My grandparents taught me order since childhood. Since then, I carefully check everything before leaving the house, including electrical appliances: I always unplug the left chargers from the socket and even turn off the kettle. Suspiciousness? Maybe. The other day I left the house and repeated the usual ritual again, but I wondered, is there any point in this? My mother constantly leaves chargers in sockets and even a phone that is already charged - nothing bad happened. I thoroughly understood this issue and realized that not everything is so simple. Do you do the same thing automatically? Then here's a little breakdown for you: Is it possible to leave the charger in the socket?.
Let's figure out whether it is necessary to remove the charger from the outlet or not
How does a phone charger work?
My grandfather always said that a charger sticking out of a socket consumes electricity . Of course, I didn’t believe it, but time has put everything in its place: there really is a consumption, just like with any electrical devices. The switching power supply has a voltage regulator in which several components operate regardless of the load. This is called “quiescent current” - the minimum power load. In power supplies these figures vary from 1 to 20% of maximum power.
Many accessories do not waste energy at all when they are plugged in.
Much depends on the adapter itself, on its quality and design. That is why we always select for you only the most proven options. Some adapters limit power consumption - no more than 1 W in idle mode. Others go into physical shutdown mode even when the smartphone is charged.
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How much electricity does charging your phone use?
Electricity consumption is absolutely negligible
A charger left in the socket consumes idle from 0.06 mA*h to 0.33 mA*h, which in itself is negligible. Even in the “worst” case, such an adapter will consume a ridiculous amount of electricity in a year (about 0.3 kW), which will not affect your budget in any way. Moreover, this has nothing to do with saving. You can keep several adapters in the outlet at once and also will not notice a difference in the increase in your electricity bill.
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Electricity costs
A good charger from a powerful smartphone can deliver 10-15 kW while the phone is charging. In addition, it belongs to pulsed devices - it will consume electricity until the owner disconnects the power supply from the network. However, there is no need to worry about energy costs.
@Kai Hendry
As long as a smartphone is not connected to the charger, its actual electricity consumption is critically low. It accounts for literally a hundredth of a kilowatt. Considering the total energy consumption in the house - TV, computer, household appliances - this is nothing.
So I hasten to reassure all thrifty users - you won’t have to pay more for light because of a bad habit. Scientists have also asked this question. As a result of a small experiment, they found out that seven chargers continuously in the outlet will generate only about 2 kW in a year. Moreover, fewer chargers were simply not taken into account by the meter.
Can a phone charger catch fire?
I turn off the charger because I'm afraid of a fire. This makes sense when the outlet is faulty. In addition, there is a chance that a sudden voltage surge will occur. Yes, modern high-quality chargers have their own resource, which averages 50,000 hours, which corresponds to 6 years of continuous operation. And if you unplug the charger from the outlet , its resource will only increase. Does this make sense? Definitely yes.
The charger can still fail and even catch fire.
Despite the fact that many users change chargers almost every six months due to the fact that they fray and become loose, there are responsible guys who treat accessories carefully. In general, there is still a practical sense in whether or not you need to remove the charger from the outlet
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Instructions for the charger
The Ministry of Emergency Situations nevertheless warns that electrical appliances must be disconnected from the network . Although fires due to faulty chargers do not happen so often, you should strictly follow the instructions: manufacturers clearly indicate that for safety reasons it should be disconnected from the network. Yes, original chargers are another item that many people neglect.
Cheap adapters and cables are often made from low-quality materials, and manufacturers of such accessories skimp on their creation. This is what can cause a fire: for example, during a thunderstorm, a lightning strike can damage any electrical appliance, including the charger.
Read on topic: 8 habits that are killing your smartphone
Dangerous or not
The issue here is more serious and concerns our security. Let's look at the main problems that a charger left in the outlet can create.
Fire
Most of us would argue that the likelihood of a quality charger catching fire is low. True, small, but not absent. There is a percentage of risk, and no matter how small it is, it will not become easier for you if you fall into it. For what reason can a high-quality charger catch fire (we won’t talk about low-quality chargers at all - it’s a time bomb)? Let's consider several options:
- Fault in the power supply line . In the event of a certain malfunction (for example, the “zero” burns out at a substation), the voltage in the socket can jump to 380 V. For a high-voltage smoothing capacitor, this is certain death - it will immediately explode like a grenade. For the rectifier and power transistor - almost certainly death and fire.
