China's "Phantom manufacturers" strike again

WE HAVE written before here on the INQ about the strange issue of "Phantom Chinese electronics". That is, electronics that reach the shelves but are only identified by the "Made in China" inscription, with not even a company name to associate it to, much less a web site, physical address, nor phone number to call in the event of need.

Well, I've been bitten again by the curse of the unbranded Chinese electronics. The power brick in my eMachines M6810 notebook decided to take a dive last weekend for no apparent reason. The original power supply bricks are designed and built in such a way - completely sealed - that you end up damaging the plastic enclosure if you ever attempt to open it - it'll never look as it did before the procedure.

eMachines Mxxxx replacement chinese power brick

Since I was in a hurry to get my notebook back in order, I decided to do what 99.9% of the people would do in such a situation: buy a replacement power brick. Some Googling around brought me few options: I could either buy the original one - a replacement part from Gateway/eMachines' "parts store" for $70, a "compatible one" for $54.75, or a third party seller in Amazon.com selling new ones for $29.99. Being a cheapskate, guess which one I bought? Yes, the $29.99 one. I figured that I could buy two bricks for the price of an original one and keep it as a spare for my other notebook, the Gateway 7422, which uses an identical power supply.

When the package arrived I was actually surprised: the "OEM" compatible one actually seems to be better designed than the eMachines/Gateway original: 1. It's a bit lighter, 2. It's got a "power light", and even more important: 3. It's got vent holes on the side, which is one of my main gripes with today's "sealed" power bricks. My theory is that if something burns inside, I want to see/smell the fumes, sooner rather than later. I've seen faulty sealed power bricks where the power supply keeps working until the plastic starts to melt down.

This time the Chinese is better than the original, just anonymous and 110v only?

There's also a fan to keep air flowing inside the unit and two screws on the bottom, allowing for easy disassembly - unlike in the original Gateway/eMachines bricks. Oh, and a little touch: there's a male-female extension cord a few inches long at the end of the cable, before the notebook plug. So if someone trips on the power cable or if you pull the notebook away without realizing it's plugged, you don't break the back notebook connector, it unplugs itself. Bravo for that security measure.

Once again, the Phantom Chinese Hardware Manufacturers

No company name, no address. Just "Made in China".

So who makes these power OEM power bricks. I don't know. "Made in China". Rings a bell? No warranty leaflet. No written address. No web site. No nothing. Usual Phantom Chinese Electronics Manufacturer. So when I was about to plug it into the 220v wall outlet... I noticed the sticker on the back: "Input Voltage: AC 100-130V". Waitaminute... the web site description clearly said 100-240v. And I swear I saw "100-240v" in the box. So I looked again. Yes, the box says "100-240v". But the sticker says "100-130V". Which one do I trust? The sticker or the box? And by the way, the model# in the sticker and the box is exactly the same.

100-240V multi-voltage or US-voltage only? You decide
Model# in box and sticker is the same: "AC18.5V4.9-EM".

I've been using the power supply with a 220->110v transformer until I hear back from the sellers or some reader assures me that plugging it directly into 220v won't smoke it -perhaps the american voltage on the sticker refers to the US plug type?. But this proves one of my points once again: "No manufacturer name?. Contradicting specifications?". A sure case of the "Phantom Chinese Manufacturers!". Aren't there customer protection laws to force sellers to identify the maker of a product?. If not, I think it would make snese. µ