Apple Powerbook and iBook Battery Recall

doubleacr writes "The Register is reporting that Apple is recalling batteries in 12 and 15 inch Powerbook and 12 inch iBooks sold between October 2004 and May 2005. Apple has set up a page with info on model number and serial numbers of batteries affected, and also how to get a replacement."

Comments

affected

[Anonymous Coward]

affected, not effected

Nah

[Anonymous Coward]

I rather like my exploding iBattery, thanks.

Explains a lot.

[Anonymous Coward]

So that's why it keeps smoking! I'm so used to overclocked systems I thought that was normal.

From TFA

[Anonymous Coward]

"...the components could overheat and catch figure."

Get hot and strike a pose.

Whatever you do..

[PopeAlien]

DO NOT put them in a washing machine and puncture them with a screwdriver!

Re:Whatever you do..

[HAKdragon]

Homer Simpson: See? Because of me, now they have a warning

Re:From the FAQ

[trampel]

It's not quite that dumb. There are/were notebooks that won't run without a battery installed, maybe due to the design of their power circuitry.

I remember the Powerbook 180, for instance.

How do they do it?

[jargoone]

It's incredible! I got my new battery from the recall, and my Powerbook is faster than ever before! Whether it's software or hardware, Apple just keeps getting better!

Re:Nuts, Not My Battery

[pantycrickets]

Maybe if I scratch the serial number up...

Then you'll be guilty of defacing a battery. A felony in most states!

Re:Sounds like Good Business to Me

[FlopEJoe]

"Six, man. SIX! And only TWO in the US!"

That's a lot better company support than Fight Club math:

If a new car built by my company leaves Chicago traveling west at 60 miles per hour, and the rear differential locks up, and the car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside, does my company initiate a recall?

You take the population of vehicles in the field (A) and multiply it by the probable rate of failure (B), then multiply the result by the average cost of an out-of-court settlement (C).

A times B times C equals X. This is what it will cost if we don't initiate a recall.

If X is greater than the cost of a recall, we recall the cars and no one gets hurt.

If X is less than the cost of a recall, then we don't recall.

Now I wish I'd abused mine!

[Ben Jackson]

Mine is about 5 months old, but I've been babying the battery. Wish I'd known I'd be getting a freebie! To find out how many cycles your battery already has:

ioreg -l -w 0 | grep Capacity

I only used 22 cycles. :(

Re:Now I wish I'd abused mine!

[busman]

or for the terminal impaired ..

System Profiler -> Hardware -> Power

Battery Information:

Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4438
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 1262
Amperage (mA): -1726
Voltage (mV): 10921
Cycle Count: 22

Warning: Don't put water on burning lithium

[Johnboi Waltune]

I have one of these recalled Powerbook batteries, and right now it's running at home unsupervised. Great.

I haven't seen anyone else mention it in this thread, but pouring water on burning lithium is an extremely Bad Idea. You'll get an effect similar to pouring gasoline on burning wood.

Most Slashdotters probably know not to pour water on an electrical fire, but I suspect far fewer know burning lithium can use water for a fuel source.

From a FAQ I found about how to handle a lithium fire (this is a google html version since the original was a .Doc file): "Use a graphite powder or a Lith-X (class D) extinguisher to extinguish burning lithium. Don't use water, sand, carbon tetrachloride, carbon dioxide, or soda acid extinguishers in lithium cell fires."

Re:affected

[dwlovell]

Obvious, not Informative

Re:Nuts, Not My Battery

[tunesmith]

assault on battery. :-)