How to protect yourself when a lithium battery explodes

How to protect yourself when a lithium battery explodes

How many electronic devices in your home and office? Notebooks, smartphones, tablets, charging treasures, chargers, and maybe more.

Most of the time, the electronic device works well, and if something goes wrong, it will cause disaster within a few seconds.

Why do electronic devices such as smartphones and laptops explode? For example, Galaxy Note7 and the hoverboard have exploded. Today we will find out the reasons and see how we can protect our families and ourselves.

According to UK regulatory requirements, I conducted an electronic security test and found that there are two major threats that users need to face:

- The battery exploded.

- Users touch high voltage (mostly through damaged equipment, electric shock, sometimes because of poor design).

In the case of smartphones, laptops, charging treasures, and the like, many problems arise from chargers or batteries. Modern rechargeable batteries store a large amount of electrical energy in a small space. Most of the time, the battery operates in the desired mode, slowly outputting power in a controlled manner, and if there is a cause that causes rapid release of power, there is a risk of explosion or fire.

I have seen that the battery has fired several times, some are intentional, some are unexpected, and we carry so much "electric energy" in our pockets and backpacks. I really admire it.

Do not get me wrong, a defective lithium-ion battery is quite dangerous and it can explode. The so-called explosion is not a slight noise, just like the fireworks at night, let the adults jump and let the children get excited and scream. The battery explosion will make a relatively large, heavy sound, and the outer casing of the wrapping equipment will be broken to form a glass shock wave.

With a bang, spattered glass fragments, in addition to these other concerns, sometimes-molten metal lithium will splash on the body, and will release a pungent toxic gas.

If you are outdoors, away from combustibles, it is unlikely that intense chemical reactions will occur. Unfortunately, the explosion is often unexpected. We may put the device in our pocket during the explosion, or put it in the car to charge; we are driving on the highway, or putting the phone on the head while sleeping in the middle of the night.

Thank God, the explosion and the fire are not always happening.

Why did the equipment explode and catch fire? The reason can summarized into three categories:

-- Manufacturing defects: A batch of batteries is too bad (as in Note 7), problems with the assembly line, damage to components, or the use of the wrong components can cause problems with the equipment. Although the media likes to fire equipment and recall it for manufacturing, in fact manufacturing rarely causes such problems because well-known manufacturers have a strict set of security inspections.

-- Design flaws or counterfeit products: In general, only low-cost, poorly worked equipment can have such problems. Some manufacturers not home to technology but are making products, and some companies are opportunistic. Look at eBay and Amazon, such products are everywhere, which products work well, which are not good, ordinary people are difficult to distinguish, many times the device is attached with a fake mark, so cannot tell. Most of the cheap products and counterfeit products work poorly, there is no security technology, and well-known manufacturers have security features.

- Damaged product during use: Why does the product become unsafe? Improper use by end users is the main reason. Throwing equipment around, getting wet, charging with the wrong charger, and exposing it to the sun should avoided.

Good equipment has a safety function that prevents the equipment from overheating, prevents overcharging, avoids excessive discharge, prevents short circuits, and cannot charged with the wrong charger. With these technologies, damaged equipment does not become dangerous equipment, but not 100% safe.

If you can protect yourself and your family?

Spend a few thousand dollars to buy test equipment; I do not expect you to do this. Still, you can still find most of the threats. In fact, by visual inspection I can identify 90% of unsafe devices.

There are some reasons why the device may catch fire and explode. We can eliminate these factors. Here are a few ways:

1. Buy well-known brands from well-known retailers. In order to buy a good quality charger or cable, you may spend a little more, but the money is worth it because it protects your life and makes your family safer. It is best not to buy from eBay, Amazon, if you suspect that you have bought cheap, poor quality equipment, do not use.

2. Do not use the device if it damaged or if there are any signs of overheating, swelling, or deformation. This is also true for chargers and wires. Some devices are not safe, I cannot find them, mainly because the damaged places are hard to detect. I suggest that you check the equipment once a year and replace the damaged products in time.

3. Don't let the equipment get too hot, especially when charging. Do not put your smartphone in your pocket or sports bag, don't put it on the car's dashboard and charge it while you let the sun shine.

4. Do not charge the device when no one is paying attention. Most people will not do this. I suggest that you at least not let the charged device be close to combustibles. A small lithium battery can quickly ignite a wooden table, or bedroom furniture, causing a disaster.

5. If equipment recalled by manufacturer, please follow the manufacturer's instructions.

6. If there is any doubt, ask a professional for help.

Lithium batteries can catch fire quickly, and the risk factor is high. Do not underestimate it. Look at the video below, you will know that the lithium battery is terrible, it installed on the remote-control plane, it would have been good, and it caught fire in a blink of an eye.

If you are unlucky, the electronic device is on fire, you can do this:

- Don't pour water on the fire: Watering will only make things worse. Use a ClassD dry powder fire extinguisher or fire blanket to extinguish the fire.

- Do not breathe in smoke.

- Don't be stupid, do not charge heroes; call the fire department in time.

Once again, electronic devices are extremely safe, and there is no need to worry about. Normally there will be no safety issue if we buy well-known brands from reliable places and do not damage the device

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.