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FAA Urges Passengers to Not Use Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on Planes

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Re: FAA Urges Passengers to Not Use Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on Planes

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I confess I didn't try it. The whole casing had ruptured and was warped / distended. It wouldn't have even been close to fitting back in the phone. Also, passing current through it was the furthest thing from my mind. I assure you, it's not because I was embarrassed by my screwup and trying to clean up my mess as quickly as possible (plus feeling a little loopy from being gassed out).

I hope you went to a hospital to get checked out after that. Some of the gases from cooking li-ion batteries are poisonous, and can cause long-term damage. Honestly, if you see a li-ion battery on fire, probably the best thing to do is to run . Throw it somewhere not-very-flammable if convenient, but get the heck out of there. And hold your breath.

I didn't go to the hospital. It was in a large well-ventilated room, so it was bad, but not awful (mostly could just smell something bad).

And it never actually caught fire. I did however throw it in a chamber we had fashioned for tests that might explode a battery (which this one was not supposed to be). One of my co-workers got the worst of it, and I think he ended up calling out sick the next day. I felt really bad about that.

*edit: Just wanted to add that your advice is still sound. I strongly advise against inhaling that stuff. Better yet, don't cook them, and don't deviate from your procedure just because someone came and asked you for help at precisely that moment.

Re: FAA Urges Passengers to Not Use Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on Planes

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes there is no choice, e.g. in the case when I carry two or three laptops for work reasons, and the weight limit of carry-on baggage means only one fits in hand luggage. A laptop packed properly in a hard bag full of clothes isn't very likely to take any hit, though. If the baggage handlers run over it by a truck, then it may be damaged, but not in plane.

What airline actually checks the weight limit on carry-on bags? I've never had mine checked for weight and I carry a backpack that looks like it shouldn't meet the size guidelines, but does.

Not OP, but anecdotally, this happens a lot outside the US. The most recent airline to make me weigh my carry on was Qantas, but I don't think it has ever been required of me within the US.

Re: FAA Urges Passengers to Not Use Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on Planes

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is actually my #1 fear in flying in 2016. Some rough baggage packing under the plane that damages a laptop battery in the gate checked bag. Every time I fly I watch people gate check bags with laptops and more even after the announcement to "remove all lithium batteries & electronics". I wish more people understood how dangerous this could be and would take 3 minutes to take electronics out and carry them on boa…

It seems unwise to gate-check a bag with a laptop anyway, given the way the luggage handlers throw bags around. Gate-checking a roller board suitcase with clothing is one thing, but I wouldn't check anything fragile or particularly expensive.

And theft. I've heard of items being removed from luggage after you check. A laptop is probably too tempting.

Re: FAA Urges Passengers to Not Use Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on Planes

#124
post #40
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but take the battery out obviously not a mac user

Clearly not. Mac users are used to their laptops actually going to sleep when they shut the lid. My work HP, however, is regularly scorching hot when I get home as it's been on in my backpack the whole time despite me shutting the lid and despite the instruction to 'go to sleep when the lid is closed'. How there's not some sort of thermal cutoff I do not know, but I know for a fact that there is not. Edit: by 'regula…

AFAIK pretty much all Intel CPUs do have a thermal cutoff, and I expect AMDs do as well.

Unfortunately, it's close to 100 degrees. It's only there to prevent damage to the CPU, not the rest of the system (or your back). It also isn't guaranteed to shut down the laptop, just the CPU.

So it really depends on how well the motherboard manufacturer did their job.

Re: FAA Urges Passengers to Not Use Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on Planes

#125
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The threat they are trying to guard against is binary liquid explosives, where you mix two liquids to make a bomb, so volume does matter. Of course, it's a idiotic way to accomplish their goal anyway, but their goal is idiotic anyway, so it's all security theater anyway.

