# Electrocution by cell phone
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 2, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946 "2019-04-02T20:29:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@justdoit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justdoit)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/1 "2019-04-02T20:29:50Z")
I came across these news stories. The first two links are about electrocution while charging your phone and you touch it or it falls into the tub or shower. Sad but I see how that could happen. Lesson is, don’t charge your phone in the bathroom.
The third link I don’t quite understand. Seems like it says there have been several cases of electrocution from wearing headphones. Most where while charging the phone but sometimes not. Is that correct? Is the lesson just wearing headphones/earphones can kill a person? Or never to wear them while phone is charging? No water needs to be involved.
Cellphone electrocution is real and dangerous
> **[Cellphone electrocution is real and dangerous](https://electrocuted.com/blog/cellphone-electrocution/)**
>
> A 14-year-old recently died from electrocution by a cellphone. Here’s what can be learned from it
Martial arts champion, 15, dies after being electrocuted when iPhone fell into bath while charging
> **[Schoolgirl, 15, dies after being electrocuted when iPhone fell into bath with...](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7941146/schoolgirl-electrocuted-iphone-bath-charge-battery/)**
>
> A SCHOOLGIRL was killed while taking a bath when her charging iPhone fell into the water. Martial arts champion Irina Rybnikova had been using a cable to charge the device, reports say. The 15-year…
“In February, another Russian schoolgirl, Kseniya P, was also electrocuted in the bath when her charging smartphone fell into the water. The tragic 12-year-old was listening to music when the phone ran out of power. When she plugged it in to charge, the device fell into the water while the cable was attached…It followed a similar tragedy the previous month when a 21-pregnant woman was electrocuted in her bath in France just days before she was due to give birth.”
Teen dies by electrocution while using headphones of charging phone
> **[Teen dies by electrocution while using headphones of charging phone](https://technology.inquirer.net/81928/p2fb-teen-dies-by-electrocution-while-using-headphones-of-charging-phone)**
>
> A 16-year-old boy from Malaysia was electrocuted last week while wearing headphones connected to his charging phone.
“A 16-year-old boy from Malaysia was electrocuted last week while wearing headphones connected to his charging phone…Similar cases have occurred in other parts of the world. A 17-year-old girl from Brazil died of electrocution too while sleeping with her earphones which “melted in her ears” while her phone was being charged, The Sun reported last February. Last May, a 46-year-old woman from India died in her sleep while listening to music through her headphones, reported the Times of India. A short circuit was cited as the probable cause of electrocution. The following month, a 22-year-old man received an electric shock via his headphones while his phone was charging. While he was listening to music through his plugged-in phone, there was no electricity. It was reported that he was electrocuted when the power was restored.”
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### Author:  [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/2 "2019-04-02T21:06:10Z")
I tend to be a little bit skeptical of these stories. The very first story mentions an extension cord, and I’m going to assume that either the victim touched the extension cord (120VAC or 240VAC) while in the tub, or the end of the extension cord dropped in the tub. It’s commonly understood that it only takes about 100 mA of current to stop a person breathing, but that is usually at a higher voltage than the 5VDC used when charging a cell phone. I wouldn’t come out and say that it CAN’T happen, but I suspect that in cases like this it’s not actually the cell phone or charging cable by themselves that caused electrocution.
(Disclaimer: Using ANY electrical device in the bath can be dangerous. I am not in any way saying it’s OK to do so.)
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/3 "2019-04-02T21:56:15Z")
Yes, most charger warts have the transformer or other step down mechanism in that block that plugs into the wall. The cable only carries 5V and not a lot of current, it’s harmless. (You can test 9V batteries by sticking your tongue on them)
The only explanations I can think of are the extension cord mentioned above, or a quality second- or third-world charger that somehow shorts the household 240V onto the 5V line. But then, the phone would go “woof” and emit smoke indicating a problem with the charger, before you got to immersing it. As for headphones, same applies - the phone would probably die before the current ran long enough to cause problems in the headphones - which normally don’t have metal in contact with the skin anyway.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/4 "2019-04-02T22:04:29Z")
> [@md2000](#):
>
> Yes, most charger warts have the transformer or other step down mechanism in that block that plugs into the wall. The cable only carries 5V and not a lot of current, it’s harmless. (You can test 9V batteries by sticking your tongue on them)
>
> The only explanations I can think of are the extension cord mentioned above, or a quality second- or third-world charger that somehow shorts the household 240V onto the 5V line. **But then, the phone would go “woof” and emit smoke indicating a problem with the charger, before you got to immersing it**. As for headphones, same applies - the phone would probably die before the current ran long enough to cause problems in the headphones - which normally don’t have metal in contact with the skin anyway.
