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Comment by wodenokoto | Hacker News Reader

I once bought a fake charger and you could feel a tinkly sensation around the mousepad while it was charging. Obviously I threw it out quickly.

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That may be normal leakage from the Y capacitor between the primary and secondary. 250 microamps of leakage (IEC 60950?) is allowed, which you can feel but is harmless. I am told that the Y capacitor reduces EMI (electromagnetic interference).

Emmett Brown, is that you?

That also happens with the official chargers if you use the two-prong plug.

I got that on an airplane with the two-pronged plug. The metal armrest was making my arm tingle!

Never had that happen with an official charger, and have only used the european 2-prong plug and the US 2 prong flat.

It's a well-known phenomenon and was the subject of an HN submission a few months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11838349

That's interesting. I've never noticed it myself, but it makes some sense.

As people noted it's because likely you have a current leakage. Read this post for more information: http://superuser.com/questions/462244/electric-shock-mild-vi...

I recently experienced this while travelling to India. Turns out the house I was staying at had a grounding issue and I couldn't do anything. This is less likely for most people and it's just better to use the cable with the grounding pin.

The thing is that the fake charger provided current leakage from the same outlet that the original doesn't, so I concluded that the fake charger was at fault.

Both chargers where connected without ground using the 2-prong round adaptor.

Funny, we had that on an original (that came with the macbook, straight from Apple's online store). Supposedly manufacturing defect and was replaced for free, but still.

this often happens even with original chargers, if you dont use a grounded cable. I always use a grounded cable.

My 2012 27" iMac gave me the same sensation feeling around the back for the ports.

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