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Japan Demands Probe of iPod Nano Flameouts
iminplaya sends in an item from TechNewsWorld that begins, "Several incidents of iPod Nanos bursting into flames have created consumer jitters in gadget-happy Japan. Apple is downplaying the problem, pointing out that no major injuries or damage have been reported. The problem is due to defective batteries, the company said, and only a tiny percentage of the devices have caught on fire." Japan has seen 14 such incidents so far, two in recent days. iminplaya adds, "I like that. Only a 'tiny percentage'... Is anybody beginning to understand why I would prefer that these devices not be allowed on airplanes?"
I'm sorry your honor, I only punched fourteen people in the face after taking their money. That's such a tiny percentage of the population.
I put the 't' in electrical engineering.
Only a tiny percentage of people have ever burst into flames. We shouldn't let them on airplanes either.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Because you have a poor grasp of the concept of probability?
j'ai découvert une démonstration vraiment admirable (de ce théorème général) que cette si
Apple is downplaying the problem, pointing out that no major injuries or damage have been reported.
Considering Apple's stance on mouse buttons they'd probably consider losing your right hand a "minor" injury.
Yes, now I understand that you can be easily frightened into irrationally giving up reasonably safe conveniences just so long as someone says "airplane" near you.
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make install -not war
Between their replacement of true color displays with crappy TN models which push their own calibration tools off the charts, their terrible all around macbook quality (mine's 1.5 years old and literally falling to pieces, including the graphics unit), and now these exploding batteries (again!, even dUll didn't pull the same mistake twice!), I say the days of apple as a quality brand are over.
Anyone have suggestions on where to buy quality hardware i can load osx86 on?
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
OK, I know anecdotal evidence is easy to slip in to online conversations. But seriously, 14 devices over a 3 year percentage. From the article, that translates to 0.001 percent of all first generation Nanos (the ones afflicted with this problem). I think any reasonable person will definitely agree that's a tiny percentage. No reason to rip on Apple for saying it's a tiny percentage when it is; they have other problems that can legitimately be criticized.
Yeah, the 'won't somebody think of the airplanes!' comment at the end isn't particularly rational. These are not big devices and the only way they will cause more than an inconvenience is if every one on the plane bursts into flame at the same time.
That said, a large chemical fire like you could get from those big battery packs those desktop replacement laptops use would be a special kind of nightmare for any pilot. If they do ever ban lithium batteries and other related things on airplanes it will be very inconvenient but not necessarily stupid.
The batteries are controlled by circuitry that starts it charging, and stops it when the battery reports that it's full. If this circuitry is defective, charging can happen past its safe charge level causing overheating and eventual spontaneous combustion.
My guess would be (if there is correlation) that as nanos are targetting more towards the lower end of the market; people who are looking for cheap, there's more scope for reducing costs by skimping on the battery, which increases chance of there being defective circuitry controlling battery charging. OR of course it could just be coincidence :-p
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
let's face it, Lithium-ion cells are unstable, intolerant of overcharging, and energy-dense enough to be a real problem when they fail. Combine that with poor quality-control and badly designed charge controllers, and you have a pocket-sized thermite bomb.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
LiPo batteries (used in iPods and lots of other devices) are little roman candles when the go off: video here.
Some LiPos are pretty sketchy - we've had a few in prototypes "pillow" (fill with gas), but no explosions yet. Definitely a no-no in medical devices, particularly implantables!
How big could the fires really be?
Japan demands...something or other.
And the batteries in these iPods? "Made In Japan". Glad to see they take their own QA so seriously.
This is simply a marketing problem.... the new Apple "I-burn"... with crispy icons, and carbonized gestural interface.
It can light cigarettes! Start campfires! and get rid of that pesky leaf pile for you!
Plug one in, and light it up today!!!
The only problem is with all the scorch marks it will look like crap. Maybe they should call it the iSore instead?
It sounds like poor-quality lithium batteries or possibly a defective charging circuit are to blame here.
Lithium batteries have a very high energy density due to the use of highly reactive lithium in metallic and/or ion forms. Overcharging or too-rapid discharge can easily overheat them and result in a fire or even an explosion in extreme cases.
If the quality control is not excellent, they can be incredibly dangerous.
Only a tiny percentage of planes burst into flames, too.
Some LiPos are pretty sketchy - we've had a few in prototypes "pillow" (fill with gas), but no explosions yet. Definitely a no-no in medical devices, particularly implantables!
Some LiPo batteries have a special pillow deflating mechanism called LiPoSuction.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
The worst thing that could happen would be if one of these Nanos caught fire in luggage...
No.
The worst that could happen (and quite possibly will now) is that the airlines seize this opportunity to make passengers' travel even more unpleasant than it already is by banning or confiscating people's iPods. I wouldn't put it past them at all.
It would be amusing to see a mass boycott of all the airlines by all travellers until they learn to stop being such officious pricks. The way they behave towards passengers is not much better than animals might expect from the live cattle export trade.
The sad thing is that we have largely allowed ourselves to be cowed by this treatment.
Lithium-ion cells are unstable, intolerant of overcharging, and energy-dense enough to be a real problem when they fail.
LiFePO4 is a possible answer. They're a little more expensive than Li-ion, and have slightly lower energy density, but they don't evolve gasses during charging, which makes them somewhat safer.
Apples and oranges. GP said "the luggage compartment is unpressurized". You said "Aircraft cabins are usually pressurized". Unless I'm mistaken, those are two different things. If they are not, then you should have said so.
SIGSEGV caught, terminating
wait... not that kind of sig.
No difference between cabin and baggage. This also is basic science. The entire fuselage tube is pressurized. It would be very difficult to pressurize only the cabin (floor is flat, not a cylinder, lots of holes in floor, etc.)
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?