Almost lit a Cessna on fire with a $20 USB charger

I bought one of those cheapo USB chargers off Amazon to plug into the cigarette lighter in the cockpit. Figured it would be fine for charging my tablet while I worked. Next thing I know, the thing starts smoking and the plastic is melting about 10 minutes in. Pulled it out quick and the whole port was black and warped. Has anyone else had a cheap accessory nearly cook your panel?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby_king221mo ago

I actually think you might be overreacting a little bit. I have used cheap USB chargers from gas stations for years in my old truck and never had an issue. The cigarette lighter ports in most planes are built to handle a fair amount of juice. A $20 charger is definitely not top quality, but it's not like you wired it directly into the battery. More likely you just got a defective unit or maybe the port itself had some corrosion already. I would check the fuse before blaming the charger entirely.

ninaross1mo ago

Man, that is scary. I had almost the same thing happen with a cheap phone charger in my car once, smoke started pouring out of the dash and I yanked it out so fast I burned my fingers on it. Glad you caught it before it got worse.