I bought two of these. I have no idea where they are now. Hopefully in such a low SoC that they're not dangerous.
What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?
81–90 of 308 posts
Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?
#82I have two of these powerbanks, one ordered in 2019 and another in 2021. Amazon sent me scary emails saying these things will kill me. Anker's recall site says I'm not affected and the product is safe to use. I'm not sure who to trust, but I've erred on the side of caution and trashed the batteries. Because it's not worth dying in a fire over $30 in batteries.
The scary thing is you can't put the fire out with water. Your only option is to run.
Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?
#83I imagine there will be a stunning amount of owners that will either: A) Keep using it, even if they do hear about the recall B) Throw it in the trash can
here in Central Europe batteries in the trash can are the cause for massive dumpster fires and explosions (not that often, but there was one just last month, took several days to extinguish the fire [0]) [0]: https://www.theinternational.at/nusdorf%E2%80%90debant-500-f...
This is not just a central europe problem. A bit further west people throw them in the trash as well. Fun and smelly since the garbage truck drivers usually notice it when driving and then dump all trash on the street.
Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anker should know better by this point. Changing specs without notifying customers is the basic formula of every Chinese manufacturer. They must have gotten lazy with their internal QA/QC processes and random sampling.
It clearly isn't the "basic formula" if it was so out of the norm it caused a national controversy and got the vendor's certifications removed. Your bitterness is showing.
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Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?
#85Even though this is a recall, a bad thing, it actually makes me more likely to buy from Anker than a no-name brand on Amazon. Those no-name brands almost definitely have problems like this (or worse), but we rarely hear about them.
Honestly, when shopping no-name slop I'm seeking out products that don't have batteries, or at least don't have powerful ones (non-vibrating game controllers are probably pretty safe). One less risk.
I am not sure that no-name batteries are that more dangerous. A common reason batteries catch fire is when things are too densely packed, causing shorts. A famous case is the Galaxy Note 7, which is Samsung, not Chinese tech.
No-name batteries are often way lower capacity than advertised, which means less stuff, and therefore less densely packed and less stuff to burn.
I am not saying that these batteries are safer, or that it is not a scam, but the fact that these batteries are lower capacity can compensate for the sketchy build. Power electronics is another story, so while the battery may be ok, the charging circuit may not.
Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wish more devices took field-replaceable cylindrical Li-ion cells. They're pretty common in flashlights and rare in other products where they would be advantageous.
It would be awesome if we were able to get more things besides vapes (and apparently some flashlights; I assume there are many niches where they are common) to use 18650 or even 21700 li-ion cells. I see most people I know buy AAs by the pallet and go through them regularly for their controllers, led lights, kids toys, etc.. and few I believe bother to dispose of them correctly. Also, repeating your sentiment, for al…
The market for the end product (and the risk aversion of the manufacturer) makes a difference.
Flashlight and vape enthusiasts are mostly adults who likely trend as all three of: older and more knowledgeable, more likely to take and accept risks, and more willing to pay a premium for the benefits of replaceable batteries... and the companies that make vapes and high-powered enthusiast flashlights are probably less worried about a customer suing them over a battery issue than a large toy manufacturer. If you're a vape company, you have bigger safety issues to worry about -- like the normal operation of your products :)
Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?
#87I have two of these powerbanks, one ordered in 2019 and another in 2021. Amazon sent me scary emails saying these things will kill me. Anker's recall site says I'm not affected and the product is safe to use. I'm not sure who to trust, but I've erred on the side of caution and trashed the batteries. Because it's not worth dying in a fire over $30 in batteries.
I would have just trusted Anker in this case. Amazon only knows you bought that model of battery, not whether it was affected. Anker would (or should) know exactly what range of serials were made with the problematic cells.
Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?
#88FWIW this has caused a big storm in China. The root of the issue is known to be caused by the battery cell vendor Amprius changing the battery design w/o notifying the power bank manufacturers. AFAIKT Amprius lost the 3C certification (a certification in China) because of this incident. This is one of the Chinese reports on the issue: https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_31048287 Excerpt from the report above (tr…
Amprius has released a statement:
> Amprius Technologies, Inc. has never developed or manufactured batteries for power banks. For accuracy, please attribute the certification issue to Apex (Wuxi), not Amprius. Recent reports have incorrectly linked Amprius Technologies, Inc. to a battery certification issue. The company involved is Apex (Wuxi) Co., Ltd., formerly known as Amprius (Wuxi) Co., Ltd., a Chinese lithium battery manufacturer based in Wuxi, China.
> Apex (Wuxi) was once a subsidiary of Amprius Inc. but was never part of Amprius Technologies, Inc. In early 2022, Apex was spun off, renamed, and has operated independently since, with no ties or relationships to Amprius Technologies, Inc.
(source: https://www.gizchina.com/2025/07/14/anker-baseus-romoss-amon...)
Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honestly, when shopping no-name slop I'm seeking out products that don't have batteries, or at least don't have powerful ones (non-vibrating game controllers are probably pretty safe). One less risk.
If they have flat batteries you could be safe if they are LiFePO which are quite hard to light on fire. YMMV depending on the actual battery. Usually the come from batches of old phones which went out of production are put into these kind of things since they can be bought on the cheap. If they put in a round cell I'd stay away. I usually replace the cell with one I know is good and check the circuit for protection.…
> if they are LiFePO
No phones use this chemistry. I have no idea what you're on about.
>Wouldn't be the first time I've seen something with no over or undervolt protection whatsoever.
Even the cheapest lithium ion charge controllers have overvolt protection by the nature of how they work. What can happen however is a controller could be specced to charge to 4.3V per cell and a 4.2V cell is instead installed. This is a problem.
Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wish more devices took field-replaceable cylindrical Li-ion cells. They're pretty common in flashlights and rare in other products where they would be advantageous.
It would be awesome if we were able to get more things besides vapes (and apparently some flashlights; I assume there are many niches where they are common) to use 18650 or even 21700 li-ion cells. I see most people I know buy AAs by the pallet and go through them regularly for their controllers, led lights, kids toys, etc.. and few I believe bother to dispose of them correctly. Also, repeating your sentiment, for al…
> and few I believe bother to dispose of them correctly.
There are no mercury alkalines anymore for general consumer use, those collection bins were removed from stores in the 90's and they can be disposed of with normal waste.