On Aug 16, 2006, at 6:20 AM, Tamas Rudnai wrote:

> Did you worry about your battery to be exploded before those
> accidents? I do not think so. So that time if somebody called
> you on your doorstep saying that buy a safety device for your
> battery would you have bought that one?

There have been "exciting" Li-ion incidents for years now, with
assorted companies offering "safer" alternatives (check for
"Saphion", for instance.)  One normally expects the battery
PACKS used in mass consumer products to contain sufficient
protections to prevent the usual failure modes (battery packs
contain quite a lot of protection modes; it's surprising that
a pack would catch fire even with sub-standard cells.  The
failure mode OUGHT to be that the battery pack just ceases
to work, perhaps suddenly (which would still rate a recall.))

IMO, safety problems are inherent in any power source with the
energy density of a modern battery pack.  You can avoid the
flammable poisonous electrolytes used in Li-ion style cells,
and near-thermite combinations of internal electrode materials,
but that only makes them safer, not "safe."

Recently, the popularity of CR123A-style primary (NOT rechargeable)
batteries seems to have results in the import of some lower-cost,
lower-safety-margin cells, and there have been unexpected accidents
with THAT type of cell...

BillW
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