Sony Recalls 18,000 VAIO Laptops

STFS writes "Reuters has a story about Sony having to recall 18 thousand VAIO laptops because apparently there is some risk of users receiving a small electric shock "if you have connected your PC (laptop) to external power, you have disabled your phone line, (while) simultaneously being connected to a grounded peripheral, and you are touching a metal part of the PC, and your phone rings"!" I can't begin to count the number of times that happens ;)

Comments

OK, I'll bite

[PhysicsGenius]

The article doesn't say anyone was electrocuted. It was a "small electric shock". I think everyone is overreacting on this one. I get shocks bigger than this just walking across the carpet in the winter.

This is just like that whiny guy that was apparently expecting his McDonald's coffee to be ice cold.

Re:OK, I'll bite

[JesterXXV]

True, no one was electrocuted, but a phone ring is generated by a 90 VAC charge down the phone line, IIRC (probably because of the older phones which needed that kind of voltage to operate the mechanical bell). I've actually been shocked by the ring charge before, when I was fooling around with an old desktop phone with the cover off, dialing my own phone number to cause it to ring while holding down the hookswitch standing on my concrete basement floor in bare feet. Yes, I'm an idiot, but while I wasn't anything more than a little soiled in the pants, I could see how this could potentially be a HUGE problem if someone with a pacemaker or just a weak heart were to find themselves in this quasi-unlikely situation with their VAIO.

Re:OK, I'll bite

[squiggleslash]

FYI:

A large electric shock across my hand (ie both contacts on my hand) may cause temporary numbness and some pain, but quite probably no lasting damage.

A small electric shock, passing from my hand to my feet, can kill me if the current passes through the heart.

It doesn't really matter how big it is. It's how you use it.

(Now let's see if I'm allowed to post this or if I'll get yet another of those "You've already moderated this discussion" errors I can't get past, despite the fact I haven't even been given mod points in the last year.)

I can see this

[Alien54]

a mix of a incorrectly spec'ed out transistor or something like that, and a bad ground circuit.

• connected your PC (laptop) to external power,
• you have disabled your phone line,
• simultaneously being connected to a grounded peripheral,

  (say a printer or an external monitor)

• and you are touching a metal part of the PC,
• and your phone rings"!
  • The metal case is obviously a ground, and the phone being disabled probably grounds the phone out. So if there is a probably with a ground, the phone ringer signal grounds out through the person holding the metal ground portion of the case.

Re:Why is this a product defect?

[neo8750]

I think the problem lies with the laptop telephone setup. seeing how if i hold a phone in my lap and ground myself i won't get shocked. the laptop on the other hand allows for that current to leave the device and shock the user. This is a problem and Sony is takeing the right steps to correct it.

Ring voltage

[Animats]

Ring is 88V, 20Hz.

There's also a 400V (!) insulation test signal that is sometimes applied in the early morning hours (peak water-accumulation time), but it's current-limited to a very low current and only lasts for a few milliseconds. That, incidentally, is what causes "bell tap", where, in the early morning hours, some cheapie phones emit a brief bell signal. Anything that attaches to a phone line must tolerate that 400V spike.

disabled your phone line?

[DoorFrame]

If you've disabled your phone line, why would an incoming call cause a shock? Shouldn't that be the point of disabling it? I'm confused.