A frightening video shows smoke coming from a faulty charger while it is plugged into a tablet in an Irish home.
The video was shared in a bid to raise awareness around the dangers of faulty or cheap phone chargers.
The homemade video was shot in a family home and shows how a damaged charger, left plugged in on a kitchen countertop, becomes red hot and begins to melt.
Fire services nationwide are concerned that many people still leave devices charging overnight and in many cases on flammable surfaces such as beds, couches or carpets.
The Cork County Fire service has issued a number of warnings on the dangers after a series of fires in Ireland and the UK caused by dodgy chargers.
Bargain basement chargers are now widely available in Ireland and there have been cases of knock off chargers, bearing fake safety tags, or big tech company brands, being sold here.
The advice given is;
Always charge your phone on a hard non-flammable surface
Never cover your phone with a pillow or blanket
Always use a genuine charger cable
Never over charge your phone or leave it plugged in overnight
Have a working smoke alarm
Ireland's Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is responsible for protecting the public from defective or counterfeit electronic equipment and the Commission has recently warned that the sale and use of dangerously defective chargers is on the rise.
All electronic devices must carry the CE mark which shows it has been passed for safety in the European Union.
However, this mark can be forged, often poorly, and one way to spot the fakes is to check that the mark is a minimum of 5mm high.
For chargers, the CCPC recommends avoiding chargers that feel too light, are supplied with a two-pin plug or if the USB port is upside down.
Labels that do not have clear contact details for the manufacturer or misspellings on packaging are also a red flag.
The CCPC says one of the biggest risks is people using non-branded chargers and cables, which are possibly counterfeit or poorly constructed.
The advice from the authorities is that you may save money by going for the very cheapest charger you can find but the risks to life and property are too great.
