exploding mains charger?

[tikigod19]

Ok so I purchased a mains charger on ebay for my iphone (obviously a 3rd party item, nothing to do with apple) and at 4am today i was awoken by a loud bang and the smell of smoke. I looked to the side of my bed and all that was left in the plug socket were the metal pins and the plastic backing.

The circuit board was all blackened and smoking lightly below it and the front was on the other side of the room...

obviously I will NEVER buy a 3rd party charger again as this could well have resulted in a house fire! Has anyone else ever had this problem before? Does anyone charge their iphone through the mains other than using the cable that comes with it? (I like to leave this constantly connected to my pc and the dock)

Many thanks

[Jacksteruk309]

Wow, lucky you're still ok!!

I only use the Apple charger and cables, but I do charge it next to my bed. I've sure Apple's cable will be ok but still, maybe I should charge it across the room instead of next to my bed.

You should probably complain to the person who sold the charger to you and you should complain to eBay as well .

[bobb-mini]

Haha! Not really funny but, hey, when u pay less than 1/2 for something, u KNOW something gotta give right.

That won't stop me from buying third party stuff however, am just more experienced with these things.

So TIP: (1) At least for the first few cycles, NEVER plug in these things when you are not in the house, and (2) When used for the first coupla of times, touch it at intervals and if it feels like it's getting abnormally hot, UNPLUG immediately.

[tikigod19]

yeah I think I might buy another cheapy one and just charge it when I'm at work. Ironically I work for the fire service so if it goes pop I should be ok! If I want to charge at weekends I will go through the irritating steps of unplugging my printer and using the power cable combined with the official iphone charger. I just wasnt sure if there was a sort of 'all in one' apple mains charger as opposed to the one that you have to construct using three seperate parts..