HTC EVO 4G microUSB cable could damage your computer, burn your house down
You know that microUSB cable that was neatly tucked away inside the box that originally held your HTC EVO 4G? Well, you might want to unplug it, throw it in the trash, take the bag to the curb, wait for it to get picked up, follow the garbage truck, and make sure you see it in the dump.
According to G&E reader StacyD, the computer engineer who you may remember from last month's speaker light mod, the cable was engineered improperly using a cheap panel mount/board mount hybrid connector instead of a proper microUSB cable mount-style connector. I'll let StacyD explain this in technical terms below but the bottom line seems to be this: the cable is a fire hazard and you shouldn't use it.
That's StacyD's boyfriend's cable you're looking at above but hers met the same fate a few weeks ago and burned her fingers/hand.
What kind of wild and crazy thing were they doing with the cable when it started melting? Oh, just using it like everyone else does.
What she did with her cable:
- Plugged the USB end into her computer at work
- Grabbed the microUSB end so she could plug it into her EVO
- Touched metal shield, which was hot enough to burn her finger
- Immediately removed the cable
She then opened the cable with an Xacto knife. The wires and wire connections were fine, but the connector shield (metal part that plugs into EVO) had slipped off the internal plastic base because the rubber was too flexible. She told me in an email that this means "the shield had gotten loose (not loose enough to fall off or anything, just loose on the inside of the connector). This gave it enough wiggle room that it made contact with the 5V power pin as well as the GND pin, as they are further out that the data pins on a microUSB connector.
What he did with his cable:
- Plugged the USB end into his Lenov0 W510 at home
One night last week after the couple ate dinner, they smelled burning rubber and discovered that the cable, still plugged in, "was bubbling and he had a big warning message on his laptop screen." They removed the calbe and shut down the computer.
StacyD tested the cable and found that it "had shorted at the pins due to the shield," just like hers did a few weeks before. The digitial multimeter readings taken with a Fluke DMM were as follows:
- USB shield to GND: 0.1 ohm
- microUSB shield to GND: 0.1 ohm
- 5V power line to GND: ~27 ohm
The ~27 ohm reading makes sense, she says, because "sometimes companies put limiting resistors in the plug (Motorola does this with the Droid and Apple does this to help identify 'authentic' products)."
Here's how/why this happens, in StacyD's own words (boldface added for emphasis by me):
What happens is that since the connector shield/metal outside part is not secured beyond two small points, any movement of this shield can cause a temporary dislodging and have the GROUNDED shield touch the 5V power line on the USB cable. Most modern laptops and desktop computers put out between 500-1000ma of current at 4.5-5.5V which means that you could be having as much as 5.5Watts burning through those cable lines and melting the crap out of some rubber as in this case.
As you can probably imagine, a lot of very bad things could happen when you've got up to 5.5 watts just quietly burning through cable. In addition to burning you or someone else, it could damage whatever it's plugged into—StacyD cites the possibility of burning out your computer's USB receiving chip or the power diode for the USB—and of course cause a fire. I don't know about you, but the area surrounding my computer is pretty flammable!
Could this have been prevented? Absolutely. All HTC had to do was use a "larger isolated and secured connector" or "hard ABS plastic instead of flexible rubber to secure a metal part."
The good news, if you want to look on the bright side, is that it's just a standard microUSB cable. The EVO doesn't use some sort of special proprietary connector, so finding a replacement cable that won't burn down your house is easy and will only cost you a few bucks.
If you don't know where to look, there's a fine selection at Amazon
, in the bargain bin at your local electronics shop, and probably in the back of your desk drawer.
Very cool post.
Thanks! Could be a lifesaver…literally.
I’ve had an Evo since March 2011 and have never experienced this issue.
In fact, I regard the stock Evo charger/USB cable as one of the best. I’ve had a few retractable ebay microusb versions and also tried the Samsung Galaxy S’s cable and nothing seems to charge as quickly or to superior capacity than this cable.
I’m not trying to argue that this research isn’t unfounded, but overheating hasn’t been a problem for me personally. I can’t help but wonder to what extent the scientific method was applied to this point…one thing to consider is that there’s always individually faulty cables. We’ve also seen a few iterations of the Evo’s HW, so perhaps this is a specific series?
