This Belkin Wemo switch was one of six in service. This raised an interesting question: did any of the other switches suffer the same assembly defect?
Not wanting to leave this to faith, I took the others apart to take a look. Fortunately, they all seem to be put together correctly, This photo shows the correct wiring layout, with none of them being pinched or clamped.
Moral of the story:
1: This device had been safety tested during the past 12 months and had passed. The defect would have been spotted if I'd taken the device apart, but that sort of thing voids warranties.
2: Manufacturing and assembly defects can remain hidden for a long time.
2: A full-on hot/neutral short circuit is no doubt "exciting," but the device contained this small explosion well.
4: The more devices you have plugged into your electrical system, the greateer your chances of having problems.
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