Is Your Dell Battery Dangerous?

Several Dell battery fires caused panic in the summer of 2006. In June, a Dell battery burst into flames at a conference in a hotel in Osaka, Japan, setting fire to the laptop. In July, a laptop in an Illinois office exploded, burning the desk beneath it. Firefighters had to be called out to tackle the blaze. The same month, a pickup truck in Nevada blew up when flames from a burning Dell battery set off ammunition in the glovebox, which then ignited the fuel tank. Dell reported several similar incidents, while there were unofficial suggestions that hundreds of burned and melted laptops had been returned to Dell.

Fortunately, no-one was hurt or killed by any of these fires. But the recall of the batteries by Dell was the largest in the history of the electronics industry up to that point, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commision.

The Dell battery recall put a spotlight on the risks involved with lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are very cheap to produce, which makes them popular with the makers of electronic devices. As well as laptop computers, lithium-ion batteries can be found in other electronic gadgets like cellphones, digital cameras, video cameras, cordless power tools, and MP3 players. While the proportion of lithium-ion batteries that actually burst into flames is relatively low, the enormous amount of electronic equipment used by consumers around the world means that even this small proportion could present great danger.

The faulty Dell batteries were found to contain microscopic pieces of metal, produced during manufacture. In some circumstances, the metal pierces the separator inside the Dell battery, causing it to short-circuit. This sets off a chain reaction within the battery cells,which causes the temperature of the cells to rise at an incredible rate, and eventually explode into flame. This entire reaction happens in the space of a fraction of a second.

But it was not only the Dell battery that suffered from this fault. The batteries were produced by Sony, who supply batteries to many of the world's major laptop manufacturers. A large number of computer companies had to recall huge quantities laptop batteries.

But when the Dell batteries were recalled, how many of them really found their way back to Dell?

The incidents described above made headline news, and Dell made as much effort as they could to spread the word about the recall. Even so, it would be easy for anyone who does not follow the media closely to be ignorant of this information.

Could your Dell battery be one of the faulty batch, and if so, could it potentially burst into flames at any moment?

The Dell web site gives a list of the laptops containing faulty batteries. But sending your Dell battery back to the manufacturer, and then waiting for a replacement to be delivered, means you will be unable to use your laptop for some time.

To avoid this delay, order a perfectly safe replacement Dell battery from a Dell spare parts stockist. They'll make sure you get a reliable battery which won't cause any harm to your laptop, or to you.

A laptop docking station, also called a port replicator, gives you the ability to quickly connect your laptop computer to multiple peripheral devices quickly and easily, saving you the time and nuisance involved in plugging and unplugging multiple cables. The docking station also recharges your battery while the laptop is connected.

Dell have produced docking stations for most of their laptop models. But Dell have discontinued production of all their docking stations it is no longer possible to buy a docking station from Dell directly.

Hardware Associates stock a range of Dell laptop docking stations at competitive prices.

Hardware Associates are a Dell spares supplier in the UK, stocking all the components for Dell computers, laptops and other hardware that you need, including:

• Dell Keyboard/Mouse


• Dell Motherboard


• Dell Laptop Screen

If your business is looking for IT Support services in the UK, talk to the IT consultants at i-Zimbra today. i-Zimbra's friendly team of computer experts provide a wide range of services, from ad-hoc telephone support to network and data cabling installation. Whatever IT services your business requires, i-ZImbra can provide them.

For more information on their IT Support services, call i-Zimbra on 0870 10 10 150 or email
info@i-zimbra.com.