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Power bank blowing fuses?

Lisa Miles
Hi all


I have a question I hope some of you might know the answer to.


We've recently moved over from a builders electricity supply to a domestic supply on our new build house in France. The electrics have all been checked out and signed off by the Consuel.


I have a two port USB powerbank manufactured by a well known battery manufacturer (?) and I was trying to charge it up while I was there using a native two pin USB charger plug. It basically fried the charger plug but didn't trip the fuse on the main board... 


I then plugged it in to a four socket extension lead (two pin plug to three pin sockets) using a three pin charger plug I have. It blew the extension lead but again didn't trip the fuse on the main board. 


At first I thought it must be a fault with the powerbank but  when I got back to the UK, I plugged it into my usual charger and it charged up as normal... ??


What do you think the problem could be? 

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    Then went out again when I plugged in the powerbank to charge it as the extension lead broke.

     




    Given no MCB or RCD tripped, then either the failure is mechanical like the wire in the plug broke (and coincided with handling to plug in) or the USB supply has blown the 13A fuse in the UK lead - which would imply a gross overload or a short somewhere.

    Was any additional load connected to the power bank (which for this purpose is just a battery in a box) when you connected it to the charger (which is just a mains to 5V power supply) ?

    And if so, which of this kit actually picks up an earth connection, if any ? (I'm rather hoping at the very least, that the UK socket strip with the French plug on it has a connection to the earth of the French plug. )


    Kit equipped with the 2 pin Europlug is double insulated and needs no earth. In the UK such items can achieve the same end by having a plastic earth pin, especially for low wattage supplies and chargers, or it may be a normal plug on a 2 core flex.

    Europlugs have skinny pins compared to the full current earthed varient, and the pins are angled inwards and made a bit springy to make sure they connect in the sockets, for which they would otherwise be a rattling fit.

    At a push a Europlug will fit a 13A socket if you use a biro or similar to lift the earth shutters. However, this is not really recommended as this is not the intended use of either the plugs or the sockets, and then leaves you with a thin flex protected only by a 32A fuse or breaker ( or higher in the kitchen cooker sockets) 


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  • 0

    Then went out again when I plugged in the powerbank to charge it as the extension lead broke.

     




    Given no MCB or RCD tripped, then either the failure is mechanical like the wire in the plug broke (and coincided with handling to plug in) or the USB supply has blown the 13A fuse in the UK lead - which would imply a gross overload or a short somewhere.

    Was any additional load connected to the power bank (which for this purpose is just a battery in a box) when you connected it to the charger (which is just a mains to 5V power supply) ?

    And if so, which of this kit actually picks up an earth connection, if any ? (I'm rather hoping at the very least, that the UK socket strip with the French plug on it has a connection to the earth of the French plug. )


    Kit equipped with the 2 pin Europlug is double insulated and needs no earth. In the UK such items can achieve the same end by having a plastic earth pin, especially for low wattage supplies and chargers, or it may be a normal plug on a 2 core flex.

    Europlugs have skinny pins compared to the full current earthed varient, and the pins are angled inwards and made a bit springy to make sure they connect in the sockets, for which they would otherwise be a rattling fit.

    At a push a Europlug will fit a 13A socket if you use a biro or similar to lift the earth shutters. However, this is not really recommended as this is not the intended use of either the plugs or the sockets, and then leaves you with a thin flex protected only by a 32A fuse or breaker ( or higher in the kitchen cooker sockets) 


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