Exploding batteries are back: last Friday, the battery of an Australian readers' Nokia 6230i phone exploded and flew across the room, burning a hole in her floor.
The explosion occurred late on Friday night while the phone was charging, and nobody was present to witness the incident.
Nokia has previously warned about overheating problems with the Nokia-branded BL-5C battery manufactured by Matsushita of Japan between December 2005 and November 2006.
Nokia has said in a statement that such batteries "could potentially experience overheating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge."
While it is now impossible to identify the battery model involved in the incident, the battery "dislodgement" described by Nokia fits with the description provided by the reader.
The reader, whose identity has been kept anonymous, described how the battery must have shot out of the phone, leaving the phone intact as indicated by the second photograph below. The phone was "initially sitting on the clear plastic container with the white lid while it was charging. After the explosion, it sat, as you see it, on the bench with the back cover off" she said in an e-mail interview.
Last week, a similar incident involving a Nokia phone occurred in New Zealand, according to a report on tvnz.co.nz.
1. The charred battery
Here you can see the completely destroyed phone battery. The swelling in the battery case indicates gas expansion, while the charring on the tiled floor indicates a significant amount of heat.
2. The undamaged phone
This is the phone post-explosion. The phone looks to be undamaged, which corroborates how the battery shot out of the back of the phone before burning into the floor.
3. The charred floor
This is the char mark left on the floor post-explosion.
4. The battery flew well clear of the phone
This zoomed out perspective of the char mark gives an indication of just how far the phone battery travelled from where the phone was charging.
Dean
05/12/2007 02:45 PM
The floor is linoleum, not tiles... It'd take an aweful lot of heat to burn actual tiles...
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Craig
05/12/2007 03:05 PM
The article actually says "tiled" floor.
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trAJ
06/12/2007 12:41 AM
And there is no chance the article could be wrong? I am very sure its linoleum.
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Fuzzy Wulf
07/12/2007 09:58 AM
I agree. This stuff is all over my house so I know what it looks like. And one time when something very hot and flaming fell on it, I looked just like that. I'm lucky I have a Samsung. But... my dad does have a Nokia. Dangerous.
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markmd
07/12/2007 12:18 PM
i think you guys are missing the point a bit with this discussion about whether the flooring is lino or tile - i am a friend of the person who was interviewed for this article and I was shown first hand where the battery projectiled from the kitchen, rebounding on the kitchen door before flying a few metres in the other direction across the hall way to where it landed. Her boys playroom is a metre from the spot where the battery burnt the floor. Fortunately there was no harm to human, but imagine the damage that could have occurred to a two or four year old if one of her toddlers had been in its path...
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romanx
10/12/2007 04:05 PM
I have a Nokia 6120c, Nokia sent out a press release about the overheating problems in the handset, I've been trying to send it back for months. According to their press release the phone is designed that way and their suggestion is to use the hands free. This is the exact reason I do not want to keep the phone and send it back, I've had it 2 months and it feels like my ear burns when I talk on it.
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pixolut
10/12/2007 04:42 PM
The real problem is that all it takes is a simple short circuit to blow Lithium Ion polymer sky high. Nokia is a specific design issue, however if you think beyond that and look at the issues which have been in the press regarding laptop batteries I think there is a problem with responsibility. People and manufacturers treat these batteries with disregard, as if they were pieces of plastic. In reality its more like owning a grenade. The power potential per cubic inch of Lithium Ion polymer is scary.
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ant333
12/12/2007 11:05 AM
Folks, u got it all wrong. This is a case of 'phone battery suicide..'. You see, sometimes batteries grow weak and tired of being charged and discharged all the time. Being thrown in bags all day, and charged next to bottles of panadol and cheap cordial. It just becomes too much for them... Let the batteries die, if they insist on burning up as a ritual to mobile phone hell, give them space to do it. :P
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banana0692
19/12/2007 04:17 AM
OMG! I saw the phone in the pic and I was like that looks alot like my phone. So I checked my phones battery and guess what! Its the BL-5C and I leave it charging beside my bed everynight while im sleeping right next to my face. I have to find a new place to charge my phone now :( so I don't blow my face off. Lol I could see that being in the paper. "15 year old boy has serious face disfigurement due to nokia phone explosion. nokia sued for millions." lol
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banana0692
19/12/2007 04:19 AM
OMG! I saw the phone in the pic and I was like that looks alot like my phone. So I checked my phones battery and guess what! Its the BL-5C and I leave it charging beside my bed everynight while im sleeping right next to my face. I have to find a new place to charge my phone now :( so I don't blow my face off. Lol I could see that being in the paper. "15 year old boy has serious face disfigurement due to nokia phone explosion. nokia sued for millions." lol
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