Li-Ion batteries on our TV news last night

bjn70 · #1 05-24-2006, 10:16 AM

A relative of one of the newscasters had a problem with their laptop, so they had a small story on it. The laptop was laying on the carpet being used, the people left the room for a few minutes, when they came back they noticed that the laptop was melting the carpet under it. They took the computer outside and layed it on the sidewalk, then watched as it caught on fire and burned.

The basis of the news report was that the Li-Ion batteries in current laptops were made overseas with less quality control and could cause problems with overheating. They said that several major manufacturers, such as Apple, Dell, etc. had recalled a lot of them due to faulty batteries.

I thought it was an interesting story on the dangers of Li-Ion batteries. They didn't say what the remedy might be, except to not leave your laptop running unattended.

Manzerick · #2 05-24-2006, 10:27 AM

i'd freak if my laptop burnt

Maybe even more so if my M4 blew!

greenLED · #3 05-24-2006, 10:49 AM

...other than blaming it on the battery per se... leaving a laptop on a carpet is a sure way of overheating the components... which can lead to batts thermal runaway? Not trying to move attention away from the batts (a well bulit protection circuit might've prevented this), but overheating a laptop on a carpet is not exactly proper use on my book. My 0.02 lumens.

Ras_Thavas · #4 05-24-2006, 11:15 AM

I wonder what brand of laptop? HP and Dell have both had recalls of their batteries in recent months. I would not put it past the news weasils to find one with a pack that should have been recalled and then set it on a carpet, which as Green said is not good anyway, so it could catch fire and they could broadcast it.

Sounds like it was a slow news day.

Navck · #5 05-24-2006, 11:21 AM

Assuming this is your average consumer, they probably haven't even tried to undervolt their CPU or use dynamic switching. This can easily lead to 55C (Assuming at 20C room temperatures on a flat table) temperatures. Imagine that on carpet, and what if they had a CPU intensive program running? This is the way to ask for screaming 80C and higher CPU core temperatures. Outside, you can even burn your hand just from the plastic, imagine what that feels like to your laptop battery pack.

Other than that - The manufacture of the laptop probably had a horrible venting system that requires a minimal clearance of 5mm off the ground or something. Or one of those bottom vent or intake systems

COMMANDR · #6 05-24-2006, 11:27 AM

My computer HAL has never caught on fire or burnt, but it has lied to me and tried to kill me.

Dave Bowman

Cliffnopus · #7 05-24-2006, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by COMMANDR

My computer HAL has never caught on fire or burnt, but it has lied to me and tried to kill me.

Dave Bowman

--"Look Dave, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over."

HAL 9000

Illum · #8 05-24-2006, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjn70

A relative of one of the newscasters had a problem with their laptop, so they had a small story on it. The laptop was laying on the carpet being used, the people left the room for a few minutes, when they came back they noticed that the laptop was melting the carpet under it. They took the computer outside and layed it on the sidewalk, then watched as it caught on fire and burned.

The basis of the news report was that the Li-Ion batteries in current laptops were made overseas with less quality control and could cause problems with overheating. They said that several major manufacturers, such as Apple, Dell, etc. had recalled a lot of them due to faulty batteries.

I thought it was an interesting story on the dangers of Li-Ion batteries. They didn't say what the remedy might be, except to not leave your laptop running unattended.

Something like this?
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/pho.../photo159p.htm
Fujitsu-Siemens recalls fire-risk laptop batteries

InfidelCastro · #9 05-24-2006, 02:48 PM

Same thing happens with cell phone batteries. Li-ion batteries can be dangerous and are not always made to the best standards.

cobb · #10 05-24-2006, 05:01 PM

What happened to the good old days where you can put out cigarette butts on your laptop while sitting it on the stove without it burning?

Just kidding about that, but there are warnings that the warmer laptops can cause problems for guys and their sperm count. Some cases the heat alone can make a guy sterile.

NoFair · #11 05-25-2006, 01:45 AM

[QUOTE=greenLED My 0.02 lumens.[/QUOTE]

That puts you in HDS on minimum territory

I know you think it is too small, but it is a great companion to a U2 when camping or trekking for longer durations. nudge nudge...

BOT: A good battery-pack should shut itself down before heating up and burning. Some packs use bare cells others use cells with added protection build in. The pack contains some pretty advanced protection circuits, but if this fails and the cells are bad a campfire isn't far off...

Letting a laptop get very hot from leaving it on a couch, carpet or bed is an unnecessary way to test if your batterypack is well made.

jar3ds · #12 05-25-2006, 03:07 AM

i'm glad i have a alum. laptop cooler underneath my laptop always running