[HN Gopher] What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 1000...
___________________________________________________________________
What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks?
Author : walterbell
Score : 232 points
Date : 2025-07-21 18:22 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.lumafield.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.lumafield.com)
| IncreasePosts wrote:
| I had one of those power banks and someone stole it from my
| bookbag on the beach. Here's hoping they don't hear about the
| recall!
| normie3000 wrote:
| I also had one "borrowed" by a "friend"...
| madars wrote:
| 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
| lopis wrote:
| That link is redirecting to the home page
| LeifCarrotson wrote:
| It's taking me to the recall page, not sure why it's not
| working for you.
|
| See also the CPSC link:
|
| https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2025/More-than-One-Million-
| Anke...
|
| (Notably, this page mentions "Anker has received 19 reports
| of fires and explosions. This includes two reports of minor
| burn injuries not requiring medical attention and 11 reports
| of property damage totaling over $60,700." Puts it into
| context! That's not a house, but with numbers like that, I
| wonder if a couple cars were destroyed.)
|
| There's also Anker's product recalls main page:
|
| https://www.anker.com/product-recalls
|
| which adds a few other models with different enclosures but
| presumably with the same upstream manufacturer to the recall.
| pimlottc wrote:
| Works for me from the US; it may depend on what region you're
| in.
| xmonkee wrote:
| I guess this serves as an ad for Lumafield's x-ray machines. I
| have no use for one but those scans are stunning.
| nerdsniper wrote:
| Yes, Lumafield does some of my favorite marketing ever. It adds
| more (absolute) value to the world than they receive back from
| it. Their monthly CT scans are some of my favorite small joys:
| https://www.scanofthemonth.com/
|
| I mean, there's probably very good ROI on this marketing; I'm
| not saying they're foolish or selfless. Just that it doesn't
| cost them that much to do, so it's a win-win for everyone.
| ck2 wrote:
| But will it blend?
|
| actually no let's not blend the lithium, forbidden inhaled
| powder
| jacquesm wrote:
| It's a liquid.
| jszymborski wrote:
| Lithium is an (albeit soft) solid at room temp. Im not
| sure there is risk of it becoming powder in a blender but
| adding water during the blending process (or at any
| point) would be the main concern for me.
| htrp wrote:
| Last updated scan of the month... August 2023?
| wayvey wrote:
| Oh no, not super promising. I only know learnt of Lumafield
| and I'm very impressed, would love to see more updates on
| what the company is up to.
| onionsandleeks wrote:
| They're still posting stuff to their blog
| https://www.lumafield.com/blog
| Eduardo3rd wrote:
| Lumafield co-founder and CEO here. Stay tuned - we're
| bringing SotM back!
| lykr0n wrote:
| killer way to market a product.
|
| Here's a blog post with interesting information that just so
| happens to advertise how you can use our product
| turnsout wrote:
| It's funny, because this is just a description of content
| marketing. But most companies forget step 1, which is to make
| the content interesting.
| whycome wrote:
| Blendtec did it remarkably well
| reginald78 wrote:
| For some reason I received a recall notice for one of these from
| Amazon but I don't recognize it and could not find any purchases
| in my order history. I vaguely recall my wife might have bought
| something like this years ago as a gift for some one else but our
| accounts aren't linked.
| dylan604 wrote:
| if the accounts are not linked, how did _you_ receive the
| recall and not her?
| akazantsev wrote:
| They ignored that the temperature sensor had appeared in the
| unaffected model.
| esseph wrote:
| I imagine there will be a stunning amount of owners that will
| either:
|
| A) Keep using it, even if they do hear about the recall
|
| B) Throw it in the trash can
| hammyhavoc wrote:
| Both will ultimately be true for a disturbing percentage.
| wolfi1 wrote:
| here in Central Europe batteries in the trash can are the cause
| for massive dumpster fires and explosions (not that often, but
| there was one just last month, took several days to extinguish
| the fire [0])
|
| [0]:
| https://www.theinternational.at/nusdorf%E2%80%90debant-500-f...
| consp wrote:
| This is not just a central europe problem. A bit further west
| people throw them in the trash as well. Fun and smelly since
| the garbage truck drivers usually notice it when driving and
| then dump all trash on the street.
| livid-neuro wrote:
| I took mine to an Office Depot that "recycled the battery" for
| free. The guy at the register printed a receipt for having
| taken it, then took it from me and walked back into the
| administrative office by the front of the store. I assume it
| was to take it home. At least I tried...
| amelius wrote:
| Doesn't Anker use x-rays or similar in the production process?
| radicaldreamer wrote:
| I doubt it, that's some Apple level QA that hardly any company
| does.