Food for thought.
Edit: Mar 2010*
good thing i forgot my evo box and all its things on the top of my car on June 4th 2010
All you missed out on was a manual and a faulty charger. Plus on the bright side the box is probably biodegraded by now.
This screams of products liability…
Do you know many cookies on this site alone ask for permission just to post a reply? It makes me totally sick that these scum sucking dirtbag scavengers suck every bit of personal info just to interact not only here – but all of the stinkin’ highway!
Sorry that’s my 2¢
And this is HTC-wide since the microUSB is the industry standard and sold as OEM accessories too! I smell mucho buckos – $$$ – in addition to that fugly smell of burnt rubber!
I’m soryy to hear of the burns you suffered, that has got to be UNNECESSARY torturous pain
I am very hesitant to recommend the cheap USB cables from Amazon. I grabbed one for 3bucks and I literally need to wrap a rubber band around the cord and phone for it to charge.
At first I thought I had a bad port on my phone, as this is a recognized problem. However I used an old Black Berry branded cable with no issues..the thing stuck like glue.
P.S. Currently I’m charging w/ the HTC cable which I need to pull/weigh down in order for the phone to charge…something to do with the depth of the pins on the male end of the usb. Quite the headache.
Edit: the male end on the micro-usb side into the EVO.
So, is this the only incident that’s been reported? Any statistics or just more anecdotal information? I’m not doubting the original reportee’s story, but it seems to skirt the edge of libel to post that the cable can burn your house down based on one incident.
I only used the included cable once because it takes way too much work to get it to function. Stupid thing rarely charges my EVO… It works for a bit, but it stops the second you move the phone or the cord the slightest bit. I initially thought the USB port was faulty, but I ordered a bunch of cables in various lengths from Monoprice (one for the car, one to keep with my laptop, etc.) and haven’t had a problem since.
Totally agree! My stock cable failed way to quickly, hence the move to my work Black Berry cable.
Thanks for the lead on the cables from Mono.
I’ve had mine since launch and no problems with the charger. And like Josh, I feel that the EVO stock charger is one of the best I’ve ever had. In fact, after buying numerous cheap secondary chargers/micro USB’s on Amazon that turned out to be crap, I found another HTC stock charger and bought it to use at work.
So far this seems to be a very unfortunate fluke, as well as a result of a DAMAGED USB cable: “any movement of this shield can cause a temporary dislodging” or in other words: rough handling/accidental breaking of the micro end can lead to a broken shield which (like any electrical cable) can cause melting.
I’m sticking with it until there’s more evidence of expected failure.
This us quite posssibly the most ridiculous post I’ve ever seen might as well just read about spottings of Bigfoot while I’m at it
Yeah, my stock cable sucks now. I first though it was a port issue, but other cables plugging into the phone work just fine. (non tech person btw)Is that the male end and two prongs that “pop” up to secure to the port are flat now. The slightest movement makes my phone not charge or be recognized by my PC when I move files across.
*knock on wood
What happen to me even more dangerous then burning usb cable here what happen my best friend came to visit me with he’s iphone4 so I took out my Evo and he loved it then he proposed that we exchange phones for the day as we go golf together so he give me he’s iphone4 and kept an playing with my HTC Evo next my Evo did not like the guy so the get over heated and exploded almost killing the guy now I’m stock with the stupid iphone4 and my Evo an trial. Now let me tell you about big foot or about my Evo getting drunk from drinking my wine maybe later ciao
1. what are the statistical probabilities that we Stacy’s cable and he boyfriend’s cable BOTH suddenly burning up within the same two weeks and yet we have heard not one other mention of this spontaneous combustion problem from the millions of other HTC EVO, Incredible, etc. owners?
2. i wonder if they modded their computers/devices/power supply in some way which caused the problem?
3. it looks like the microUSB end is the one that “burned” and not the regular USB end. so it looks like it would damage EVO more than the computer.
What?
I thought the same thing. I charge my phone daily at my office through my computer and have never noticed either end of the microUSB cable anywhere near hot enough to melt it. And, as you said, there are millions of users with these exact cables yet there has never been any mention of this issue aside from this girl who is spreading it around the Internet like it has any bearing. I googled “htc microUSB cable melt” and the only two relevant results were the same girl ranting on XDA and on her own blog!
