[Animats]

Not seeing UL or CSA approval numbers on those.

That's important for switching power supplies, especially small ones. A switching power supply is always a few milliseconds from being a short circuit across the input. And FETs fail in the ON state. That's why those things are inherently fire risks and need protection circuitry. Really tiny ones make it worse; if they fail, there's not much space to dissipate heat before something blows and opens the circuit.

[scottlamb]

Ugh. I ordered the four-port one they mentioned without considering it might not have UL approval. I'll be looking for the symbol when it comes now. Thanks for bringing it up.

If the thing works as advertised and is safe, it's amazingly useful. It should quickly charge absolutely every device I have except my work 2015 MacBook Pro (that I'll likely replace soon), and up to for of them at once. (Eg laptop, phone, battery pack, and wireless headphones simultaneously.) Handle US or EU input. And be very compact.

[mherdeg]

Gosh that's odd; Ravpower has a blog post about UL certification's importance ( https://blog.ravpower.com/2018/04/usb-charger-safety-certifi... ) but you're right, their RP-PC104 45W GaN USB-C wall charger and its manual don't list UL certification information ( https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0257/5656/5579/files/RP-PC... , https://www.ravpower.com/products/rp-pc104-45w-pd-wall-charg... ).

[tpowell]

I’ve had the slim 45W RavPower one since June and it’s great. It’s almost startling how small it is. I much prefer it in the bag for coffee shop trips, etc. I use it with my 15” MBP and I haven’t seen any power issues with plenty of Chrome tabs and InDesign/Photoshop running. I usually have the extension cord on the 87W one at home—it’s so nice not to have to lug that whole assembly or look for the smaller attachment.

[djsumdog]

I mean, when it works it will work. When it fails ... you'll be depending on the protection circuitry in your laptop. If it goes catastrophic/worst-case, your laptop might be exposed to mains power.

[rstuart4133]

Yes, that is the worst case. Almost. But object effected can be something more disconcerting:

https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/pa5mng/a-16-year-old-has-...

One time it happened in Australia, who investigated the cause thoroughly:

> We know absolutely that the charger itself failed, and that it arced between the 240 volt input and the five volt output. So that's definitive," said Lynelle Collins of NSW Fair Trading. "We've got photos, we've got proof that's been dismantled, so we know that the charger failed.

[jamesrcole]

For anyone else not familiar with UL or CSA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UL_(safety_organization)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSA_Group

[scottlamb]

My Anker PowerPort Atom PD 4 arrived today. It doesn't have a UL logo, but it does have CE and TUV ones. Are those equally rigorous? There are some other logos I don't recognize; picture:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CSYZMSLBHZqC8XaS6

I'm on the fence about keeping this thing. Besides the safety question, it's a little disappointing that charging a USB-C phone will drop a USB-C laptop's power straight from 100W to 50W. That's quite a step; I wish it could do something like 85W + 15W. When you use all four ports, the laptop only gets 38W, even if the others actually take almost no power. I think their claimed "intelligent power allocation" is overselling it a bit.

Looks like one of the reviews on Anker's product page (titled "Versatile, depending on what you plug in") says exactly what combinations are possible:

https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerport-atom-pd-4/A...

[bradknowles]

Consider that this article is from January 30, 2019.

There have been a lot of improvements in this space in the past 11 months.

[__jl__]

Can you point to newer products that reflect these improvements?

[bassman9000]

Aren't they also noisy AF? Wouldn't that affect power meters, or other measuring devices?

[tesseract]

That might be a Japanese-market device in the photo? I see a PSE mark from TUV SUD and a Japanese importer name. Having a WEEE bin but no CE mark seems odd though.

[torstenvl]

I have the RAVPower 61W GaN USB-C charger for my backpack. No UL, but no noise and no issues. It's currently five stars on Amazon, for whatever that's worth. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TC53ZYD/

[shaklee3]

It has a fakespot rating of F, for what it's worth:

https://www.fakespot.com/product/usb-c-wall-charger-ravpower...

[masto]

1 day later, it’s an A. I wonder how that works.

[watersb]

That's a rating that indicates many online reviews from buyers are not trustworthy. Ok.

I bought the RavPower 61W, the 40W one, and some non-GaN USB C PD chargers.

They all seem really good.

[pilif]

> They all seem really good.

the question is what you're basing this assumption on. Fake Apple chargers also "seem really good" until they blow up or are disassembled to unveil the obvious electrical issues.

[masonic]

Counterfeit UL tags are commonly used on counterfeit products.

[dwild]

Sure, having a UL tags doesn't guarantee that it has been UL certified, but missing one guarantee that it hasn't been UL certified.

[officeplant]

Plus its free to make an account and search the UL database[1]. I work in the fire industry and I have to prove to customers all the time that the UL stamp on devices and datasheets is actually backed up with proper documentation.

[1] https://iq.ulprospector.com/en/

[masonic]

But if it's a counterfeit product masquerading as a brand name, the fact that the genuine brand-name product is listed offers only false assurance to the buyer of the counterfeit.

[rhizome]

There's no defense against someone lying to you about something you don't know, and what you describe is part of the definition of "counterfeit."