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HUGE Spark When Charging Phone Touched Amplifier wtf?

PhantomFlame

PhantomFlame

New Member
So I was charging my phone and it was on the desk, I nudged it a tiny bit by accident and it touched the front facia of my amplifier (metal) and there was about a 1 inch spark coming from the speaker of the phone?!?! :rflmao:
Now when i watch videos on the phone there is a slight bleep/static interruption every 10 mins. All i care about was if it could have potentially caused any damage to the amp (it was off at the time)?
 
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Your amp should be fine. More likely than not it was a static discharge. Could be pretty high voltage but no power to speak of. I'm guessing amp is grounded (3 prong plug?)
Exposed semi conductors are very vulnerable to this kind of discharge. I'd worry more about the phone. If its working ok, you're probably good.
(PS if it were a tube amp it most definitely didn't harm it)
 
Yes everythings connected with 3 prong UK plugs. The phones working ok, just a tiny pop every 10 mins but thats nothing ,really. I just got a little scared i broke something on my amp haha
 
Was it a charger that plugged in or was it a wireless charger? What kind of phone? Does it have metal trim? How long was it arcing? Static would jump and be gone if it lasted even a second that's not static. And if your phone now has a new tic since the incident that's probably not a problem caused by static.
 
The phone seems to be fine now so no need to panic there. Its a wired charger and the phone is a moto g 2nd gen. The only metal part of the phone is the metal grille on the speaker so naturally it sparked from there?

So I did something maybe stupid/not the best thing, to try to find out what might've caused this... I got an old usb cable, plugged it into the charger and when i touched the (turned off)amp, sparks would fly out of the usb port lolol. So lessons learned dont put charging items near your amps!!
 
IDK,
USB power is something like 5 volts. Unless your air is highly ionized you shouldn't see arc flying from a 5v potential. Very strange.
 
To be SURE I mean absolutely, positively sure put your tongue on the amp, then on the phone. Now if sparks fly you'll know which is the culprit and send it to me to get fixed immediately.:biggrin:
Good luck.
 
PhantomFlame said:
I got an old usb cable, plugged it into the charger and when i touched the (turned off)amp, sparks would fly out of the usb port lolol.
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One spark? Or multiple sparks? Or a continuous series of sparks? Does it spark on any grounded metal object (like a metal plumbing pipe) or just the amplifier?

Anything but one spark -- indicative of static electricity, but a 1-inch spark with static is very unusual -- particularly if it does it on more than the amplifier, suggests you've got an odd fault in that charger. Replace the charger, verify the new one doesn't have the same problem, and throw the sparking charger away before it damages something or you.
 
For a spark to jump that far, it would have some pretty high voltage behind it. Was the weather very dry, had you been shuffling your feet before this happened? I too would take it back if possible.
 
static isnt something that happens here often unless you have the right carpets and shuffle your feet plenty ...
we do however suffer from dodgy power supplies such as phone chargers etc . i do think this is the issue here unless the op is getting shocks from the amplifier .
 
nj pheonix said:
IDK,
USB power is something like 5 volts. Unless your air is highly ionized you shouldn't see arc flying from a 5v potential. Very strange.
Click to expand...

Maybe a dusty area... maybe a cobweb... I've read studies on cobwebs being potential paths of electrical energy... maybe, maybe, maybe...
 
petehall347 said:
static isnt something that happens here often unless you have the right carpets and shuffle your feet plenty ...
we do however suffer from dodgy power supplies such as phone chargers etc . i do think this is the issue here unless the op is getting shocks from the amplifier .
Click to expand...
wool socks maybe?
 
Guys its not an ARC its a SPARK. The cable had to touch the amp for it to spark and THEN the spark was about 1/2 to 1 inch in size (it did not jump!). And yes if you held it there then multiple sparks would fly out. I checked using different chargers and this didnt happen so im replacing my current one. The phone is fine the amp is fine too. Thanks for the help
 
PhantomFlame said:
Guys its not an ARC its a SPARK. The cable had to touch the amp for it to spark and THEN the spark was about 1/2 to 1 inch in size (it did not jump!). And yes if you held it there then multiple sparks would fly out. I checked using different chargers and this didnt happen so im replacing my current one. The phone is fine the amp is fine too. Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
An arc is a continuous discharge, a spark is a single discharge.

An arc, or even multiple repeated sparks, indicates a problem with the charger. A 1 inch arc is roughly 75 kilovolts, which would suggest a pretty weird failure of what must be a switching power supply in the charger, but it's not inconceivable.
 
Whetever the term is or whatever the physics behind it are im not ever going to be using that charger again and thats all that matters :thumbsup:
 
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