Fire caused by external charger

[Posiesmum]

Not sure if his has already been posted.
theguardian/business...CMP=GTUK_email

Wonder if that will cause a ban on external chargers like Ankers?

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Mmm, quite worrying. Of course we all think of batteries as being a marvelous invention and just carry on our lives not realising how dnagerous certain types can be.

Lets also remember the fires caused on the Boeing Dreamliners that led to them being grounded.

I wonder how many cases get opened by security and batteries removed?

[Colette-S]

I’ve read warnings from the fire brigade that say house fires caused by chargers/phones are increasing at an alarming rate. Apparently cheap chargers are to blame along with people putting them on beds, down the sides of chairs etc causing them to overheat. Sounds like that could be the case here

[Guest]

charger wedged between 2 seats, i guess it overheated

[Do5-BaG]

Happened a few times this over recent months, I was reading only Yesterday that another external power bank charger exploded on Royal Brunei flight.

Mr. Tom, other than the cases Samsung had to deal with due to faulty batteries on the Note 8, mobile phone companies usually go the great lengths with their testing and Quality Control on their internal batteries, hence why most of them in new handsets are fully built in and cannot be removed, you usually find that most cases of handsets exploding have been caused due to incorrect use / human error.

I'd say the biggest concern now is the use of these power bank chargers, they are usually cheaply manufactured with minimal testing & Quality Control compared to Main Device Manufacturers, I admit I use them, but ONLY when on solid ground, I carry one with my when on holiday in case i'm using my phone a lot for pictures, google maps, websites etc just to give me an extra charge when out & about.

Maybe it's time for Airlines to clamp down on power banks been used/charged on planes and limit people to ONLY using designated USB charging ports (when available) on seats or screens.

[RickT]

Cheap far east batteries.. rammed between 2 seats... not going to end well.

Issue is a lot of these cheap far east devices are really dangerous. Where premium brands use proper designed for the unit batteries, some of the far east cheap rubbish is simply 8x AA rechargeable batteries taped together in a plastic case.

[ERICSMUM]

When you think about it, those batteries are chock-full of power, very potent. Any flaws, eg cheap poorly-made versions are a recipe for disaster in certain situations.

[disneypars]

There was a similar story on the Jeremy Vine show on radio 2 yesterday. There was an expert on who said that everything should be switched off except for essentials like fridge etc. He did say that when he is away he does however leave lights on a digital timer to deter intruders.
It's all down to these cheap imports apparently.

[CarolynU]

My iPhone which is only 14 months old doesn’t even hold its charge all day so I rely on external batteries. This is deeply worrying.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by CarolynU

My iPhone which is only 14 months old doesn’t even hold its charge all day so I rely on external batteries. This is deeply worrying.

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Wow, you must have hammered it for the battery to not last all day. Maybe worth speaking to Apple if there is an issue as they are very good at doing free replacement batteries.