So until I hear ANYBODY else mention they’ve had this problem I’m going to go ahead and continue to use my stock cable.
Seems like if the cable works then it works. For all of you who are saying that it’s great, it’s because the connection is not broken – yet. I cannot see purchasing a cheap cable from Amazon as a replacement because it is likely to have the same defect. I doubt that HTC makes their own cable. They buy it from an Asian supplier like everyone else. Unfortunately, you cannot see if a cable is well made from the out side, only if you take it apart.
This is some of the most slandering BS I have ever read. Without doing a Google search, I want everyone to think off the top of their head, beside this article, has anyone else heard in the news about this particular cable performing like this? Didn’t think so. The news media would have been all over this; especially Apple. So what we have here is an isolated incident where, not one, but TWO, HTC cables melted to the point of almost catching fire when plugged into a computer. What are the odds that TWO defective cables were purchased in the same household? Very little. The only common factor between these two incidents, is that they were BOTH plugged into the SAME COMPUTER! There should have been more research directed at THEIR computer before spewing this nonsense onto the internet. I agree with a previous comment regarding BigFoot. This article should have been about Steve Jobs being an Extraterrestrial.
BINGO!!! Should have read this before posting my own comment. Got it right on the money.
Awesome
Here’s some electrical engineering 101 for you guys… 1) 5.5 Watts is not a lot of power, and it definitely isn’t enough to start a fire that will burn your house down. 2) Any time a power source is shorted to ground, it’s going to try to draw a lot more than 1000mA. Since a standard USB port is only rated to push out 1000mA at most, it would either damage the internal circuitry or software in your OS would disable the port before any damage was done. In both scenarios, current would stop flowing out of the port and through the cable.
I’m not saying that it’s IMPOSSIBLE, but, as others have said, something’s fishy with this story. The phones were probably rooted with an SBC kernel (the dangers of which have been noted on this blog before) and the housing on the cable melted from the battery getting too hot, and not from the shield getting shorted to the +5VDC pin… I’m blaming it on user error until we get more info (proof) on this.
duh…winning :)
In Chrome, I hit reply, which reloads the entire page with a text box at the bottom. Then, I hit reply AGAIN to actually reply to someone’s post.
No, these cables WERE NOT plugged into the same computer. My Boyfriend had it plugged into his Lenovo Thinkpad W510 and mine was plugged into my Dell Workstation at my job, two separate instances.
BTW: went to a sprint store and they said that people have returned these cables as faulty multiple times.
Like I said in the article, if this was the first time… I would give this up as a simple faulty cable in a million scenario. However the fact that his cable was simply laying on his desk plugged into the laptop without anything else plugged into it and he had the same thing happen warranted further investigation.
I am not saying that it will happen to everyone, but the shield is not well secured when you consider that the plug is made of a rubber with no cable securing other than some translucent polymorph-looking plastic for the wire connections. The wire connections are VERY well secured, the shield is not.
Just came back from court and my Evo have been charged with 2 felony the judge found my Evo guilty
For being hot beautiful and evil the second charge for DUI. I’m sad because I can not eat my Cannelloni and drink wine with my Evo I tried my best to get along with the iphone4 but not working so I’m selling the iphone4 an eBay and I’m planning to use the money to bail out my Evo
Actually, if you did your math….. the power at the contact point will cause a spark. In fact, if you are adventurous get out a couple of pins and plug them into a controlled PSU (like the variable output ones you might have in your lab) and touch them. Lets see if you do not see a spark between the gold plated steel and the steel of a casing. ;)
NO PHONES WERE PLUGGED INTO THE CABLES WHEN THESE INSTANCES HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My BF did have papers that were highly browned which were sitting under the cable which is why the burning aspect was brought up.
We ate dinner, smelled burnt rubber and tracked it down.
For those who deny that I burnt my finger:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nZZUkUIZ8mo/TbBTzpJwspI/AAAAAAAAAGA/fpvBDdCHvIo/s1600/Copy+of+IMG_20110421_104411.jpg
Imagine how you hold your cable between your thumb and forefinger with h thumb on top.