Bolding mine.
Not necessarily. A defective charger could easily connect the “hot” side of the AC line to the 5v output, and it would work just fine, until you happened to touch the phone while you were grounded (like, in a tub). In fact, that is what is thought to have happened with a knock-off iPhone charger that killed someone a few years ago.
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### Author:  [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/5 "2019-04-02T22:57:24Z")
I’m totally open to explanations of defective chargers. Goodness knows, I’ve seen ones that look like they would fall apart in your hands. Theoretically, the chargers have been tested and listed by a recognized testing laboratory and are “inherently safe.”
I just think it’s a bit lurid and misleading to publish a headline like “Another Innocent Person Killed by A Cell Phone!!” only for the reader to discover that the victim reached for the charger with wet hands or foolishly brought an extension cord into the bathroom.
(Second Disclaimer: Please don’t try this at home to see what happens.)
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/6 "2019-04-02T23:07:24Z")
A few years back I saw a website that did thorough testing of a bunch of cell phone chargers, and a lot of the cheap ones were incredibly shoddy, and a few did even leak line voltage into the output, or could very easily fail in a way that would lead to that. So, yeah, it’s believable.
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### Author:  [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2019, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/7 "2019-04-02T23:46:36Z")
Here’s a teardown video of some cheap Apple clone chargers, with some details on how they can be very unsafe:
[EEVblog #388 - Fake Apple USB Charger Teardown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-b9k-0KfE)
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/8 "2019-04-03T01:38:39Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#):
>
> I just think it’s a bit lurid and misleading …
Well, the cites were from the _Inquirer_ and the _Sun_.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2019, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/9 "2019-04-03T04:46:44Z")
I found out the hard way, in Australia years ago, that one of my devices - a AA nicad battery charger - was 120V not 120/240 agnostic. The loud “pop” and smell of burning insulation was the dead (!) giveaway.
I guess that’s the question, too - how is the battery charger circuit connected to the rest of the phone, and specifically the metal(?) case? I would imagine that phones are held to a higher standard, and I would think (IANAElectronicsEngineer) that even talking about 5V phone batteries, the case is insulated from electronics to prevent it from becoming a conductor short if some other internal insulation fails? Of course, once you immerse it all bets are off.
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### Author:  [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/10 "2019-04-03T14:19:04Z")
Not limited to cellphones, but one night a quarter got jammed between my charger and the powerstrip and by the two prongs. When I touched the charger it it made a huge zap and tripped the powerstrip. I’m glad i didn’t touch that quarter…
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### Author:  [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/11 "2019-04-03T16:49:49Z")
> [@Ashtura](#):
>
> Not limited to cellphones, but one night a quarter got jammed between my charger and the powerstrip and by the two prongs. When I touched the charger it it made a huge zap and tripped the powerstrip. I’m glad i didn’t touch that quarter…
Along those lines…one of my cats went behind our dryer (240VAC) and apparently sniffed at the plug. It got one or more whiskers in the space between the plug and the receptacle and caused it to arc. There was a huge flash, the circuit breaker tripped, and the cat came flying out with several whiskers scorched off. She was perfectly fine, but stayed in our bedroom for several hours. No permanent damage to the circuit or the cat.
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### Author:  [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrocution-by-cell-phone/831946/12 "2019-04-03T22:00:20Z")
Wanted to mention that the term “Electrocution” is usually understood to mean death, it ain’t so as I was schooled on another message board.
From the Wiki: Bolding add by me
Electrocution is death or serious injury caused by electric shock, electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from “electro” and “execution”, but it is also used for accidental death. \*\*The word is also used to describe non-fatal injuries due to electricity.
\*\*
So i one sense of the word, getting a shock while plugging in your charger or headphones is electrocution.