T&L Publications

-JPKNHTP

Yes, it is very real. That is what lithium batteries do when abused or the microcontrolled circuitry inside the battery pack goes bananas.
Last week I saw a burning comparison video of a Li-ion batteries manufacturer on its web site. Can't find it now.
Miguel

Maybe it's Dell's latest theft-protection device.

-JPKNHTP

-JPKNHTP

Externet wrote:Yes, it is very real. That is what lithium batteries do when abused or the microcontrolled circuitry inside the battery pack goes bananas.
Last week I saw a burning comparison video of a Li-ion batteries manufacturer on its web site. Can't find it now.
Miguel

Li-Ion's will overheat and catch fire if using the wrong charger (or a malfunctioning one). I doubt this would happen when running off of a battery. It does bring up the issue of allowing recharging on airplanes... usually, the Li-Ion pack has shut-down circuitry inside. be very carefull when using 3rd party Li-Ion battery packs.

Dell has nothing to do with it - all batteries are susceptable to this problem.

JPKNHTP wrote:I just came across this and it needs to be shared. ----> http://hackedgadgets.com/2006/06/23/sca ... o-addicts/

THAT IS THE FUNNIEST THING I HAVE SEENS IN A LONG TIME!!!!

I'm still laughing!!! hahahahahahah!

Thanks for sharing!

hahahahahah

~Kam (^8*

-JPKNHTP

According to IEEE, Counterfit components including batteries are making their way into even the hands of the OEM manufacturers of computers, phones and other portable devices.

With little or no quality control, the protection devices built into the batteries can be worthless as it was in this case.

As for the tchno scarf, they should make kids wear them in school so they will pay attention. Just need to convert all the textbooks to PDF and find a way to keep them from napping

haklesup wrote:With little or no quality control, the protection devices built into the batteries can be worthless as it was in this case.

Ahh....no wonder it was a Dell.

I won't completely fault Dell on this issue. There have been many, many battery failures, including the alkaline batteries like AA, C, and D batteries. HP/Compaq has had to recall batteries and chargers. So has Sony, Nikon, Kyocera, Apple and many others.

My guess is poor quality control or outright faud in battery vendors. I have seen some battery packs that are name brand labeled but do not feel like the same quality as the originals pulled out of the equipment. You know the feeling, when something just does not feel "right". My guess is like Rolex watches for $30 and Gucci hand bags for $10 that the same thing is happening with batteries. Except it is happening in both after market and at the computer plants themselves.

Well I'm sticking to blaming this on Dell.

Why? Two reasons. First, It's a Dell. Dell isn't known for high QC. There actually not known for too much besides low cost budget systems, and high cost budget systems in a fancier looking case. Unless we count in their excellent technical support...

Second. It's not the first the a Dell has exploded. First one was a while ago to a girl. She got sent to a hospital with second degree burns.

Sure this was 3 years ago but still. It's pretty much saying the PDA sitting on my desk (yes I sadly admit I have a dell), is a ticking time bomb, as well as every dell laptop out there right now.

Speaking of Dell quality, I have had mine for 2 years and had my E-Drive replaced 3 times. The last one was done by local professionals and not associated with Dell, so I am anticipating normal service time with this one, The Dell support is so bad, that I won't even deal with them anymore, even under warranty. Its just not worth the aggravation. This is my first and last Dell product!

-JPKNHTP

The Li-ion video mentioned in my post above I was unable to find at that moment, is here thanks to John D. :

http://www.valence.com/SafetyVideo.asp

Enjoy,
Miguel