Dear G&E, maybe with all the hype on this posting, a poll is in order? I know you always bring current and interesting info’s on the world of the joy that is the EVO, and this article actually is relevant to HTC as a whole, as well as it being about a cable ( as in, not the phone , and not the Phone itself. I know this was posted in good faith to keep us EVO users in the loop, but I have to agree that the article sites faulty manufacturing procedures and practices, and that is a large statement to post without greater fact than the 2 cited (sprint reps saying they had many returns, and the internal construction stated by the victim [no internal aids offered])
Keep in mind that HTC makes dozens of phones, and I have seen this Exact charging set up with other devices as well (HTC and NON HTC) and have not heard a single peep about issues on any other sites. This is something Engadget would be all over, were it widely known.
I am not saying this is untrue, as it may be just as described and the rest of the population of owners have just been lucky; i am just saying that for an article on a site that has grown to be a great resource for all things EVO, a certain amount of publishing responsibilities falls on you.
Just my opinion.
-owned my EVO on launch day, and have charged it every day.
If no phones were plugged in DURING THESE INSTANCES, then what stoke of genius would possess you to grasp a smoldering wad of molten rubber sitting on charring paperwork between your thumb and forefinger? Caution, a cup of hot McDonald’s coffee contains, wait for it, HOT COFFEE!.
Is it me or am I the only one with a proprietary micro usb connector on my HTC EVO? this article states that there is a standard micro usb on the EVO, what do they mean? 4 pin, 5 pin, mine is definitley a connector I see on very few phones like the more recent blackberries,
Which is a flatter connector, are these the new standard? Someone help me understand.
Thanks.
wow. i threw that piece of crap away the same week i bought my EVO… it wasn’t charging my phone half the time, and eventually just stopped working alltogether. turns out the metal housing was warped.
Austin is a great city to own an EVO for 2 reasons:
– Wi-Max
– Discount Electronics.
got an 8 foot micro usb cable for 10 bucks. had it for a year. still charges like a CHAMP.
where did you get your engineering degree?
THE FIRST TIME IT HAPPENED WITH MY CABLE I WAS AT MY DESK AND PLUGGED IN MY HTC CABLE, WENT TO GRAB THE END TO CHARGE MY PHONE AND BURNT MY HAND. THE CABLE HAD NOT BEEN PLUGGED IN LONG ENOUGH TO BURN ANYTHING.
My BF had left his cable attached to his computer without his phone attached while we ate dinner. His cable is the one pictured. I pitched mine thinking it was a ‘one-in-a-million’ scenario after taking it apart. At first, I figured it was a remote possibility until my boyfriend had the same thing happen. I have done a lot of test engineering, so its my job sometimes to find where things potentially fail, another reason why the average person might just think it broke and exchange for a new one. I mean, how many people have more than one Evo in the household?
The article says they were using the cable to connect their EVO to their computer:
“What kind of wild and crazy thing were they doing with the cable when it started melting? Oh, just using it to connect their EVOs to their computers”
but in the comments she says that the cable was plugged into the computer, but no device was plugged in to the microusb end:
just using it to connect their EVOs to their computers:
“However the fact that his cable was simply laying on his desk plugged into the laptop without anything else plugged into it”
This is really sloppy.
The flatter connector is the micro usb cable, which is pretty much standard on all smartphones in the last 2-3 years.
I’ve had my Evo since launch and and I use the cable pretty regularly to hook it up to my PC and I’ve never had an issue. I really feel like if the cable was faulty, with all the G&E, ppcgeeks and XDA reading I do, I would have heard of this issue by now.
So, the cable had not been plugged in long enough to burn anything, but it did burn your fingers? Zero to 300 degrees in no seconds flat! Love how organic this story is, a scenario for every exchange.
StacyD-best known for hot-wiring lights directly into the battery and power source on the back of her phone so she can look inside her purse gets burned when something mysteriously shorts. Must be HTC, lets just settle and give her her 20 million. Ha.
Both of my evo home chargers shorted out on the ends. Mine first then the wife…..They are very cheap and HTC should give a warranty credit.!!!
My thoughts exactly, user error was most likely the cause.
