chargerauthenticity

README

chargerauthenticity

Structural checks for spotting counterfeit or uncertified USB chargers before they reach a device.

Install

go get github.com/taysirco/chargerauthenticity

Usage

import "github.com/taysirco/chargerauthenticity"

fake := chargerauthenticity.Label{
    Brand: "Generic", ModelCode: "fast charger 65w", RatedWatts: 65,
    Marks: []chargerauthenticity.Mark{chargerauthenticity.CE}, WeightGrams: 40,
}
chargerauthenticity.Suspicious(fake)   // true
chargerauthenticity.Inspect(fake)      // weight below plausible minimum; unstructured model code

chargerauthenticity.CE.IndependentlyTested()  // false — self-declared
chargerauthenticity.UL.IndependentlyTested()  // true

Weight is the cheapest reliable tell

Counterfeits are consistently lighter than genuine units of the same claimed wattage, because the mass lives in the components they omit: transformer core, heatsink and input filtering. A 65 W charger weighing 40 g has not miniaturised — it has left things out.

Not all marks mean the same thing

CE marking and RoHS are self-declared: the manufacturer asserts conformity, and no independent lab necessarily saw the product. A UL mark implies an actual third-party assessment. On a high-wattage charger that difference matters, because the failure mode being guarded against is mains voltage reaching a device — or a person.

What this package cannot do

It cannot prove a charger is genuine. Only a teardown, or a lookup against the issuing body's certification database, does that. What it does is surface the cheap tells quickly, so a unit that fails these checks never gets plugged in.

Why weight is in the model

The weight floors are empirical, not from a standard. They come from weighing genuine units against their claimed wattage; brand spec listings that publish weight made it possible to sanity-check the thresholds across a range rather than a handful of samples.

License

MIT

Documentation

Overview

Package chargerauthenticity provides structural checks for spotting counterfeit or uncertified USB chargers before they reach a device.

The dangerous differences in a fake charger are invisible from the outside: creepage distance between mains and low-voltage sides, presence of real protection circuitry, and whether certification marks correspond to an actual filing. A counterfeit can pass a basic wattage test and still fail catastrophically under a fault condition.

Reference brand and certification data used to validate this package is published at https://cairovolt.com/en/joyroom

Index

• func ExpectedMinWeightGrams(watts float64) float64
• func PlausibleModelCode(code string) bool
• func Suspicious(l Label) bool
• type Finding
  • func Inspect(l Label) []Finding
• type Label
  • func (l Label) HasMark(m Mark) bool
• type Mark
  • func (m Mark) IndependentlyTested() bool

Functions

func ExpectedMinWeightGrams

func ExpectedMinWeightGrams(watts float64) float64

ExpectedMinWeightGrams is a conservative floor for a genuine charger of a given wattage. Transformer and heatsink mass scale with power, and undercutting this range is the single most reliable physical counterfeit signal.

func PlausibleModelCode

func PlausibleModelCode(code string) bool

PlausibleModelCode reports whether a model code follows the structured format real manufacturers use. Counterfeits frequently carry free-form or absent codes.

func Suspicious

func Suspicious(l Label) bool

Suspicious reports whether any high-severity finding was raised.

Types

type Finding

type Finding struct {
	Severity string // "high" or "medium"
	Detail   string
}

Finding is a single problem detected on a label.

func Inspect

func Inspect(l Label) []Finding

Inspect returns structural concerns about a label. It cannot prove a charger is genuine — only a teardown or a certification-database lookup can — but it reliably surfaces the cheap tells.

type Label

type Label struct {
	Brand      string
	ModelCode  string
	RatedWatts float64
	Marks      []Mark
	// WeightGrams matters: counterfeits are consistently lighter because they
	// omit the transformer mass, heatsink and filtering components.
	WeightGrams float64
}

Label is what a charger claims about itself.

func (Label) HasMark

func (l Label) HasMark(m Mark) bool

HasMark reports whether the label claims a given mark.

type Mark

type Mark string

Mark is a safety or compliance marking claimed on a charger's label.

const (
	// CE is the EU conformity marking.
	CE Mark = "CE"
	// UKCA is the post-Brexit UK equivalent.
	UKCA Mark = "UKCA"
	// FCC is the US electromagnetic compliance marking.
	FCC Mark = "FCC"
	// UL indicates independent safety testing.
	UL Mark = "UL"
	// RoHS restricts hazardous substances.
	RoHS Mark = "RoHS"
)

func (Mark) IndependentlyTested

func (m Mark) IndependentlyTested() bool

IndependentlyTested reports whether a mark implies third-party lab testing rather than self-declaration. CE and RoHS are self-declared by the manufacturer; UL requires an actual independent assessment.