Samsung Note 7 fires

Hillhater

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So, what have Samsung got so wrong with the new S7 /Note7 phones to cause fireballs during charging and justtify a full recall In Australia, Europe,?
Anybody have more info other than it is related to differend market areas (China sales versions dont have the problem ?)
, and that it is said to happen during charging.
Different battery supply ? ..(hints of defects in battery manufacture ?)
Different charger construction, mains supply ?
Either way, more negative publicity for Li batteries, even if its not directly the battery at fault.
Major FU somewhere along the line . :roll:
 
^^^ :lol: :lol: :lol:

....... Speaking to Korea’s Yonhap News, an unnamed Samsung official said that the potentially faulty batteries were installed in “less than 0.1 per cent of the entire volume” of Galaxy Note7s sold so far. Batteries for Note7 in different regions were produced either in China or in Korea by partners of Samsung’s SDI battery subsidiary, and it is believed that the Korean variant is the one affected, but all phones will be recalled regardless.

So only the "Note 7" affected ?.....not the S7 also ?.....differrent battery completely ?
 
Humidity contamination in cell mfg can do this.

Rough handling of cell before installing can do this.

Pressure points in the phone that don't support the cell evenly can do this.

Mfg material impurities can do this.

Coating defects can do this.

Improperly done cell formation can do this.

Mechanical separator issues can do this.

Poor foil welding that lets some layers disconnect can do this.

Obviously overcharge can do it too, but that seems extremely improbable.
 
Yes , lots of possibilities.
This is where component traceability reaps benefits.
If they have sufficient traceability coding on the defective batteries, they can not just trace back to which plant made them, but to which manufacturing line, which day, and even which shift/hour they were made.
Then they can cross check with other production data logs, QA records, raw material batches, etc, and identify any variations that may be contributing factors.
( but it sounds like they may have already done this and isolated the cause already !)
 
I took a flight last weekend to Holland to visit my folks.... Both ways after the stuff about switch of transmitting devices during taxiing and landing, they announced that Samsung Galaxy Note 7 must be switched off at all times during this flight, it is also not allowed to charge a Samsung Galaxy note 7 during this flight.

Can you imagine your product being specially mentioned as being totally unsafe to use in an airplane ? Extremely bad publicity or a case of any publicity is good ?
 
Malabori said:
Unbelievable... mobiles will kill people soon. :shock:

You're a little late to that party, my friend. I've said it before, Cell Phones are more dangerous than Marijuana. (distracted driving, walking, biking)

Here's some 2013 DOT data which suggests 10% of fatal and 18% of injury crashes reported as distraction-affected drivers. Doing the math - 315 fatalities, 76,000 injuries and that was 3 years ago.

http://www.distraction.gov/downloads/pdfs/Distracted_Driving_2013_Research_note.pdf
 
Aussie traffic laws prohibit the use of, touching, and technically even looking at, a mobile phone whilst in control of a motor vehicle. Even using a mobile whilst sitting behind the wheel of a stationary car with the motor running is considered an offence.
If you are pulled over for suspicion, they check the phone logs for times of last use etc as evidence.
A mobile phone in the car must be fully integrated, hands free, voice control, etc.
Fines, and licence withdrawal are common.
Too many folk texting whilst killing others on the road.
 
Well, this isue has gone from really bad to freeking atomic for Samsung with some of the supposedly good, replacement units also melting down/ flaring up ! :eek:
Samsung have reportedly withdraw all Note 7s from sale and even considering dropping the product line completely, which seems a bit extreme if it is just a battery manufacturing issue.
I cannot imagine the battery, charge circuitry, management system, etc , is significantly different to the sister Galaxy S7 phone which is apparently unaffected.
Maybe we will all learn something about cell stability when they get to the bottom of all this.
Its particularly significant that it has occurred to Samsung who have a good reputation in the cell manufacturing , rather than one of the other phone makes who use 3rd party cells suppliers.
 
Hillhater said:
Aussie traffic laws prohibit the use of, touching, and technically even looking at, a mobile phone whilst in control of a motor vehicle. Even using a mobile whilst sitting behind the wheel of a stationary car with the motor running is considered an offence.
If you are pulled over for suspicion, they check the phone logs for times of last use etc as evidence.
A mobile phone in the car must be fully integrated, hands free, voice control, etc.
Fines, and licence withdrawal are common.
Too many folk texting whilst killing others on the road.

Not a bad thing IMPO.

Around here, it seems like it is compulsory to have a phone stuck to the side of your head the whole time you are behind the wheel (other than when you are texting of course :lol: ). I kid you not, but I even see police doing it.... It is illegal, but you would never guess. It's not like we're talking about the best drivers in the first place either.

Funny thing is, I got 2 automatic strikes on my licence, for not using the correct lane at traffic lights, which I didn't even realise was against the rules. I think they have their priorities are slightly askew TBH :?

Oh well.
 
like most of you, i ride my bike a lot (commute daily). i would honestly say that 90% of the people on the road are using their phones. most of my route is a bike lane but it's scary sometimes since you know they take their eyes off the road a lot.

as for this phone, since it seems limited to the note 7, i would guess that it's not overcharging (that would be pretty dumb of them although stupid things have happened). i would guess that it's more of a design flaw (pressure on the battery, etc.) or maybe being too aggressive by pulling too many amps (simultaneous apps running, etc.).
 
