheet and the charger was only plugged into the USB port which was plugged into the wall. The entire end of my charger is melted. I have had tons of chargers, but this is the first time I've ever had a charger melt. :'(

Do you have a pic? Was the brick hot, or just the wire?
How did this 6 year old thread end up being your first post?

 

[Mooncatt]

Welcome to Android Central! That sounds terrifying -- I'm glad you didn't get seriously hurt! Where did you get this charger? This is always a potential risk, primarily with cheap 3rd party chargers. If the charger was from a well known company, I would contact their support and show them pictures of the melted charger.

I think in this case, Izabella is referring to the USB cable that melted, not the charging block. I've had similar happen to me, but that was after being physically damaged and not the fault of the cable itself.

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