| amelius wrote:
| They do it at pcbway ...
|
| https://www.pcbway.com/pcb_prototype/Automated_X_Ray_Inspect.
| ..
| xondono wrote:
| > that's some Apple level QA
|
| Are you nuts?
|
| X-ray inspection is not that rare, there's even small
| assembly houses here (Spain) that can do xray automated
| inspection.
|
| This has been standard for years to the point I've been sent
| forms for assembly houses RFQ where there are checkboxes for
| xray inspection, and I haven't handled a serious assembly
| development in ~4 years.
|
| What's new and they're advertising here is CT, which is
| another level.
| kube-system wrote:
| Literally on the same website as this post you'll find
| testimonials of companies that use CT scanners to find leaks
| in cosmetics bottles, and to refine the fit of a deodorant
| cap.
|
| https://www.lumafield.com/case-studies/loreal
|
| https://www.lumafield.com/case-studies/case-study-
| enabling-8...
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| 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
| ordered at least 17 Anker products over the last ten years (not
| all of them power banks). I pay the premium over cheaper external
| batteries, and I have advised my family in the past to do the
| same. This is ostensibly because they are supposed to be the guys
| that _don 't_ explode. If I can't even take that for granted,
| then there's really no reason to maintain customer loyalty. There
| are countless other, cheaper brands available online from no-name
| Chinese companies.
| abhorrence wrote:
| They also do recalls. Which I'm certain is more than some
| cheaper no name brands do.
| lukan wrote:
| And they might pay from now on closer attention. Expensive
| lesson learned?
|
| For now I don't avoid them, yet. Definitely not switching to
| a random cinese brand instead.
| lyrrad wrote:
| I only buy portable Li-ion batteries from manufacturers with
| a history of product recalls in my country or directly from
| major retailers that regularly recall defective products.
|
| I also only buy portable battery models that I believe will
| sell or has sold many thousands of units so any widespread
| manufacturering defects should become apparent sooner.
| Workaccount2 wrote:
| Those random brands that flood amazon (TYUOIT or ERYWERP) are
| dispensable brands in part because it allows them to discharge
| the company if something like a recall becomes necessary.
|
| Part of the price of cheap shit.
|
| Anker on the other hand is a recognizable name with a brand
| image. So they need to do right to keep their trust.
| vlovich123 wrote:
| FWIW my random brand that I purchased was also part of this
| recall.
| Bluestein wrote:
| Given the upstream cell manufacturer is involved, it would
| not escape reason _many other no name brands might be
| involved_ ...
| ipsum2 wrote:
| ,
| mjacob wrote:
| Locating the physical product is the problem, not the
| purchase record.
| jeffal wrote:
| I got a recall notice from Amazon also but I couldn't find a
| part number match on my Anker powerbanks.
| yegle wrote:
| 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 (translated using Google):
|
| > The Paper learned from an insider that Anker Innovations'
| battery cell supplier is already a leading battery cell supplier
| in the industry, and did not inform customers after it changed
| materials. In addition to Anker Innovations, the supplier also
| cooperates with leading power bank brands, so the impact is huge.
| Although Anker Innovations did not name the supplier, an insider
| pointed out that the supplier was Amprius.
|
| UPDATE:
|
| There's an exclusive interview by 36kr with one of Anker's VPs:
|
| https://m.36kr.com/p/3365435892680709
| brk wrote:
| 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.
| emeraldd wrote:
| Or the changes weren't immediately visible externally.
| nomel wrote:
| No, quality control is never based on external packaging,
| for _anything_ *, since quality control is about the
| _objective_ quality of the final product: if you 're not
| measuring it, you're not controlling that parameters
| quality. For batteries, this includes things like x-ray to
| verify all the layer geometries and assembly, materials,
| etc [1].
|
| [1] Battery tester:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3IE3npEcuc
|
| *unless the product _is_ visible external packaging.
| bazingakiller wrote:
| 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.
| nsxwolf wrote:
| Weird CCP troll?
| nomel wrote:
| 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 reselling yours
| on the gray market).
|
| This is all common knowledge, proven by example after example
| that it's _necessary_ to have zero trust. It 's truly an
| adversarial system. All the extra engineering effort for IQC is
| still cheaper. And, there's rarely an alternative to the
| amazing manufacturing ecosystem that is China.
|
| After tracking down several of these types of issues, it
| appears that the Chabuduo mindset [1] is a very real thing.
|
| [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32465780
| yegle wrote:
| 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.
| XorNot wrote:
| 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.