Not a daily commute goes by without seeing at least someone in a car working their phone in their lap or hand.

Kinda funny thing yesterday, guy on an adventure moto fumbling with his touchscreen device on a bar mount at a stoplight. I wonder how do the laws look at that usage?

And just because there's a "law" doesn't mean something never happens.

This Samsung thing, wow - BIG ONE! Giving manufacturers pause for concern, no doubt...
 
This whole fiasco would have been a lot simpler to fix for Samsung had they not banished the removable battery (the feature that keeps me holding onto my Note 4). Sending replacement cells would have cost something like 10% of what the recall and subsequent brand image damage are costing them. :roll:
 
I guess it's time to go back and design and release the Galaxy Note 6. $2.3 Billion loss... oh my.
 
I cannot quite decide if this is good or bad to have so much public exposure as to the risks of Li batteries ?
I fear it could lead to some more restrictive legislation as to the sale , transport, storage etc and use , particularly of high Whr packs generally.
On the other hand, it may help better identify critical factors in the manufacture and construction of Li cells.
 
markz said:
This is Samsungs "Windows 8", or GM's? ignition key, or Cargill's mad cow
Public relations nightmare.

Following on from Samsungs, "flaming washing machines" saga ,, which burnt down a few homes, this is looking more like VWs "dieselgate" situation, with huge financial, sales and reputation consequences.
And to cap it off, it seems it may not actually be a battery fault after all ??....

12/10/2016: After two full recalls and a complete production halt, Samsung has still no idea what is causing the Note 7 to spontaneously combust, according to the New York Times.

Although numerous reports have surfaced over the last few months, showing scorched carpets and melted screens, attempts to replicate the problem have so far failed, the report says.

Samsung has reportedly deployed hundreds of employees to the task of igniting the phablet, but every lab test has failed to produce an explanation. The South Korean firm initially believed a battery fault was to blame, considered a "minor manufacturing flaw". Replacement devices were shipped in mid-September using batteries supplied by a different company, and therefore deemed 'safe'.

However, mere days after the replacement's launch, reports of more fires made it apparent the problem had not been fixed.

Speaking to the New York Times, former director at the Center for Advanced Batteries, Park Chul-wan, said: "I think there was nothing wrong with the batteries, or that they were not the main problem. The Note 7 had more features and was more complex than any other phone manufactured."
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...ainment-bags-precaution-electronics/92051312/
Problems with overheating Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones, which have smoked and popped on planes, have prompted airlines to take extra precautions to prevent a disaster during a flight.
Delta Air Lines executives told reporters during an earnings call Thursday that they are educating travelers about risks from the phones, training crews about how to deal with them and installing more equipment on planes.
“It is a challenge, but I don’t want it to be blown out of proportion, either,” CEO Ed Bastian said. “We’ve had a very few – single-digit – number of incidents occur.”
Delta plans ultimately to have fire-containment bags on all of its more than 900 planes, spokesman Morgan Durrant told The Associated Press. But he said the priority is for the 166 aircraft that cross oceans, as well as Boeing 757s used for domestic flights by the end of the year. The domestic fleet will start getting the bags next year, he "This has been on the to-do list but has been accelerated by recent events," Durrant told AP.
A Samsung Galaxy Note 7 forced an evacuation of a Southwest Airlines plane Oct. 5 when it began popping and smoking. The incident followed other reports of the phones smoking and causing fires, sometimes injuring their owners.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating because the Southwest incident came after a recall of an earlier version of 2.5 million Samsung phones. After the Southwest incident, Samsung announced Oct. 10 it would stop manufacturing that model phone.
 
I think the most concerning part for us is that Samsung 18650s (especially 25R) are considered some of the best Lithium cells. The whole issue about being afraid that lithium technology will lose adoption is a smaller risk I feel. Now, if Tesla backs out of using lithium tech, that would be alarming. (not going to happen anytime soon though)
 
It's strange the public story is that it's an unknown root cause. A friend at Samsung told me inside the first week it was mechanical flexing of the phone poking some component edges into the pouch that would weaken it's separator over time. Strange now they say they don't know (which may be true, and my info could be wrong, I'm not involved with it, don't have a Note 7 and haven't done any testing).

If it is the mechanical flexing induced failure, it would explain why replacement note7's with different cells in them had the same behavior.
 
liveforphysics said:
It's strange the public story is that it's an unknown root cause. …
Many 'news' outlets have incentive to keep the story going as long as they can before they 'clarify'.
 
gogo said:
liveforphysics said:
It's strange the public story is that it's an unknown root cause. …
Many 'news' outlets have incentive to keep the story going as long as they can before they 'clarify'.
..Sure, but this is Samsung saying they dont know the root cause, and are still trying to replicate the problem without success .?
The "flexing" theory sound logical, and would also explain why Samsung cannot impliment a simple fix but need to withdraw the design completely,....but i would think they could easily confirm that by simulated testing...so why deny the issue publicly ??
 
FAA/DOT bans all Note 7 phones from domestic flights starting tomorrow:

http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/14/technology/samsung-galaxy-note-7-flight-ban/

http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2016/oct/14/faa-bans-samsung-galaxy-note-7-from-air-travel/

http://www.kjrh.com/news/national/faa-bans-samsung-galaxy-note-7-phones-from-planes
 
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