In the last several months, there has been a rash of laptop explosions, as Dell laptop after Dell laptop exploded or caught fire with spectacular results. The stories and pictures came in from Osaka, Japan, from the States, from Singapore, and apparently they kept adding up. This is nothing but bad press for Dell, and today they acted, two days before their scheduled investors conference call on Thursday. Dell is recalling more than four million laptop batteries sold between April 2004 and July 2006. 2.7 million of those batteries were sold in the U.S., while the other 1.7 million were sold overseas. During that period, Dell sold 22 million laptops, so the recall affects less than 20% of the units sold.
The batteries in question are made by Sony, and it is probable that Sony will bear the brunt of the cost of the recall, which could run to $200 million. Dell made the announcement of the voluntary recall together with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Anybody with a Sony battery manufactured within the date range of the recall is eligible for a free replacement.
Dell acknowledged that there have been six major incidents in the U.S., and an additional unspecified number of problems overseas, but says that nobody has been injured by exploding or burning batteries.
The power demands on laptop batteries continue to increase, while the space allotted to them continues to decrease, pushing tolerances to the limit. This is the third similar battery recall by Dell in the last five years, and Apple has had a few themselves, including an exchange program announce just last month. Apple's replacement program was to resolve a problem with "random shutdowns" under certain conditions, while this is Dell's second recall for batteries catching fire or exploding (the first was in 2005), but the issues are essentially the same. Screens continue to grow in size and brightness, drawing more and more juice, and many laptops are already completely unusable as true laptops simply because of the heat the batteries generate. This particular recall may hurt Dell, but it will probably hurt Sony more.
Will we see external battery packs in the future? That would be awkward, but perhaps slightly less awkward than having your lap catch fire. Consumers aren't rushing to buy laptops with smaller screens, and eventually something is going to have to give way, so look for laptops with external battery packs in the future.
Article comments
1 - Bliffle
Engineers have known about the high capacity and low internal resistance of lithium batteris for over 70 years, but they were never used in flashlights and portable equipment because of their high propensity for fires and explosions. Thus, they were never used for flashlights and portable equipment. Instead, they were relegated to duty on buoys and floating foghorns because they were isolated at sea that way. The modern demands of portable equipment have driven manufacturers to using these high-capacity batteries, but the dangers require manufacturers to make them with utmost caution.
Now one can purchase lithium batteries in the common AA and AAA form for use in flashlights and radios. They require careful use and proper re-chargers.
Common hand tools such as drills and saws are now being outfitted with lithium batteries, usually highend pro tools for use by professionals. For example, the new dewalt 36volt tools have lithium batteries (as opposed to the old NiCads) and they can deliver more power than most plugin 110volt tools. As it happens, I have a 12volt version of the new Dewalt battery (which I obtained a couple years ago from a back-channel, it was developed at MIT) and it makes any Dewalt 12volt tool better than the 18volt versions. More power and lasts longer. The little Dewalt 12v. trim saw becomes a woodcutting marvel with that battery.
2 - Nancy
Uh-oh...I thought my new Dell laptop wuz a-runnin' a tad hot lately! Well, that would have been something to talk about, hey?
3 - Clavos
For those who want to check, Dell's recall website is up and running.
Not all batteries are included; I just bought this Inspiron E1505 less than a month ago, and fortunately, my battery's not on the list.
Good Luck!
4 - chancelucky
A couple years ago, I saw someone trying to sell a "butane" fuel cell used in lieu of a traditional battery. I had wondered about safety issues with a substance that flammable. I knew lithium was very reactive, just hadn't thought much about it being no less flammable than a butane fuel cell.
5 - Mark Saleski
what uses the most power in a laptop? cpu? display? disc?
i'm just wondering how future battery requirements might change with the disc being replaced by mram.
6 - Phillip Winn
Mark, I'm pretty sure it's the display, with the CPU itself running a close second.
7 - Mark Saleski
well, shoot. so much for my great idea!
anyhow, i'm still kind of excited about the disc going by the wayside.
8 - Paul Roy
In my day job we use a lot of different types of Lithium batteries, and especially when dealing with "D" size cells, we have had to go only with ones that have built-in circuitry to prevent explosions. I have witnessed one of these things explode and a "D" cell is basically like a quarter stick of dynamite
9 - lory
Verizon is about the only place you can get the authentic RIM product and matching door. Most other sites are out of stock and even when they are in stock they have the black battery door which looks like crap.