| subscribed wrote:
| Smarter Every Day had a very interesting video about
| trying to make a reasonably simple barbecue tool entirely
| in the US.
|
| Close to impossible without a serious time investment and
| dedication.
| nomel wrote:
| > 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).
| Spooky23 wrote:
| Suppliers are always low/no trust unless you're a sucker.
|
| The only difference is that is more difficult to hold
| Chinese suppliers accountable. Americans will happily cheat
| you as well.
| FpUser wrote:
| >"Americans will happily cheat you as well."
|
| I did not have too much experience with US manufacturers.
| I however can talk about Canada and Brasil. My experience
| with Brasil was stellar. Canada - you better fucking
| watch. As for China - I did order directly high power
| DC/DC converters. Those were available in the US and
| China. China came 10 times cheaper ($25 vs $250 apiece).
| The devices where we have installed those still work like
| a charm more than a decade after.
| djmips wrote:
| That sounds like very specific anecdata for Canada vs
| Brazil.
| ajsnigrutin wrote:
| 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?"
| cm2187 wrote:
| reminds me of this old but crazy if true comment:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18138699
| maxglute wrote:
| >Chabuduo mindset [1] is a very real thing
|
| IMO high tech cost optimization is like the opposite of
| chabuduo - it's not half-assing, but over value engineer
| under pressure. The PRC's "amazing" manufacturing system
| fosters adversarial competition down the supply chain because
| there are so many competitors, packed with technical talent
| incentivized to value-engineer the shit out of everything to
| squeeze out fractions of a RMB more per unit. Some
| engineering team probably poured thousands of man-hours and
| retooled $$$ manufacturing lines just to gain a tiny margin
| edge. Sometimes that backfires. But the pressure isn't about
| laziness - it's involutionary effort. The result is still a
| zero-trust environment, since when manufacturing base is so
| dense, everyone incentivized to cut corners or optimize/tweak
| silently, they usually do, forcing everyone upstream to stay
| hyper vigilant. So we end up in default equilibrium where
| it's cheaper/more optimal to squeeze downstream and inspect.
| themaninthedark wrote:
| Value engineering is great and all but that doesn't sound
| like it is the only factor at play.
|
| > and that the product being given to you is even yours
| (delivering a knockoff at the final step, and reselling
| yours on the gray market).
| scq wrote:
| Amprius has released a statement:
|
| > Amprius Technologies, Inc. has never developed or
| manufactured batteries for power banks. For accuracy, please
| attribute the certification issue to Apex (Wuxi), not Amprius.
| Recent reports have incorrectly linked Amprius Technologies,
| Inc. to a battery certification issue. The company involved is
| Apex (Wuxi) Co., Ltd., formerly known as Amprius (Wuxi) Co.,
| Ltd., a Chinese lithium battery manufacturer based in Wuxi,
| China.
|
| > Apex (Wuxi) was once a subsidiary of Amprius Inc. but was
| never part of Amprius Technologies, Inc. In early 2022, Apex
| was spun off, renamed, and has operated independently since,
| with no ties or relationships to Amprius Technologies, Inc.
|
| (source: https://www.gizchina.com/2025/07/14/anker-baseus-
| romoss-amon...)
| meemo wrote:
| 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.
| Pxtl wrote:
| Honestly, when shopping no-name slop I'm seeking out products
| that _don 't_ have batteries, or at least don't have powerful
| ones (non-vibrating game controllers are probably pretty safe).
| One less risk.
| MengerSponge wrote:
| I've seen some teardowns and power supplies are another place
| where the no-name slop is spooky.
| turnsout wrote:
| 100%... I'm seeking products that take AA or AAA batteries
| instead of built-in lithium batteries, for the same reason.
| Zak wrote:
| 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.
| y7r4m wrote:
| 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.
| kube-system wrote:
| The market for the end product (and the risk aversion of
| the manufacturer) makes a difference.
|
| Flashlight and vape enthusiasts are mostly adults who
| likely trend as all three of: older and more
| knowledgeable, more likely to take and accept risks, and
| more willing to pay a premium for the benefits of
| replaceable batteries... and the companies that make
| vapes and high-powered enthusiast flashlights are
| probably less worried about a customer suing them over a
| battery issue than a large toy manufacturer. If you're a
| vape company, you have bigger safety issues to worry
| about -- like the _normal_ operation of your products :)
| joecool1029 wrote:
| > and few I believe bother to dispose of them correctly.
|
| There are no mercury alkalines anymore for general
| consumer use, those collection bins were removed from
| stores in the 90's and they can be disposed of with
| normal waste.
