AT&T Tech Support 360Acer recalls 27,000 notebook batteries
The notebook battery recall isn't over yet.
Acer, the fast-growing Taiwanese PC maker, announced on Wednesday a voluntary recall of 27,000 lithium ion notebook batteries made by Sony. A danger exists that the batteries can short-circuit and burst into flames.
Millions of notebook batteries produced by Sony have been recalled since last year. Acer was one of the few major companies not impacted by the battery recall to date. Apple, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba have all had to recall batteries.
The Acer TravelMate notebooks containing the batteries subject to the recall were sold from May 2004 through November 2006. More details can be found on Acer's corporate Web site.
Sony has paid millions to PC makers under the recall programs. The recall also added to the pile of recent woes for the Japanese giant.
So far, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has received reports of 16 batteries overheating, according to Acer. When they do overheat, however, the results are spectacular. A video of a Dell notebook spontaneously bursting into flames was a big hit on YouTube.
Several start-ups and established companies have been tinkering with making batteries out of less volatile materials such as zinc to make batteries. Other companies, meanwhile, such as Boston Power and Panasonic, have come out with safer lithium ion batteries.
For example, The Battery Geeks specialize in safe external laptop battery packs which give laptops up to an additional 30 hours of run time per charge.
Ever since they started manufacturing external battery packs back in 2002 there have never been any recalls nor have there ever been any safety related incidents.
All of their external battery packs have been designed and manufactured with a PCB (Protective Circuit Board) which provides the following internal protective safety features:
1. Internal battery safety protection against thermal run away (overheating).
2. Internal battery safety protection against over charging.
3. Internal battery safety protection against over discharge.
4. Internal battery safety protection against over voltage and over current.
5. Internal battery safety protection against short circuit.