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What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

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Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

#201

Post by mentalpiracy »

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #173

I've had my share of spicy pillows ranging from iPad to power bank from upstart company which became spicy after using it for just 3 times[1]. I've been overly cautious of batteries for several years now, I charge my devices with 1A charger and keep it between 40% to 80% . I now carry a single 18650 cell power bank instead of those 10,000 mAh, 20,000mAh power banks. I don't sleep with phone, tablet or kindle on bed a…

This honestly sounds like the electricity service line into your place is fucked slightly and it is gradually destroying your electronics.

Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

#202

Post by electroglyph »

rincebrain wrote: post #156
phil21 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Anything I get from China, even from a vendor I have done lots of business with in the past gets at minimum random samples inspected and tested when appropriate. Every single shipment, zero exceptions before use. So many things are caught. At best there is a lack of QA on the Chinese side, but it's definitely worse than that. They have no qualms sending you known-bad items, and just see it as "maybe the customer…

Intel used to be infamous for doing this, if you'd like a western example. A number of the integrators I worked with added rules banning customer-supplied CPUs because Intel would give away "working" product to educational/other institutions that, uh, did not POST, and it was such a headache so often that they banned using the product.

what? that makes no sense, why would Intel do that?

Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

#203

Post by wongarsu »

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #173

I've had my share of spicy pillows ranging from iPad to power bank from upstart company which became spicy after using it for just 3 times[1]. I've been overly cautious of batteries for several years now, I charge my devices with 1A charger and keep it between 40% to 80% . I now carry a single 18650 cell power bank instead of those 10,000 mAh, 20,000mAh power banks. I don't sleep with phone, tablet or kindle on bed a…

Your prayers have been (partially) heard. The EU Battery Regulation of 2023 demands that starting February 2027 batteries in all devices have to be user-replaceable with commercially available tools (or for watertight devices or some special device categories replaceable by an independent professional), that replacement batteries have to be available at reasonable prices and that use of third party batteries should not be prevented

Lobbyists have worked hard to weaken the regulation, but it should still be a major improvement over the status quo

Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

#204

Post by tim333 »

conradev wrote: post #152
bboygravity wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get how it's possible that nobody (other than Tesla) can manufacture batteries in the West? It a glance this feels insane. Batteries are in everything and such a basic need. How is it possible that buying through known scammers with tons of QA is still cheaper than manufacturing in the West? Obviously for Tesla it isn't cheaper to buy from China, so why is it thought to be cheaper for the rest of the West? Is…

Tesla is struggling to manufacture its own cells: https://www.energytrend.com/news/20240628-47693.html As for designing them, this was a good interview with the CEO of CATL pointing to talent pipeline issues. We don't train enough chemical engineers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VIXjjw4u9A

That was interesting - CATL has 21000 engineers and several hundred PhDs developing batteries and been doing it for 25 years. You can see why it's hard for some western startup like Northvolt to compete with that.

Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

#205

Post by teruakohatu »

doctorhandshake wrote: post #38

I have a recalled Anker battery sitting on my stoop, lest it burn my house down. Who on earth (NE USA ideally) will accept this for safe disposal / recycling? Normal battery recycling places don’t want a recalled battery, natch. Serious question, pls help

The RC (Radio Controlled) deal with this all the time. They often wreck huge lipo batteries so they have techniques to discharge them in safe manner. Google or search RC forums.

Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

#206

Post by da_chicken »

phil21 wrote: post #110
nomel wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work in manufacturing in the US. Incoming quality control, for Chinese vendors, is necessarily set up with zero-trust. This isn't a "trust but verify" sort of thing, it's strictly "do not trust". Assume that, at every step of the chain, there will be a lie: change of process, material change, collected data, and that the product being given to you is even yours (delivering a knockoff at the final step, and resellin…

Yep. Anything I get from China, even from a vendor I have done lots of business with in the past gets at minimum random samples inspected and tested when appropriate. Every single shipment, zero exceptions before use. So many things are caught. At best there is a lack of QA on the Chinese side, but it's definitely worse than that. They have no qualms sending you known-bad items, and just see it as "maybe the customer…

I have family in the auto industry, and they have similar stories. They'll get a shipment and it'll be out of spec. So they contact the vendor and the vendor will just say, "No, they're fine. Parts are good." No, they're out of spec and you need to fix them. Look, I can show you. "No, parts are good." And you'll go around and around like that. They won't care and won't budge.

Until you say, "Well, since these are out of spec, we're not paying for them. That's in the contract." And now it's suddenly a problem for them!

But the Korean and Japanese can be even weirder, because they will often only listen to someone if they have at least as much seniority as them. Like it won't matter how right you are, just your position.

Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

#207

Post by preisschild »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #13

Amazon sent me a recall notice about this one, indicating they had it from my purchase history, but oddly I couldn't find it in my own collection of power banks, or in the ones I gave to my wife. I'm worried I might have purchased one for another family member as a gift and not remembered who. The recall is concerning, especially since once they started with the one, they quickly added several more to the list. I've…

fwiw: You can see when you bought it in your Amazon purchases list, it might help you remember. For example, if you bought it just before someone's birthday date...

Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

#208

Post by Zak »

homebrewer wrote: post #197
Clamchop wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't know many were still buying alkaline AAs in large quantities. I've been using LSD NiMH AAs and AAAs for I think more than 15 years and haven't looked back. They seem to work with everything.

There's still lots of poorly produced electronics that treat NiMH that is within its normal operating voltage as being out of juice, and either nag you or shut down completely. My supposedly high quality Logitech mouse is one example (probably not buying anything from Logitech ever again, they're one of those brands that are coasting on their old credibility).

A device that won't work with NiMH due to voltage will also only use about a third of the energy in an alkaline. Poorly produced is an understatement.

My Logitech G604 works fine on NiMH. The calibration for reporting battery charge as a percentage is off, but it runs for months.

Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

#209

Post by Zak »

kube-system wrote: post #160
Zak wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps one of the things that should be included in right to repair legislation is stronger liability protection in cases where a third-party battery is installed in a device. I do often stick unprotected cells in flashlights that came with protected ones. It's important to know whether the flashlight can over-discharge the cell, but most can't, and it's important to not short-circuit them. I suggest people who don'…

Eh... I strongly disagree... We shouldn't let companies put out products that burn parents' house down because grandma didn't research 18650 protection circuits when she bought the grandkids some batteries for their toy on Amazon. Consumer product safety regulation is written in blood, and exists for a very good reason. Let the advanced right-to-repair audience open up the device with a screwdriver and install a new…

For products intended for kids, I like the idea of a screw on the battery door.

Re: What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

#210

Post by Tade0 »

mentalpiracy wrote: post #201
Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #173

I've had my share of spicy pillows ranging from iPad to power bank from upstart company which became spicy after using it for just 3 times[1]. I've been overly cautious of batteries for several years now, I charge my devices with 1A charger and keep it between 40% to 80% . I now carry a single 18650 cell power bank instead of those 10,000 mAh, 20,000mAh power banks. I don't sleep with phone, tablet or kindle on bed a…

This honestly sounds like the electricity service line into your place is fucked slightly and it is gradually destroying your electronics.

And/or a particularly hot climate. Some environmental effect either way.
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