| Zak wrote:
| I actually have a Bluetooth speaker that takes a
| removable 18650. It was branded "Polaris V8", but I think
| it's a white label product that's no longer in
| production. It still works, and most other ten year old
| Bluetooth speakers probably don't.
|
| I'm with you on the risk/benefit calculation. E-waste is
| bad, and the option to bring a spare battery makes a lot
| of products more useful. A Li-ion cell can be dangerous
| if mishandled, but less so than a jug of gasoline or
| larger power tools.
|
| This can be considerably mitigated by sticking a
| protection circuit on the end of a cell, which makes it
| no more dangerous than the proprietary Li-ion batteries
| used in things like cameras.
| kube-system wrote:
| That's probably an advantage for people who know what
| they're doing, and more dangerous for people who don't.
| Zak wrote:
| That's true, but it's pretty common to stick a protection
| circuit on the end of a cell, making it similarly safe to
| the proprietary Li-ion batteries that power cameras and
| the like.
| kube-system wrote:
| It's also common to _not_ put protection on the end of an
| 18650, which is probably a big reason we don 't see more
| of these in user-serviceable devices. Even if you ship a
| device with a protected cell, the inherent implication of
| an 18650 socket is that someone is going to buy a cell
| from somewhere else and stick it in there. (and maybe
| throw a few in their junk drawer along with some loose
| change and rusty silverware)
| p1mrx wrote:
| I have a couple devices (LDK portable game console,
| Sihuadon AM/FM radio) that take a Nokia BL-6C, but ~1000
| mAh is fairly small.
| consp wrote:
| If they have flat batteries you could be safe if they are
| LiFePO which are quite hard to light on fire. YMMV depending
| on the actual battery. Usually the come from batches of old
| phones which went out of production are put into these kind
| of things since they can be bought on the cheap.
|
| If they put in a round cell I'd stay away. I usually replace
| the cell with one I know is good and check the circuit for
| protection. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen something
| with no over or undervolt protection whatsoever.
| joecool1029 wrote:
| > if they are LiFePO
|
| No phones use this chemistry. I have no idea what you're on
| about.
|
| >Wouldn't be the first time I've seen something with no
| over or undervolt protection whatsoever.
|
| Even the cheapest lithium ion charge controllers have
| overvolt protection by the nature of how they work. What
| can happen however is a controller could be specced to
| charge to 4.3V per cell and a 4.2V cell is instead
| installed. This is a problem.
| GuB-42 wrote:
| I am not sure that no-name batteries are that more dangerous.
| A common reason batteries catch fire is when things are too
| densely packed, causing shorts. A famous case is the Galaxy
| Note 7, which is Samsung, not Chinese tech.
|
| No-name batteries are often way lower capacity than
| advertised, which means less stuff, and therefore less
| densely packed and less stuff to burn.
|
| I am not saying that these batteries are safer, or that it is
| not a scam, but the fact that these batteries are lower
| capacity can compensate for the sketchy build. Power
| electronics is another story, so while the battery may be ok,
| the charging circuit may not.
| Fergusonb wrote:
| 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.
| Spooky23 wrote:
| Eh. Anker did the bare minimum to address their liability.
|
| They won't pay for devices that Amazon says are in scope, but
| the black on black serial number is illegible.
|
| For devices that are covered, they advise you to not dispose of
| them at a retailer like Home Depot that accepts lithium
| batteries, but provides no means to safely dispose of this fire
| hazard. So I got my $40 payment, but I assume now that will
| disclaim any liability when my house or car goes on fire while
| I try to find a facility that accepts dangerous batteries.
| chmod775 wrote:
| 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
| jonhohle wrote:
| 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.
| doctorhandshake wrote:
| 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
| bethekidyouwant wrote:
| Well, the first step is to discharge it and then it's not gonna
| burn anybody's house down
| jahnu wrote:
| Discharged lithium batteries can still catch fire.
| kccqzy wrote:
| No. A discharged lithium ion battery is still flammable.
| ethan_smith wrote:
| 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.
| doctorhandshake wrote:
| 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.
| bluescrn wrote:
| Hmm, got a PowerCore 10000 here, but Anker's UK site don't seem
| to have a listed as a recalled model
| (https://www.anker.com/uk/product-recalls)
|
| Are models sold in some regions different/known-good?
|
| Should probably at least discharge it to be safe(r), I guess.
| urbandw311er wrote:
| This should just be an empty web page containing solely the text
| "We don't know".
| mmh0000 wrote:
| I have two of these powerbanks, one ordered in 2019 and another
| in 2021. Amazon sent me scary emails saying these things will
| kill me. Anker's recall site says I'm not affected and the
| product is safe to use.