I use my HTC cable to charge at work, cable I bought at sprint store to charge from my laptop, and the old charge cord that came with my Sanyo Katana X to charge on my nightstand. Never had any meltdown problems, just a broken cable or two from dropping the phone while charging.
Don’t knock the amazon cables just because you don’t know which ones to buy! These cables have the blackberry symbol on them and they are excellent, bought two (one for wife, one for my computer). What quality over HTC’s included cable
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UC9NOQ/ref=ox_ya_os_product
no affilation, just a consumer…
I dare you to try this experiment. Take a USB plug and cut off the Non-standard USB end exposing the wires. Now plug in the USB portion to a computer or external PSU and connect the Red wire to the Black or White (can be either). Tell me how long it takes for the wires to get hot enough to burn your hand, but not hot enough to burn the plastic coating. Takes less than 5 seconds.
How long does it take for you to plug in the USB end to the computer and then plug in your Evo? About 5 seconds if moving casually and you have to get up to 500-600 degrees to melt a lot of rubber which is why my cable did not boil like his. I felt mine get hot, knew something was wrong, and removed it. Please be a sane person.
The USB cable pictured was used with my boyfriend’s Evo using the EViO ROM and stock kernel. No SBC kernel stuff.
I am not suing anyone as it was relatively no harm done and I lost a free cable that came with my phone. This is a cautionary warning to others and I am willing to bet that a lot of people haven’t brought it up because most people just assume its junk and do not care or do not leave the cable plugged in.
READINGS USING A FLUKE DIGITAL MULTIMETER:
GND to SHIELD: 0.1 ohms
SHIELD TO 5V Line: 27.1 ohms
Do you have an engineering degree from 4 year university? You’ve identified yourself as a “computer engineer.”
I do like my wires, but i dont like to have stuff(anything other than appliances) plugged in all night via wires/cables. I especially dont like having this phone plugged into anything. I will charge a battery and simply swap it out BB style. I dont even bother to shut it down, because it does not affect anything except shut down running apps and internet pages-so what? I cant remember the last time i plugged my evo up to the computer. I will just email/text it either way and back it up. When i did hook it up to the computer, i would be done with whatever in a matter of minutes and then unplug when i was done on the computer. Then again i have been using the WD cable/usb since i found out it fits. The one that comes with the Evo is in a drawer somewhere. I dont care for it anyway because its too short.
I’m sorry, but this is nothing more than user error.
The cable was either damaged by use, defective, or there is a power issue at her house.
If it is a design flaw we would be seeing much more of these and we wouldn’t have two in the same residence within such a short amount of time. This really rules out cable defect.
I have 6 of these plugged in 24/7, and have had no issues.
Any of these cheap, made in China chargers/power adapters that are plugged in 24/7 should be placed in an area that is not prone to fire.
Plan on them overheating/catching fire and place them accordingly. This actually holds true of ANY electric device that is left plugged in 24/7. Just ask a firefighter how many preventable house fires he/she’s seen due to electric device left plugged in unattended.
This exact issue has happened with a few ipads, iphones, blackberries, and samsung phones. All cases pointed to user error, power issues, or a defective cable.
Yes, I do have my Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from one of the top universities in the USA. I have also done more than 2 years in the work force of product design and test where it is my job to find out why something fails. It is not as if this is coming out of nowhere and it is something that I thought a while about before posting because of ramifications from HTC or other mobile carriers. This seems like a product liability and something that the consumer has a right to know.
I think what we should take away from this is that evidently some cables are bad. A bad cable can draw power and heat up. Pay attention like you should to any other cable.
Personally I’ve never had any issues with my 2 htc cables, I have with a seido charger cable and 2 amazon cheapass data cables that do warm up and fail… and by warm up, I mean it reached about 80 degrees.
I think the level of “throw them out” is over the top though. Just keep a watch on them and don’t put them on paper. Same with any plug you plug in and unplug over and over again (crap is gonna fail)
Sorry for the confusion. I didn’t know that the EVOs weren’t actually connected when all of this happened when I originally wrote the article. Hers was about to be connected when she felt the heat, and his wasn’t nearby (it wasn’t about to be plugged in, anyway).
