Plan B Forum

(didn't know whether to put it here or under "Technology", but since we're talking about a physical phone and a vehicle I went with "Hardware)


Family blames Jeep fire on Samsung smartphone.
According to one Florida couple, a Galaxy Note 7 left charging in a Jeep on Monday caused a series of explosions and left the car and the phone as burnt-out wrecks.  Nathan Dornacher and his wife Lydia had been out at a yard sale on Monday.  When they came home and began to unload their purchases, the Jeep was left running with the phone plugged into a charger inside the vehicle.  Fire enveloped the entire car before the St. Petersburg fire department arrived and extinguished the flames.  Photos afterwards show the destroyed phone still plugged into the charging cable.

Worldwide, there have been between 30 and 50 incidents of fires or other heat-related incidents involving these phones (or more accurately, their lithium-ion rechargeable batteries; the same general type of batteries responsible for the self-igniting hoverboards during the 2015 Christmas season)).  While this is a miniscule fraction of the units that have been sold since their introduction, it was sufficient concern that Samsung has removed the specific device from sale, and is "asking owners to take advantage of the Product Exchange Program" it has put in place.  This program lets owners exchange their phones for a non-combustible Note 7 once the problem has been identified and corrected, and in some cases have a loaner phone for the weeks until a new Note 7 can be issued.
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Personally, I don't think it's the battery; it's the 'automatic handwarmer' feature on the phone that is the source of the problem.

But either way, the fact that it can get hot enough to set fire to a Jeep is enough to give me the Willys.

-"BB"-

Bicycle Bill wrote:... But either way, the fact that it can get hot enough to set fire to a Jeep is enough to give me the Willys.

Wasn't that a Jay Leno or Bill Maher joke made around the time of the exploding Jeep gas tank problem?

Oh, and don't carry your Galaxy Note 7 if you're flying commercially. TSA may not allow you to board with it.

RayThom wrote:Oh, and don't carry your Galaxy Note 7 if you're flying commercially. TSA may not allow you to board with it.

So far they are only saying not to use or charge it in flight, and not to put it into checked baggage.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/fl ... /90115874/

I only know one guy who has one. He was not aware of the issue until I told him late Friday afternoon. He said he was going to take the phone back to Verizon and tell them where to stick it.

Are they sure the phone caused the fire?vehicles used to burn to crisp before Cell phones came along. I dont like to leave vehicles idling unattended .

How does one charge a phone on a jet?
Do they have phone chargers on airliners now?
When I was designing the power circuitry for a cell phone type device for motorola, I had temp sensors that would turn off any charging and/or battery usage when the battery reached a cerain temp. (well before "sparking temp")

In the race for smaller/slimmer/more stuff, I am guessing some safety circuitry may have been taken out.

But if the problem is in the battery itself, like an internal shorting possibility, no external safety "switch" is going to help.

Lots of portable charging units out there now to charge cell or other devices, and some flights now have USB charging built into the seats I believe. Airports are full of charging stations, too.

Well what will they think of next. I'll bet soon you will be able to listen to stuff without a wire from the earphone to the phone.

I can see new jets having charging stations, but many jets still have ashtrays in them meaning they are pretty old. Retro fitting a jets is expensive and time consuming.

And I would guess airports would have charging stations.
Flying to vegas on friday. I'll have to pay attention to what's available on the jet. usually I just look out the window or do crossword puzzles.

I charge my phone maybe once every two weeks so I am not up on charging stations.
If it was up to me, I wouldn't have a cell phone. But I use it as little as possible.

I charge my phone in my Jeep, and (knock on wood) it hasn't blown it up yet.

Of course, if I feel it getting warm, I tend to unplug it.

Warm is ok. Jamming electrons down it's throat tends to heat up any type of battery.
Hot to the touch is not good.
Burning you hand when you touch it is bad.
A melting case is very bad.

Current limiting devices I would think would be standard design practice and should be in all charging devices. And the current should be reduced by the charger as the battery charges. But there are also special considerations for litium ion batteries which I don't remember too well.
I know thermal run-away is a possiblity if charged incorrectly. And once the battery is in thermal run-away, there is nothing you can do about it except throw it in a pool.

OLD SCHOOL PHONES ARE NOT SUSEPTICLE TO THE NUANCES OF ELECTRON STUFFING

Most chargers cut off when the vehicle isn't running regardless.

Crackpot wrote:Most chargers cut off when the vehicle isn't running regardless.

That depends on the power port. Some power ports are live any time the vehicle's battery is connected. On mt dad's Durango the front port was switched to the ignition but the rear port was live all the time.

Hence "most"

Crackpot wrote:Most chargers cut off when the vehicle isn't running regardless.

False! In fact, I can think of ONE vehicle built in the last 20 years with no constant-power 12v plugs.

I don't know what a 12 volt plug on a car is, but my GPS runs off (what used to be in the bad old days) the "cigarette lighter" plug on my 2016 Corolla. Or there's a USB port but I don't think that's "live" when the engine is turned off

Samsung has determined the cause of self-igniting phones.

It has long been suggested that, in an attempt to proactively thwart thieves and hackers who are targeting cellphones and tablets, these devices be equipped with a "kill switch" so that in the case of loss or theft any and all data on the phone or tablet can be remotely wiped clean and the device itself will be rendered useless.

In a press conference on Monday, Samsung acknowledged that the Galaxy Note 7 did have such a feature as part of its Android "Marshmallow" operating system, and they pointed with pride to the fact that they are one of the first companies to include this.  They did however acknowledge that, in retrospect, "Kill It with Fire" was probably not the best method they might have used to accomplish this.

-"BB"-

Bad to find a burnt out cellphone in a burnt vehicle ,now what was the cause ? Do I sense lawsuit ?