A bit more on all this to hopefully bring this to some kind of conclusion.
As my main concern was over safety I opened and examined the charger in detail. It couldn't be left without knowing one way or the other.
I have to say that nothing untoward was found, either visually or under live testing and leakage testing.
So that leaves the very curious issue of what really happened and all I can do here is try and piece the sequence of events together.
1/ The connection was made and a spark (which is normal) was created. I am assuming the neutral pin connected first, making contact before the live (also a perfectly normal scenario).
2/ My 'best guess' is that this spark somehow tracked across to the adjacent earth pin and in a manner somewhat like a lightning 'feeder' that precedes a strike, this relatively small spark was sufficient to allow and to carry a larger current into the earth lead thus both tripping the ELCB and blowing the plug top fuse.
The conditions must have been exactly right (or wrong whichever way you look at it) for the charger to draw a high inrush current at that moment, possibly being connected on the point of the mains cycle that would allow the highest inrush current and generate the highest spark. There is also the variability of manually plugging in a live connector. Was it a clean connect or was there a moments hesitation increasing the likelihood of 'drawing an arc' that allowed this to happen.
So something along those lines is my best explanation of this event. If others should come across anything similar then hopefully this will go some way to reassuring them.
Mooly01
2 Intern
•
133 Posts
0
January 22nd, 2018 10:00
If it helps identify or confirm the problem I noticed another thread that sounds remarkably similar:
Smoke and Sparks from Adapter
Below is a picture of my adapter. It appears pretty much identical.
Edit... can't find a way to get the forum image attachment to work. Lets try this, a OneDrive link:
https://va8nza.by3302.livefilestore.com/y4mtZBB4kh6PoNzhHfZHX_ibiUUd5WHl6nR82Hh6wfrleumO08TrQusj0uJyV4Vi4kCtpb204_DcBU1eZgL-eA3ySLtKX7J0cS_tyWezoF4paVE1j5FgxGvtma_zysGCVD7hu9EaWRg0Z6M6YoYm79EArBeJX2j0Pwz_4NWweckEB15fp1Quj0aKP4FIr64Y8rQlLgBqo7ctMsj_Sy9iGrZSw?width=1024&height=768&cropmode=none
speedstep
9 Legend
•
47K Posts
0
January 24th, 2018 14:00
If its fake thats a problem.
YD9W8 is a standard 90W adapter.
Get a 130W if you think its getting too hot.
http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/accessories/apd/331-5817
Mooly01
2 Intern
•
133 Posts
0
January 25th, 2018 00:00
Definitely not fake. I bought the Vostro brand new and direct from Dell. This is the original charger we are talking about.
Mooly01
2 Intern
•
133 Posts
0
January 28th, 2018 07:00
A bit more on all this to hopefully bring this to some kind of conclusion.
As my main concern was over safety I opened and examined the charger in detail. It couldn't be left without knowing one way or the other.
I have to say that nothing untoward was found, either visually or under live testing and leakage testing.
So that leaves the very curious issue of what really happened and all I can do here is try and piece the sequence of events together.
1/ The connection was made and a spark (which is normal) was created. I am assuming the neutral pin connected first, making contact before the live (also a perfectly normal scenario).
2/ My 'best guess' is that this spark somehow tracked across to the adjacent earth pin and in a manner somewhat like a lightning 'feeder' that precedes a strike, this relatively small spark was sufficient to allow and to carry a larger current into the earth lead thus both tripping the ELCB and blowing the plug top fuse.
The conditions must have been exactly right (or wrong whichever way you look at it) for the charger to draw a high inrush current at that moment, possibly being connected on the point of the mains cycle that would allow the highest inrush current and generate the highest spark. There is also the variability of manually plugging in a live connector. Was it a clean connect or was there a moments hesitation increasing the likelihood of 'drawing an arc' that allowed this to happen.
So something along those lines is my best explanation of this event. If others should come across anything similar then hopefully this will go some way to reassuring them.