Hidden inside a viral power bank was a ‘defective’ battery that could catch fire, an expert has told Metro.
The Haribo Power Bank 20000mAh, which has a gummy-bear themed built-in USB-C cord, became popular over the summer with backpackers.
The charger, licensed by the German sweet company but made by Chinese manufacturer HK DC Global, was sold on Amazon for about £20.
But an X-ray company told Metro that they were shocked by what they saw when peaking inside its lithium-ion battery (no, it’s not made of gummy).
Alex Hao, technical marketing manager at Lumafield, said that, for the most part, if a portable charger is cheap, ‘it’s too good to be true’.
That’s why his team cracked open the portable charger using their industrial X-ray CT scanner.
Hao said: ‘It appears the batteries inside Haribo products are coming from a low-quality source with very poor process controls.’
The scan revealed that the power bank’s electrodes – which allow electricity to flow – were warped in a ‘wavy’ pattern.
‘Battery material layer evenness, known as edge alignment, is an important indicator of manufacturing quality, so the extreme irregularity we found indicates poor process control in cell production,’ Hao said.
The positive end of the battery, called a cathode, was found to be frayed.
The anode, which is the battery’s positive terminal, needs to ‘overhang’ by around 0.5mm to keep the battery safe.
Yet Hao also found that in one area, the anode overhang measured just 0.27mm.
Hao said that this makes the power bank susceptible to ‘thermal runaway,’ where a device’s battery overheats, breaks down and can catch fire.
‘This doesn’t mean these batteries will definitely catch fire,’ Hao said, but the anode issues can cause microscopic crystal structures called ‘dendrites’ to form
‘Depending on where the dendrites form, it can lead to internal shorts, which could potentially lead to a fire,’ he said.
‘The danger of dendrites can be further exacerbated when batteries experience external forces like being dropped.’
These faults can also cause the battery to age faster, meaning it doesn’t last as long as it once did.
‘All of these elements were alarming, though not super surprising given these products’ extremely low price point,’ Hao said.
‘We were also very disappointed to see how low-quality the batteries are, as the Haribo products have such a fun aesthetic to them.’
Amazon has since yanked the Haribo power bank off its virtual stores and is now listed as ‘currently unavailable’.
The e-commerce giant cancelled all upcoming orders, emailing customers to say it has ‘learned of a potential safety or quality issue’.
What are lithium-ion batteries, and why are they a fire risk?
Lithium-ion batteries, which power everything from mobile phones to e-bikes, can store more energy than older lead-acid battery technology.
But these batteries contain highly flammable materials and have been known to spontaneously catch fire.
Lithium battery fires are particularly dangerous as they spread quickly and are hard to extinguish, explained Giuseppe Capanna, product safety engineer at the campaign group Electrical Safety First.
‘If your power bank begins to swell, that is a sign of an internal failure,’ Capanna told Metro.
‘It may mean the device is at serious risk of catching fire, sparking a dangerous process called thermal runaway, where toxic fumes are expelled and a fire occurs.
‘If you notice any damage or deformation to any power bank you own, you should safely dispose of it as soon as possible at a local recycling centre that has dedicated facilities for electronics and batteries.’
This is why, Hao stressed, electronic manufacturers need to keep standards high as battery issues are hidden from everyday people.
Not everyone can casually run their portable chargers through a CT scanner.
‘Batteries can be black boxes that are hard to deconstruct and evaluate clearly,’ Hao said.
‘They’re dangerous and can’t easily be cut into to check things like layer quality.
Haribo declined to comment. Amazon and HK DC Global have been approached for comment.
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