Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?

lumafield.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 308 posts

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

#61

Post by ajsnigrutin »

nomel wrote: post #52
yegle wrote: post #21

FWIW 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…

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, there is an interesting book "Poorly made in china" talking about the same thing... not powerbanks but same modus operandi.

For example (hope I didn't mess up the details, it's been some time since I read it), a cosmetics manufacturer vendor replaced shampoo bottles with ones made with less (thinner) plastics multiple times, untill they started being destroyed in shipping... without notifying the company that ordered the shampoo... and then wanted more money for the "better" shampoo bottles.

Also some very questionable practices:

-----

The hair gel that we produced at the factory was green. One day, I noticed that the worker who filled the gel bottles had a skin condition. His hands were covered with the slick formula, and beneath the green, shimmery layer, I could see that the skin on his hands was peeling. Small, raw patches of flesh were exposed, and you didn’t have to be a dermatologist to see that his skin was infected.

“We should probably do something about this one,” I said to Sister, trying to sound calm, while in my head alarm bells were ringing.

Sister did not see the point. “Why?” she asked.

“It might be a health issue?”

“But the worker has done nothing wrong. It’s just an allergic reaction.”

Trying to press the matter, I suggested that the worker might contaminate the product.

Sister twisted around the argument. “How can he harm the product when it was the product that caused him the harm?”

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

#62

Post by pimlottc »

lopis wrote: post #32
madars wrote: post #3

The article doesn't show pictures of the unit itself, focusing on the CT scan, so here's the recall notice: https://www.anker.com/a1263-recall

That link is redirecting to the home page

Works for me from the US; it may depend on what region you're in.

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

#63

Post by Fergusonb »

meemo wrote: post #27

Even 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.

I read the article linked above with all of the testing they did to identify the cause, I'd definitely have no trouble buying from them in the future.

Reminiscent of the tylenol case study, handled a tough situation correctly and it's still on the shelf.

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

#64

Post by XorNot »

yegle wrote: post #58
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…

This seems to be startlingly contrast to all the talks about "US manufacturers are absolutely doomed w/o Chinese vendors' great products and quality control" when Trump increased the tariffs. I can only find https://youtu.be/3ZTGwcHQfLY but earlier this year it was all over YouTube.

Did you miss the "it's still cheaper then building in the US" part?

US manufacturers aren't doomed: they already don't exist, and the infrastructure needed to support them also does not exist.

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

#65

Post by nomel »

yegle wrote: post #58
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…

This seems to be startlingly contrast to all the talks about "US manufacturers are absolutely doomed w/o Chinese vendors' great products and quality control" when Trump increased the tariffs. I can only find https://youtu.be/3ZTGwcHQfLY but earlier this year it was all over YouTube.

> This seems to be startlingly contrast

Only to someone not involved with Chinese manufacturing.

It's not too hard to find good manufacturers that you can trust. If you do, they will be operating with this same mindset, completely distrusting everyone else. Great! You're done, right? Well sure, until management changes (this happened to us once).

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

#66

Post by doctorhandshake »

ethan_smith wrote: post #48
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

Contact your local hazardous waste facility or check with Anker directly at anker.com/a1263-recall as they're required to provide free disposal options for recalled products under CPSC regulations.

I wish this was a viable solution. Linked page says, effectively ‘you’re on your own’. My municipality has two events coming up - August and late October, both calendar events say ‘no electronics’. I really don’t get how this is supposed to work.

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

#67

Post by y7r4m »

Zak wrote: post #47
turnsout wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100%... I'm seeking products that take AA or AAA batteries instead of built-in lithium batteries, for the same reason.

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 all the tech gadgets.. bluetooth speakers, I'm looking at you.. why not have replaceable batteries for those? There have to be enough vapers now that the knowledge of this type of battery as distinct from the old alkaline ones has passed into mainstream consciousness. This would be a huge selling feature for me.

The reasons I see are that it is because the rechargable li-ion are more dangerous and a fire hazard, but is this really true? As with most anything that can carry a risk if misused, I can find a few dozen instances where a vape battery went awry, but surely the benefits outweigh the concerns?

Edit: I do understand the irony of saying this on a post about when they do go boom.

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

#68

Post by jonhohle »

chmod775 wrote: post #35

Note that they have another recall for other models going, though their language for those sounds somewhat less dramatic compared to what they used for the PowerCore 10000. More of a "covering our assess" recall than a "holy shit we might be liable for lots of damage" recall. https://www.anker.com/rc2506

I had a Powercore III Sense 10K (I think), which doesn’t appear on that list, swell on me recently. It’s one of my newer batteries and I bought from Anker trusting their reputation and past purchases. I purchased their Soundcore earbuds, which failed to charge after a few weeks. I don’t think I have any cables from them anymore as they’ve all failed as quickly (or more quickly) than less expensive options.

My current perspective, recall or not, is their quality is no different from the alphabet soup companies selling identical looking (and possibly identical) items.

It seems like the overheating issue is “not thier fault,” but part of being a trusted brand isn’t just recalling but vetting suppliers and the components they receive.

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

#70

Post by bazingakiller »

brk wrote: post #44
yegle wrote: post #21

FWIW 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…

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.
Post reply on HN