[pd75]

I'm not sure which is the appropriate forum for this question, but the cord for my cell phone charger got frayed slightly when I ran over it with the vacuum cleaner. It still works, but I want to know if using the cord creates a potential safety hazard. I'd rather not have to buy a new charger if I can avoid it. Thanks.

[cwwozniak]

Assuming you have a typical charger that plugs directly in the AC power outlet and has thin flexile cord going to the telephone ...

Did you expose and/or break any of the wiring in the cord?

If you just removed some of the plastic insulation but the wires are all intact, you need to make sure there is no chance that the two wires can touch each other. Wrapping some electrical tape over the exposed sections should be good enough protection.

You need to be a bit careful if you broke any of the fine strands that make up each wire. If you broke too many of them, there is a chance the remaining few strands could overheat when the phone is drawing full power from the charger. If you know someone that is handy with a soldering iron, they could probably cut out the bad section an splice the ends together.

[pd75]

Thanks, Chuck. The wires are intact. I just scraped off some of the plastic insulation, which is black, but at one point I can see a bit of red (about 1/2 inch long).

[cwwozniak]

If it is red plastic, then you should be OK. If you see any copper or silver colored metal, you would need to be doing some taping.

[pd75]

Thanks again. It looks to me like it's just red plastic.

[JohnWill]

If you like, you could tape that just to protect the wiring from another attack by the vacuum cleaner.

[SayWhatJD]

I never trust cables after the insulation has started to break or has been removed. If you check around on eBay usually you can find accessory cables/chargers/etc for DIRT cheap.

For like $9 you could have some peace of mind. If you walk into a store, look to pay $25+ for the adapter.

Cheers,
@whatJD