this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2025
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Anker is recalling over 1.1 million power banks due to fire and burn risks (www.theverge.com)
submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
12 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Stop using it immediately.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago (2 children)

The company has received 19 reports of fires and explosions

The recall covers about 1,158,000 units that were sold online through Amazon, Newegg, and eBay between June 2016 and December 2022.

That still sounds more trustworthy than random power bank from Wish.

I've had a power bank with earbuds (yes) from AliExpress that just randomly started to feel quite warm. Not the battery being a problem, some chip (SY7656) on the board was cooking.
I tried to replace it, but I couldn't do a good job without a heat gun. It broke again after a few weeks. Probably overheated as I couldn't do anything about solder that was supposed to be below it. But anyway...

Also had a cheap power bank from Tesco that would self-discharge in 3 days.

[–] antlion 3 points 5 days ago

It’s been super reliable. Perhaps at 10 years old they’re extrapolating the failure curve and worried about many more fires.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago

Oh geez, I think I have that. Thanks for the heads up.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

I think mine is from just before June 2016. Thing is incredibly reliable

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

I have the 10000 Slim, model A1261. Bullet dodged...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

What to do if you have one

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (2 children)

RETVRN to a big block of NiMH

[–] antlion 2 points 5 days ago

Different use case. I used this one for hiking the pacific crest trail in 2016, and a few other hikes since. Amazingly, the power banks haven’t even gotten much lighter than this model, and those that are lighter are less reliable. It would be nice is NiMH could match the energy density of lithium, but it’s hard to compete with the lightest solid element.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I was searching for something like that ereyesterday. Couldn't find anything aside from maybe Xtar BC4 which is a battery charger with power bank function, but even if that works properly, it's going to be not very useful capacity-wise.

I have one of those 4xAA power banks from AliExpress, but it quickly drops voltage way too far. It's fine for USB LED lights and running my USB fan for 5 hours (with some old NI-MH batteries I have), but it won't charge most things due to the voltage drop. One more problem is the series connection. Weaker cells can get reverse-charged and damaged during discharge.