Re: Batteries catching fire?

There was a spectacular case of this recently, and videos of it were all over the internet. However, it is very likely (although not certain) that the laptop involved had non-Dell batteries.

Litium batteries, which all laptops and cell phones use, can become extremely dangerous if not properly managed. They can more or less become a lethal fire bomb. However, they all have extensive internal protection devices and internal microprocessors in the batteries themselves to keep them from going incindiary. Most of the instances of problems have involved cheap 3rd party batteries not made by the original device manufacturer. But ***ALL*** modern laptops (and pretty much all cell phones also) have lithium batteries, and catastrophic incindiary failure is extremely rare.

eScotty wrote:

Hi,
My daughter is going off to university in September and will need a
laptop. I did some research, and was all set to buy her a Dell
Inspiron 6400, but then I read a newspaper article about laptop
batteries that have caught fire because the owner forgot to turn off
the laptop. Dell was mentioned as one of the brands - not the only one
- that has had this problem. So now I'm confused.

Are there certain laptop brands that have non-lithium batteries and are
less likely to catch fire? Can anyone offer any suggestions on
avoiding this problem? I know the risks are fairly low, but I want to
take no chances.

Thanks,
eScotty

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Batteries catching fire?
    ... In our company, there was a recent recall on laptop power supplies because in the right condition, it could catch on fire. ... It could be an issue in the laptop, it could be an issue in the battery saftety & control circuits, it could be an issue in a production run of Lithium cells themselves. ... the laptop involved had non-Dell batteries. ... suppliers of equipment have been affected. ...
    (comp.sys.laptops)
  • Re: Batteries catching fire?
    ... It could be an issue in the laptop, it could be an issue in the battery saftety & control circuits, it could be an issue in a production run of Lithium cells themselves. ... over the internet. ... the laptop involved had non-Dell batteries. ... suppliers of equipment have been affected. ...
    (comp.sys.laptops)
  • Re: Batteries catching fire?
    ... over the internet. ... the laptop involved had non-Dell batteries. ... suppliers of equipment have been affected. ...
    (comp.sys.laptops)
  • Re: Batteries catching fire?
    ... over the internet. ... Litium batteries, which all laptops and cell phones use, can become ... suppliers of equipment have been affected (and not just laptop suppliers). ...
    (comp.sys.laptops)
  • IBM, Lenovo Recall ThinkPad Batteries
    ... Consumers are being asked to return 526,000 laptop batteries made by ... record-setting recall involving nearly 7 million computers. ... A laptop caught fire at Los Angeles ...
    (rec.sport.pro-wrestling)