Conception

[dmaziuk]

Can you please define “knock-offs”? LG e.g. doesn’t make scu a flashlights but batteries. Do you consider an LG battery in dive light by company XYZ a knockoff?

No, there's lots of counterfeits out there, especially if you're buying on ebay from an unknown seller or amazon "marketplace". Dedicated battery places tend to be a bit more picky about their suppliers so there's less chance of buying a fake there, but they are usually not the cheapest.

PS. we're talking about people who sold powdered blackboard chalk as baby formula, selling you a leaking bomb with "LG" hand-painted on the side is par for the course.

 

[Ayisha]

Can you please define “knock-offs”? LG e.g. doesn’t make scu a flashlights but batteries. Do you consider an LG battery in dive light by company XYZ a knockoff?

You would have to ask the NTSB for their definition of "knock-offs".

From the artcle above:

"The new guidance also advises that batteries and chargers for an electronic device be purchased only from the device manufacturer or an authorized reseller. NTSB investigators noted that many of the batteries involved in fires are substandard knock-offs".

 

[dmaziuk]

Isn't that because the battery is enclosed?

I don't know but I don't think so: there are videos of thermal runaway events on youtube, they don't look like a plastic skin and cellphone case could contain that.

 

[Ayisha]

I don't know but I don't think so: there are videos of thermal runaway events on youtube, they don't look like a plastic skin and cellphone case could contain that.

Ok. When Light and Motion put out their safety bulletin for the Sola lights (which I have), it seemed like being encased adds a layer of protection.

My old Samsung Galaxy S4 died a couple of years ago, then got extremely hot in my purse as I was transporting it to the store. They told me my motherboard had just fried.
My coworker had the same thing happen to the same model phone, and upon opening it, the store told her there was a small fire in her phone that was confined by the casing.

Light & Motion Shares Battery Bulletin for SOLA Dive Lights

 

[dmaziuk]

Ok. When Light and Motion put out their safety bulletin for the Sola lights (which I have), it seemed like being encased adds a layer of protection.

It reads to me like they're talking about mechanical damage from a drop or hit. It also reads to me like they Get It(tm): using decent cells, making sure lusers can't stick them into a "rapid" charger, or replace them with the cheapest crap they can find.

 

[Marie13]

The Conception captain has been charged with 34 counts of manslaughter. Just heard it on BBC Radio.

Captain in Conception dive boat fire indicted on 34 counts of manslaughter

 

[rjack321]

Can you please define “knock-offs”? LG e.g. doesn’t make scu a flashlights but batteries. Do you consider an LG battery in dive light by company XYZ a knockoff?

Any li-ion battery with "fire" in the name is the worst of the worst. Starfire, powerfire, blah blah blah, they are wildly overrated in capacity and junk.

Doesn't mean that others are ok, just that these are all rebranded no name junk.

 

[rjack321]

For the regular "consumer" ones you have to have introduce a manufacturing defect into a bad design, like Samsung did, or smash or puncture them, or otherwise create an internal short. And even then the better ones come with built-in fuse that blows on internal short and/or overheating.

Most cells assembled into actual battery packs by light monkey or big blue or whatever are unprotected cells. The protection circuit is offboard and separate. Most of those protection boards are pretty cheap Chinese printed PCBs, thankfully they fail "off" mostly - but not always. If you have an internal short, like from a saltwater flood in a light or strobe, that is upstream (battery side) of the actual PCB and they will short out and get hot & smoke quickly.

 

[StefinSB]

Any li-ion battery with "fire" in the name is the worst of the worst. Starfire, powerfire, blah blah blah, they are wildly overrated in capacity and junk.

Doesn't mean that others are ok, just that these are all rebranded no name junk.

No argument here but that doesn’t answer my question.

 

[dmaziuk]

No argument here but that doesn’t answer my question.

Here, I'll google for you: Counterfeit Lithium Ion 18650 Batteries | Consumer Alert