|
| I'm not sure who to trust, but I've erred on the side of caution
| and trashed the batteries. Because it's not worth dying in a fire
| over $30 in batteries.
| consp wrote:
| Brought them to a special pickup/disposal point? Cause
| otherwise they will light on fire somewhere else.
| gosub100 wrote:
| The scary thing is you can't put the fire out with water. Your
| only option is to run.
| devmor wrote:
| > Your only option is to run.
|
| That is not true. Please don't spread misinformation that
| could lead to deaths or people losing everything they own.
|
| You can put out a Lithium battery fire with a class-D fire
| extinguisher. If you don't have one available, you can
| isolate the burning battery by surrounding it with sand or
| other inert, dry substances to keep it from spreading until
| the fire department arrives with proper equipment to dispose
| of or extinguish it.
| terribleperson wrote:
| I would have just trusted Anker in this case. Amazon only knows
| you bought that model of battery, not whether it was affected.
| Anker would (or should) know exactly what range of serials were
| made with the problematic cells.
| muratsu wrote:
| I think the CT scan tech is cool and the article is written
| nicely but I don't get the point of this article. Seems like if
| Anker were using the CT scanner, they still wouldn't be able spot
| the change. I'm confused.
| eqvinox wrote:
| Nice CT scans, but how about just disassembling the powerbanks?
| The busbar would be plainly visible...
| godelski wrote:
| First off, I love Luma Field. Always incredible to see what's
| going on inside things. Even just fun to scroll through their
| Twitter.
|
| Second, Anker is one of the few companies I actually have a very
| high trust for. A few years back I bought a wall charger[0] from
| them, it has 2 USB-C and a Type A. A month in, one of the Type-C
| ports wouldn't charge if the other port was being used. If you
| send a support ticket they annoyingly give you a response with
| very basic trouble shooting. But if you respond to that you get a
| person. They just sent me a new one right away (<10 days) and
| there was no need to return the charger or anything. So I still
| use it, just blocked the bad port. I gotta say, whenever I
| encounter good customer service I become loyal.
|
| I wanted to say this because I think a quality matters. Quality
| often takes nuances and this can often run counter to maximizing
| profits (Lemon Markets and all that). Looking at Luma's report, I
| don't get the indication that they had this issue because they
| were cutting corners but looks like it must be upstream[1]. But
| am happy to see they were giving gift cards along with the
| recall. Companies should minimize mistakes as best as they can,
| but it is important to judge them by how they handle mistakes. It
| can be easy to get caught in the negativity but I personally
| don't think I'll stop buying Anker products.
|
| [0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Q52CXX1
|
| [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44639759
| bityard wrote:
| Anker is above average, but the bar for average when it comes
| to Chinese electronics is, "might not burn down your house
| immediately."
|
| For reasons probably bordering on OCD, I watch a LOT of
| teardown videos of various electronics. And one thing that
| always strikes me is how a company with a product will
| routinely and often change what's inside, while the model
| number and exterior appearance stays the same.
|
| For example, I wanted to buy a big 12V LiFePo4 battery and all
| of the cheapest ones are on Amazon. Amazon reviews are
| generally garbage because they're all borderline fake (from
| useless Viners, or wanna-be useless Viners). The only "honest"
| reviews of these I could find were YouTube teardowns where they
| basically have to destroy the case in order to take it apart. I
| would watch a teardown of one popular battery, and then run
| across a different teardown of the same model from someone else
| and the internals of each would be completely different.
| Completely different cells, battery management board, wires,
| construction everything. But they both looked identical on the
| outside.
|
| Finished product manufacturers in China rarely have a
| consistent supply chain. They are negotiating suppliers and
| batches of components constantly, and are constantly re-
| engineering everything about the product, except for the
| external appearance of the case. This Luma Field article
| confirms what I've already run across myself.
| apronchenkov wrote:
| It was fun to explore the CT scan on my own, then read the
| article to see what was actually identified, and go back to the
| scan to find those things myself (despite the limitation of
| having scans from only one unit -- it was still great!).
| Initially, I thought there were no details of insides of the
| battery units, but after adjusting the settings, I was able to
| see the internal layers!
| dboreham wrote:
| I bought two of these. I have no idea where they are now.
| Hopefully in such a low SoC that they're not dangerous.
| guerrilla wrote:
| Okay fine, but I still want to see Big Clive ripping one apart
| and pointing at things with a screw driver.
| strathmeyer wrote:
| Good luck getting a recall if you used your battery enough to rub
| off the serial number.
| devmor wrote:
| Or at all. Anker will just tell you it's not an affected model
| even though it clearly meets the recall details.
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