USB Type C fire hazard potential?

[BattleToads]

It amazes me how fast modern USB type C cables can charge electronic devices these days. I'm no electrical engineer, but many times when I pick up these devices during or after charging, or touch the fast charger that is plugged into a wall outlet, there is a significant amount of heat. If someone were to charge their phone on top of something flammable, such as a bed or pile of clothes, would there be a fire hazard here? What if there was a break in the insulation of the cable or something similar? Has anyone heard of this happening? I see a lot of people charging their phones and using questionable electrical safety these days, especially with the fast chargers, and it concerns me a bit. 

[whispous]

Well, I've not noticed charging cables getting uncomfortably hot - across a large number of Type C cables.

 

Look up the ignition point of various materials - paper is over 200 degrees celcius for example - and you would hope that any half decent charger or breaker would have a fuse to help prevent such a problem.

 

Damaged cables from many more types than just USB-C pose a similar potential issue, make sure you buy non-cheap/non-fake brands of cables and chargers.

If you notice any cable in any situation being frayed or damaged, never plug it in under any circumstances.

[Kilrah]

It'll be way too hot for you to touch before it becomes a fire risk. 

Basically everything has thermal cutoffs built-in.

[OhioYJ]

9 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Basically everything has thermal cutoffs built-in.

They should. Ive wondered about the quality of some of these knock off chargers on Amazon, or AliExpress, or generic chargers you see sold at convenience stores / gas stations? 

 

Wasn't very long ago there were lists of USB-C cables that didnt meet spec and we're dangerous. (Were missing the 56k resistor) 

 

Has anyone seen a good round up and analysis of phone / tablet chargers? 

[Middcore]

35 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

Wasn't very long ago there were lists of USB-C cables that didnt meet spec and we're dangerous. (Were missing the 56k resistor) 

 

Around the time the first mobile devices with USB-C were hitting market (like Google's Nexus phones circa late 2015) there was an engineer at Google who was testing and documenting which chargers and cables were in spec, although I don't know if the worst case scenario for using ones that weren't included fire. I think it was more like they wouldn't charge as fast as they were supposed to, and the very shittiest ones could potentially damage your devices, but not burn down your house.

[aisle9]

1 hour ago, BattleToads said:

It amazes me how fast modern USB type C cables can charge electronic devices these days. I'm no electrical engineer, but many times when I pick up these devices during or after charging, or touch the fast charger that is plugged into a wall outlet, there is a significant amount of heat. If someone were to charge their phone on top of something flammable, such as a bed or pile of clothes, would there be a fire hazard here? What if there was a break in the insulation of the cable or something similar? Has anyone heard of this happening? I see a lot of people charging their phones and using questionable electrical safety these days, especially with the fast chargers, and it concerns me a bit. 

"Hot to the touch" is not the same as "fire hazard". Anything is flammable if you try hard enough, but the odds of a phone spontaneously combusting on a pile of bedsheets because of an issue with the charger or cable are low. If the lithium battery has a defect, that's a different story.

[ImorallySourcedElectrons]

This is why the good quality cables have a chip inside that has built in detection and protection for such things. But less reputable manufacturers haven't necessarily put in fully-featured chips. NXP is a major seller of these things, I'm sure you can find a datasheet that describes how it works on their website.

[TheGreatestGazoo]

10 hours ago, OhioYJ said:

They should. Ive wondered about the quality of some of these knock off chargers on Amazon, or AliExpress, or generic chargers you see sold at convenience stores / gas stations?

That's why at the very least a person should check to see if they are UL/CSA/ETL certified. That way when the shoddy constructions does cause a fire, the insurance company is less likely to deny a claim. I have seen some recalls for chargers here in Canada before due to not being certified, but it's rare for anybody to even report it. Half of the Amazon warehouses would be empty if all the non-compliant crap was taken out of them.