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More Exploding Cellphones In The News
adityapandey writes "It's happened again. Yahoo News has another story on exploding cellphones. Most of these mishaps are blamed on counterfeit batteries and chargers. Recently, Kyocera recalled about 40,000 cellphones for free replacement, because of batteries overheating and venting superheated gases. Yet, cellphone makers claim that such incidents are too rare to care about. Shouldn't cellphone companies be making people aware of the hazards of usage?"
TSA completes calculation (2+2) and determines cell phone and computer batteries pose a greater threat aboard planes than boxcutters of nail clippers. Well maybe not yet, but if trends continue, perhaps. In this article we read of exploding batteries and increasing power density. "If you're cramming more and more power in a small space, what you're making is a small bomb," said Carl Hilliard...
Exploding batteries have already caused disruption at LAX.
The subject of potential weapons on planes has been beat to death, but the battery angle is still interesting. Especially when you consider that a weapons intimidation power is more a function of public perception than killing power. The more press exploding batteries receive, the greater the perceived danger. Never mind that a torn beer can can do more damage.
Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle!
Lithium ion batteries, so popular for their power density, are inherently unstable if they are overcharged or become too hot (about 140 F is the threshold). As a spokesperson for one battery maker said "When you heat this material up, it (can) reach an onset temperature that begins to self-heat and progresses into fire and explosion." One battery company claims to make a "safe" battery that uses phosphates, not cobalt oxides in its lithium ion. They even have a video demonstration that we can slashdot.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Warranties mean that if there is a problem, exchange for a working item. Defective is only applied when there is something fundamentally wrong with the item itself. Such as those hard drives that had a 33% failure rate in the first year about two years ago. 4.88 10E-7 is a lower failure rate than I have had with bad DVDs. (4 disks bad, ~300 Disks bought, 1.3percent failure).
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
I work at a cell-phone store, and you would not believe what people do to their phones. I have seen phones get hot, vent hot gas, catch fire, bulge and almost pop, etc. In each case, it was because of something the customer had done to damage their phone. Usually, it's water damage, teenie bopper kids taking their phone into the shower cuz they can't miss that one important call. Or, even more benignly, (is that a Bushism?) if you have a little bit of drippings in your car's cupholder, and throw the phone in there when you get in the car, guess where the charging circuitry is located? Usually in the bottom of the phone. So, the next time you go plug your phone in, instead of the beautifully complex current-limiting charging circuit, you have yesterday's mocha providing a dead short.. BOOM. Please, PLEASE look to the stupid masses for the cause BEFORE blaming the manufacturers. I know there are bad designs out there, but 99.999999999 times out of a hundred, it's the idiots using them everyday. really. (flame suit on)