Slashdot Mirror
Another Battery Fire in AT&T's Network
An anonymous reader writes "AT&T has disclosed another fire started by one of the 17,000 Avestor batteries in its broadband network. The first fire caused a violent explosion in suburban Houston. This second incident occurred just 20 miles away."
It really doesn't surprise me. Sealed cell VRLA Battery + High Temperatures (Summer) + Hydrogen creation inside battery from the Water/Acid mix + brown out causing battery to be utilized = practical bomb. I had one cook off in a generator this week. One of my data center generators went to start up for its weekly exercise this week and it never started, but one of the batteries exploded. It didn't lead to a fire, but I'm sure it would have if it was in a more confined space.
If they were within 20 miles of each other, I'd look at the other ones nearby and find out who installed them. Maybe the contractor needs a little more training, maybe they got a bad batch of batteries.
It is likely they were installed by the same group of people (person?), and if they (he) didn't know what he was doing, it may very well happen again. It is also likely the batteries were all part of the same batch.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."