A few years in the past, the Samsung Galaxy Observe 7 gained notoriety when its batteries caught hearth in a collection 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 improper, the overwhelming majority of Li-ion batteries are secure.
The chemical response that happens inside a lithium-ion cell is complicated, however as in any battery, there is a damaging and a optimistic electrode. In lithium batteries, the damaging is a lithium-carbon compound, and the optimistic is cobalt oxide (although many battery makers are shifting away from cobalt). These two compounds trigger a response that’s secure when managed and delivers vitality to your gadgets. When the response will get uncontrolled although, you find yourself with earbuds melting in your ears. What modifications 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 improper charger.
The three primary guidelines which have stored me secure (up to now) by means of testing dozens and dozens of batteries are:
- Keep away from low-cost cords, chargers, and outlet adapters.
- Be certain batteries aren’t uncovered to extreme warmth (over 110 levels Fahrenheit).
- Commonly examine batteries for indicators of injury.
Avoiding low-cost wall-outlet adapters, cords, and chargers is an important. These are your probably supply of issues. These chargers you see on Amazon for $20 cheaper than the competitors? Not value it. They in all probability obtained the value down by skimping on insulation, leaving out power-management instruments, and ignoring the fundamentals {of electrical} security. Value alone isn’t any assure of security, both. Purchase from respected corporations and types.
Then there’s warmth. An excessive amount of of it could 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 once they’re charging. In case your machine will get overly scorching when charging, this could be a signal of issues. Equally, watch out for any swollen, bulging, or in any other case misshapen batteries.