Cell phones or Cell Bombs?

[Gizmo]

If you take a look here it would appear that there are some problems with cell phone batteries exploding. Have you ever experienced anything like this? Is it something you are concerned about? Or do you think it is much ado about nothing?

[danrok]

I did something a bit similar not so long ago with some rechargable AA batteries. I took them out of my camera because they appeared to be dead. I put them in my pocket with my keys. I know about shorting batteries and heat but I thought they were dead. About half an hour later I had a burning sensation on my thigh! One battery was very hot. I just threw them all away after that.

I'm not worried about my phone exploding any more than I am worried about a coke machine falling on me and killing me - but it does happen apparently.

[Logan]

Hmm...my cell battery says "Made in China" and gets really hot when I charge it...

Guess I won't be using the phone while it's charging anymore. Lol. If it blows up, Motorola gets to buy me a new set of interior.

[Razorfish]

Thats scarey, my Nokia 6600 has a huge battery in it! id hate for it to blow up in my face... i mobile were dangerous to use in petrol stations but just using them is dangous by the sounds of things...radiation! them and blowing up..eek

[fantomfreq]

Cell phone batteries have always gotten hot, at least as long as I've used them. However, I'd have to say the award for hottest consumer electronic product goes to..... laptop computers! They've been getting hotter as quickly as manufacturers have shrunk equipment to fit into the cases. If I were to play games for a while on my laptop while on my lap, the computer just might leave some minor burn marks! And judging by the recent dell power adaptor and Apple PB battery recalls, portable computers are just as likely to have a power problem as a cell phone. Laptop batteries are much larger and more volitile, too.

[stigweed]

There were some stories on the inq about this.

A guy got second degree burns to his lap area from a laptop.

Several reports of mobile phones exploding. Any kind of dent in the battery can cause some short circuiting which cna lead to a serious discharge of energy. Apparently this is why no one wants to build electric cars - when the insurance companies work out we're driving around very fragile bombs, it's going to get expensive.

[Gizmo]

This might be the boost necessary to get fuel cell technology to really start to take off.

[Lazgoat]

The closest I've come to an exploding battery was in a regular cordless Dect phone which was overly warm to the touch one afternoon. I checked the batteries and found one of the AA batteries was so hot it was smoking and had melted the battery cage. So I took it out and slung it in the bin and forgot about it. My colleague was soon running out of the building with the bin and its contents alight!

Laz.

[danrok]

Originally Posted by stigweed

There were some stories on the inq about this.

A guy got second degree burns to his lap area from a laptop.

Several reports of mobile phones exploding. Any kind of dent in the battery can cause some short circuiting which cna lead to a serious discharge of energy. Apparently this is why no one wants to build electric cars - when the insurance companies work out we're driving around very fragile bombs, it's going to get expensive.

Battery powered vehicles are very common place, i.e. fork lift trucks, battery powered access platforms, luggage carts, golf carts, etc. They're all quite safe, if anything safer than a petrol car. Petrol is very flammable.

[stigweed]

Originally Posted by danrok

Battery powered vehicles are very common place, i.e. fork lift trucks, battery powered access platforms, luggage carts, golf carts, etc. They're all quite safe, if anything safer than a petrol car. Petrol is very flammable.

But I think the point is that collisions with cars will be much higher velocity than those things and more likely to damage an already fragile battery.

P.S. Not only was it my birthday yesterday but I got with a enw girlfriend too. Score!

[danrok]

Originally Posted by stigweed

But I think the point is that collisions with cars will be much higher velocity than those things and more likely to damage an already fragile battery.

P.S. Not only was it my birthday yesterday but I got with a enw girlfriend too. Score!

High velocity prangs are best avoided in any car!

Happy Birthday for yesterday, sounds like you got the ideal 'gift'.

[stigweed]

yeah it's all good now.we were both out tonight, those who didnt' know before were surprised now. the ones who did no before gave us a round of applause back on monday as they ahd been waiting a while for us to get together. now everyone knows. was a wierd evenings but cool

[Daniel ~]

Happy belated Birthday and congratulations upon your social advancement into the realm of coupledom stigweed!!

[stigweed]

thanks. sorry to hijack the thread

[Gizmo]

No probs, Stig. The thread was already pretty dead anyway. And congrats.