A few years in the past, the Samsung Galaxy Observe 7 gained notoriety when its batteries caught fireplace in a sequence of incidents. There’s been a gradual stream of comparable, although remoted, incidents ever since. Nonetheless, regardless of the high-profile protection of batteries gone unsuitable, the overwhelming majority of Li-ion batteries are secure.
The chemical response that happens inside a lithium-ion cell is advanced, however as in any battery, there is a unfavorable and a optimistic electrode. In lithium batteries, the unfavorable is a lithium-carbon compound, and the optimistic is cobalt oxide (although many battery makers are transferring away from cobalt). These two compounds trigger a response that’s secure when managed and delivers power to your units. When the response will get uncontrolled although, you find yourself with earbuds melting in your ears. What adjustments a secure response to an uncontrolled response may be any variety of issues: extra warmth, bodily injury throughout use, bodily injury throughout manufacture, or utilizing the unsuitable charger.
The three fundamental guidelines which have stored me secure (to this point) by testing dozens and dozens of batteries are:
- Keep away from low cost cords, chargers, and outlet adapters.
- Make certain batteries aren’t uncovered to extreme warmth (over 110 levels).
- Often examine batteries for indicators of injury.
Avoiding low cost wall-outlet adapters, cords, and chargers is an important. These are your more than likely supply of issues. These chargers you see on Amazon for $20 cheaper than the competitors? Not value it. They most likely obtained the worth down by skimping on insulation, leaving out power-management instruments, and ignoring the fundamentals {of electrical} security. Worth alone is not any assure of security, both. Purchase from respected firms and types.
Then there’s warmth. An excessive amount of of it may well trigger all method of issues, each when it comes to discharge and when it comes to security. Keep away from warmth, and take note of your batteries after they’re charging. In case your system will get overly scorching when charging, this is usually a signal of issues. Equally, watch out for any swollen, bulging, or in any other case misshapen batteries.