- Lightning discharge . The magnitude of the voltage induced in the power line in this case can reach a thousand volts or more. Here, as they say, no comments.
- Marriage . No matter how famous and responsible the manufacturer is, he is not immune from defects. Moreover, as a rule, it is not he who makes the components. For example, Apple cannot be called a defector, but this is what is left of the iPhone charger.
Of course, they will object to me that a lot of household appliances are constantly plugged in and operating in standby mode. Moreover, there are sockets with a built-in USB port. In them, the 5 V converter operates around the clock, including without load.
True, but one should not, as they say, confuse God's gift with scrambled eggs. All these devices were designed specifically for this operating mode. For example, they have a varistor at the input - an electronic surge protection device. The vast majority of chargers do not have a varistor. Even if there is, the charger was still designed without taking into account round-the-clock operation without load. You can verify this by simply reading the instructions for your gadget.
Children
The voltage at the charger's output is low and cannot harm a child if it somehow gets into the cable connector or USB port. But, firstly, it is easy for him to put a metal object into the connector and short-circuit the output. The result of such actions can be anything. The memory protection will work, the device will quietly “die”, and possibly catch fire - everything will depend on its circuitry and components. Secondly, it is easy for a child to bite through the power cable and get exposed to 5 V voltage. As mentioned above, this will not cause physical harm. But being very frightened because someone “bitten” your tongue won’t help your mental health.
In addition, small children love to put all kinds of objects into sockets. That is why in stores you can find special plugs that cover the sockets of the socket, and you can’t just pull them out of the socket.
The charger is another matter. He pulled it - and here you have holes under life-threatening voltage.
Animals
Of course, your pet won’t use a fork or a nail to get into the socket, but he can chew the cable and short-circuit the charger’s output. Moreover, he will do it at the first opportunity and with pleasure. Most likely, your cat will not set your house on fire, but the result will be failure of the charger, which is also unpleasant.
Charger
And one last point. Is it harmful to leave your phone charger in the socket for charging? I have heard the opinion that an always-on charger exhausts its life faster. Cells, particularly electrolytic capacitors, degrade quickly. I’ll tell you, as an “artist to an artist”: “electrolytes” degrade during storage. It is not for nothing that experienced radio technicians, before installing electrolytic capacitors in a circuit, “drive” them by connecting them to a direct current source of the appropriate voltage.
As for the “loss of emission” by transistors and microcircuits, there is nothing to comment on here at all. Electrons don’t go anywhere, and semiconductor junctions don’t become thinner if the device is of high quality and all components work properly and don’t heat up like stoves. And if you have a low-quality fake, then constantly turning it off won’t help.
Why you shouldn't leave your charger in the socket
While charging in a socket without your phone isn't particularly dangerous, there are simple reasons why it should be removed.
Despite the fact that in general, charging in a socket is not dangerous, it is still worth removing it
- You could trip over it and accidentally damage it, not to mention you could pull out the socket (and it happens);
- There is a risk that pets will chew it - due to such negligence, many accessories of our Telegram chat readers have already been damaged;
- Everything should have its place in the house. You don't store glasses or a laptop on the floor, do you? The charger is the same device as any other.
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What if it gets hot?
Sometimes a charger plugged into a socket gets hot. If the heating is insignificant and occurs when using the device for its intended purpose, then it’s okay. Extreme heat when not in use is a warning sign of a possible charging problem. But the problem may not be in the device, but in the outlet, especially if the wiring is old - it simply cannot cope with the modern load, since it was not designed for it. With such sockets, there is a high risk of damage to both the charger and the gadget, so it is better to use fuses or adapters.
How to choose a phone charger
Choose only high-quality accessories for your smartphone
If you don’t know how to choose a high-quality charger, but are sure that you don’t want to spend money on an original, be sure to take a look at our selection of accessories for smartphones. We select only proven options, which we ourselves have been using for several days. In addition, our colleagues from the Telegram channel “Ali Baba’s Chest” find cool adapters and cables for smartphones, check them and publish them almost every day. Be sure to follow them so you don't miss out on good products.