I’ve just edited it with some additional information I got from StacyD via email.
What?
I think what learned from this article is that the Evo so good that not only iPhones get jealous from the Evo but even computers and laptops getting jealous from the Evo I mean look what your computer tried to do to your Evo you and your home for loving the Evo more then anything else its ok I get used to that see when I’m walking in street holding my Evo people start to have accidents its not the Evo fault god creates beauty to make chaos ask me I know it.
so does anyone think that this could happen to “ANY ” item plugged into a desktop computer??????? I think the black plastic in one of my USB ports broke off….didnt know till none of my usb cords would work…. took out that black plastic….& know I can plug anything in & will work….now I read this…a little worried..
My bberry cable is starting to fail now on my EVO. Not sure why its just really loose
I learned that your (.) key seems to be broken.
yes. The issue is significantly more likely to be in a cable than in a USB port as full-sized USB is generally made pretty well (the burns shown above were on the small side where everything’s squished together)
When I plugged my Evo into my cpu, this happened to me:
I have the AmazonBasic cable which is the second cable in the link that was posted. I thought it was going to be cheap, but it actually feels rather substantial and well built. I would recommend.
I’ve read it once, then twice, I read it a third time. And I can’t seem to understand how the shield part is the one that caused the short. I’m not saying you’re lying, but I need a little more. Inside the metal connector there is a plastic piece that separates all the pins. That piece of plastic is actually one molded piece that fits over the electrical pin connections, where the wires and pins are soldered; hence the bulky head. Then the metal shield, the one you claim came loose, is just put over top as a protector and helps make a good connection on the phone with the little tabs. Also that same shield is isolated. I could see it shorting, in the sense that ground and hot(batt +) are on opposite ends of the pins. (on a separate note, I’ve had various micro-usb plugs stop working on me mostly from abuse, excessive force, etc. When I do open them I notice the wire connections to the pins are broken. I have yet to have a problem with the stock HTC usb cable. Had it for a year.) Now, where exactly did you get your ohm readings from? From the standard usb or micro? Was the cable plugged in to the phone or the computer? I just want to make sure we are on the same page.
I bet you didnt think you would get that much controvercy over this LMAO…
I got the readings from multiple places on the USB male end and exposed shield on the burnt end. The 27ohm impedance indicates a short.
The shield shorted the power and GND connactions that is where the issue lies.
I can guarantee the HTC cable isnt well made or durable, as it started shorting out not long after I got the phone and then stopped being a reliable connection. It finally met its end when the connector stripped itself recently.
I started using a cable someone gave me from a Samsung. Solid, well built.
My original microUSB cable stopped charging properly, so I bought this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003D83SDM
It came in what appeared to be authentic HTC packaging, I liked it so much that I bought 2 more.
(Note: I do not work for amazon.com or the third-party company that ships the cable).
Wow, that cable is crazy expensive, go with Monoprice instead:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=htc+evo&x=0&y=0
Two bad cables in the same household? Sounds like you got a gremlin problem.
How apalling that someone qualified tries to hip us to useful information and a bunch of mooks take her to task for it, or goof on the whole thing. Grow up.
My EVO didn’t charge properly the first week I had it. And I would constantly, randomly hear the USB-connect noise from my computer when the phone was plugged in. So I went back to Best Buy and my phone person told me I was the 3rd person that day to have a defective cable, opened a fresh EVO and gave me that cable.
It had the exact same problem. So I went back in a week later and at my Best Buy (in Westwood, CA) they’d already made the decision to give anyone who came in with the this issue (and there were evidently a lot of us) a generic Micro USB cable.
They explained to me they wanted to “limit their liability” until Sprint admitted/addressed the problem, without having to stop selling their best selling Android phone.
I purchased 2 6′ cables, off ebay, both for $12 including shipping, and have been using them since September 2010 when I got them without problems.
my concern would be that if the cable that came with my high end phone isn’t well made and is a potential hazard, then would one i bought on amazon for $1.36 really be any better?
Like I said, it came in HTC packaging so I think it’s an “official” cable. The last generic cable I got failed after 2 weeks (I think it was a Fosmon), so I tossed it out.
Funny, my little brother burned my cable because he thought it would be “fun.”
