I just had a call from a colleague who was in another building on-site, complaining that their IBM power adapter had stopped working. I went over there with another. I was surprised to find out that all they could talk about was Dell's infamous exploding laptop batteries. I of course butted in and told them I couldn't do anything until I get the official go-ahead (from Dell or Orange or whatever)...

So anyway, here's the press release:

[quote]
DellTM Announces Battery Recall

Bracknell, UK, August 15, 2006 ? In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies worldwide, Dell is
today announcing the voluntary recall of approximately 4.1 million
Dell-branded lithium-ion batteries with cells manufactured by Sony. Under
rare conditions, it is possible for these batteries to overheat, which could
cause a risk of fire.

The recalled batteries were sold with the following Dell notebook
computers: Dell Latitude? D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620,
D800, D810; Inspiron? 6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 500m, 510m, 600m,
6400, E1505, 700m, 710m, 9400, E1705; and Dell Precision? M20, M60, M70 and
M90 mobile workstations; and XPS,? XPS Gen2, XPS M170 and XPS M1710. The
batteries were also sold separately, including in response to service calls.
?Dell? and one of the following are printed on the batteries: ?Made in
Japan? or ?Made in China? or ?Battery Cell Made in Japan Assembled in
China.? The identification number for each battery appears on a white
sticker. Customers should have this number available when they contact Dell
to determine if their battery is part of the recall.

Dell sold or provided these batteries with the notebook computers, as part
of a service replacement, and as individual units from April 1, 2004,
through July 18, 2006.

Customers should contact Dell immediately to determine if their
notebook computer battery is part of this recall. To contact Dell, go to the
firm?s Web site at www.dellbatteryprogram.com or call our EMEA free phone
at 00800 3033 4044*, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time.
Customers may continue to use the notebook computers safely by turning the
system off, ejecting the battery, and using the AC adapter and power cord to
power the system until the replacement battery is received.

Dell does not expect this recall to have a material adverse effect
on its results of operations, financial position or cash flows.
[/quote]

We use Latitude D505, D510, D600 and D610 laptops manufactured within these date ranges, so now we have to go and return around 150 laptop batteries...

Lol, when using a Dell laptop, wear metal pants.

You wouldn't believe how much extra work this has caused us

Oh, I would. A lot, 150 laptops is a lot to replace.

You know this has spread to Apple batteries aswell? the G4 powernote book and the G4 are also being recaled for batteries "Overheating".

More problems. Thjough i dont think this has any relevance to others...

Hmm, the G4 laptops are quite old now, it could be the age of the batteries of dust buildup preventingventalation. It probably isn't an inherent error as they would have been recalled much sooner if it was.

Also worth noting is that the batteriesexplode because of being discharged very quickly. The high energy density in them menas that if they are discharged at a high rate they will explode violently. If the battery heats up it can realese energy faster, which is a contributing factor, and also high discharge results in more heat. Or something like that.