> binary explosives ... Please, what a frigging joke. Be cooped up in a small bumpy space for hours trying to create a very touchy explosive. ... hydrogen peroxide, acetone, and sulfuric acid ... put a beaker containing the peroxide / acetone mixture into the ice water bath (Champagne bucket), and start adding the acid, drop by drop, while stirring constantly. Watch the reaction temperature carefully. The mixture wil…

I never said it was a legitimate threat (in fact, I called it idiotic), just saying that no one was ever worried about poison. You could say they should be worried about poison in the sense that poison attacks seem much easier and much more likely to be effective than explosive attacks, but then again they should be worried about nothing, since terrorism is so rare that it's not worth nearly the amount of attention it gets.

Re: FAA Urges Passengers to Not Use Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on Planes

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I've always scratched my head slightly at the fact that one is allowed to travel with an explosive device, so long as it also functions as a battery - yet bottled water is way out . It's trivially easy to make a lithium fire at 45,000 feet. Stamp on/bend an IMR 18450, and you have a torch which will burn through a window. Hell, you could probably just fold your phone in half - most batteries run the full he…

it isn't about safety. its about an illusion of effectiveness. 97% failure rate based on their own internal evaluations. If the water bottle was so dangerous, you wouldn't be allowed to throw it away in the trash can right next to the screeners.

I believe the fear with liquids is that several chemicals could be combined on the plane to create a bomb.

A bottle of fluid, by itself, is not likely to be very dangerous. Several bottles + time + privacy--maybe.

Re: FAA Urges Passengers to Not Use Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on Planes

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why they aren't being banned, the way that hover boards were (though I believe the fire risk for the Note 7 is only present while charging)

Honestly, I've always scratched my head slightly at the fact that one is allowed to travel with an explosive device, so long as it also functions as a battery - yet bottled water is way out . It's trivially easy to make a lithium fire at 45,000 feet. Stamp on/bend an IMR 18450, and you have a torch which will burn through a window. Hell, you could probably just fold your phone in half - most batteries run the full he…

Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/651/

Re: FAA Urges Passengers to Not Use Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on Planes

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes there is no choice, e.g. in the case when I carry two or three laptops for work reasons, and the weight limit of carry-on baggage means only one fits in hand luggage. A laptop packed properly in a hard bag full of clothes isn't very likely to take any hit, though. If the baggage handlers run over it by a truck, then it may be damaged, but not in plane.

What airline actually checks the weight limit on carry-on bags? I've never had mine checked for weight and I carry a backpack that looks like it shouldn't meet the size guidelines, but does.

It depends on the route, but I saw this done on many flights from mainland China to Europe, on several airlines.

(And considering the amount of carry-on luggage that people routinely bring in Chinese domestic flights, this is not surprising; there's a limit to what the overhead lockers can take, not to mention that pathetic slot where your feet should be.)

Re: FAA Urges Passengers to Not Use Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on Planes

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems unwise to gate-check a bag with a laptop anyway, given the way the luggage handlers throw bags around. Gate-checking a roller board suitcase with clothing is one thing, but I wouldn't check anything fragile or particularly expensive.

I flew out of Beijing recently, and there all check-in baggage was immediately scanned for batteries. If they found what they thought were batteries, you had to remove them from the bag and take it on carry-on.

meanwhile TSA is hard at work x-raying shoes

Re: FAA Urges Passengers to Not Use Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on Planes

#130
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google pushing out a new letter each year is working wonders even if the hardware does not degrade at all. People remember how a major update years ago did make things noticeably better and won't easily give up hope that the current increments would be similar (same thing for hardware btw, people remember the huge progress between the very first generations of smartphones and want to repeat that experience, no matter…

It might be too subtle for you to see but there's real advancement going on in those new releases. Some of those features are security-related, which is the same kind of thing that drives many iOS features. IMO Google does good by releasing new updates to Android and for their branded devices they usually offer one or more of these updates before they stop supporting them. If you choose to root the devices, often the…

Security might be served much better with a more "LTS" Android that would give hardware companies less excuses to leave devices behind. Not only less excuses, but also less incentive to do so: "no more boring security updates" is a much weaker carrot to lure users to new devices than "no more exciting new sugary snacks", which usually also implies no more security updates anyways.
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