I’m kinda glad he did it now, got a 6 foot cable, monoprice.com, I believe for $2. And it won’t burn down my house either…
In your experience, both a generic cable and the “official” HTC cable stopped working, so what makes one better than the other, other than price? FWIW, the Monoprice cables have gold-plated connectors and ferrite beads at a much cheaper price, seems like good value to me. :-)
The USB interface specs are designed precisely to avoid this sort of thing, so far as I’m aware; it’s not supposed to be *possible* to get enough current out of one to cause this to happen.
I kind of figured they had went cheap considering the same day I got my Evo I accidentally stepped on the charger pulling it from the phone and rendering the charger useless because it would only work after that if I pushed on it sideways. =/
I had it happen too but with the HTC cable that came with my Tilt 2. The cable was always loose from day one. I didn’t really think much about it and replaced it with a different brand charger which I got for free from work (most of the work phones were also HTC). Never had another problem with the cable coming loose or burning up.
And what is with all the “girl” crap? Because she is female she shouldn’t be writing about anything technical?
Maybe you should use the money for a joke book.
I’m sure you are laughing your ass off, but the rest of a thinking “WTF is he talking about?”.
I learned that he is most likely 12 years old.
My car/wall charger that I got from Sprint for the Evo did the same thing. My fiance and I both have the Evo and she unplugged hers when it was laying on the bed and just walked away. Later in the day we came back and the part that plugs into the phone had melted down and burnt a hole through the sheet. She did leave a pillow on top of it, so I just figured it was from being stuck in between two surfaces w/o any way to cool down. I took it back to Sprint and they replaced it w/ no problem, swearing that they had never seen it happen before.
This may be helpful. Th eproblem may be the EVO itself. I have had a problem with the usb jack, and apparently so have alot of others. When the Sprint store tech took mine apart, I was able to olook at it. The isb receptacle had separated from the pc board completely. I am an Electrical Engineer(with more experience than I care to admit) and having seen the pc board, I believe that that usb receptacle was improperly soldered to the board. The Sprint tech said he had to agree. During the time that the usb connection was intermittent, before complete failure, the proper current return path for the usb may well have been intermittent, forcing too much current through the signal wires. This could easily cause the melt down problem I only bring this up, because, those that suffered cable issues may well have a bad phone jack which can still trigger the issue with a new cable. I would reccomend that they have a tech check out their EVO. Sprint is replacing my phone under warranty as they should anyone with a usb jack that comes loose early in the life of a phone.
I purchased my Evo in December, and my cable is CE marked and UL listed. Seems like standards and safety were applied to the parts to me. So, I’m guessing she was doing something out of the ordinary to cause the burn. This is strengthened, as we’re approaching a year on the release of the Evo, and she’s the only published report (that I’m aware of) where this has happened.
I have notice that my charger feels really warm (the USB port that goes into the wall)after the charge is complete. I am not sure why, but I will be monitoring it for a few days and figure out why. It could be the sockets in my aparment cause the heat up; who knows. I have never had a situation when I used my phone as a modem or to just charge it through my computer there being ant over heating. Only when charging it through the wall outlet the USB plug gets pretty hot. Any guesses, anyone?
Yes: manufacturers are cheap. :-)
The amount of heat that’s going to be given off by a power supply depends on how close to its rating you’re running it; engineers call this “Derating”: you need to supply 2.5W? You build for 3 or 3.5.
*Expensive* supplies, like the stock HTC TC-U250? Well designed. Cheaper ones? Not so much…
I should think that an intermittent would by nature *reduce* the current flowing, on average, no? I suppose if there was a fairly large capacitance inside the phone there might be such a problem, but I don’t expect one.
At that point, the only think I would expect could cause burning or overheating at the point of a bad solder joint would be arcing, and the voltage here is 2 or 3 orders of magnitude too low to cause a good arc, no?
HEY!! CHICKEN LITTLE.. Please stop the BSing.. we got 3 Sprint EVO 4G Phones in my home and We had them since the Day they went on sale and not worries.. BURN down my house Ha ha ha .. Next thing you know that you are going to be telling me that that the SKY is falling and FOX is telling the truth on there news show!!!!!!