Note 7 spontaneous combustion - Discussion of possible explanations

[The_Chief]

Here's one way you can get the Note 7 battery to fail. Pretty stupid. You cook it:

http://mashable.com/2016/10/11/samsung-note7-livestream/

^^^ That's the one I was referring to

 

[dontpanicbobby]

@johnpjackson

Yup.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

@The_Chief

I could only get as far as when they wimped out with the lights.

Did they really put it in an oven?

 

[The_Chief]

No, they placed the phone directly against the lens of the light and let it cook awhile. Yeah, we all do that, right? I mean, who doesn't attach their phone to a 1000 watt lamp?

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Tru' that.

A kiln would have been ridiculous.

 

[johnpjackson]

No, they placed the phone directly against the lens of the light and let it cook awhile. Yeah, we all do that, right? I mean, who doesn't attach their phone to a 1000 watt lamp?

Exactly. The whole point is, despite the battery failures that have most certainly occurred, the Note 7 is not a ticking time bomb, or a bomb in any sense, at all. Shorted, melted, burst, burning batteries are a spectacular failure, yes. But that has never been the whole picture, and many people, including Samsung, have been rash in their reactions to it.

 

[The_Chief]

Great - does everyone involved with this "investigation" have two brain cells to rub together?

http://phandroid.com/2016/11/17/galaxy-note-7-battery-investigations/

 

[Bg260]

Great - does everyone involved with this "investigation" have two brain cells to rub together?

http://phandroid.com/2016/11/17/galaxy-note-7-battery-investigations/

Wow, all I can do is wonder who is really in charge in South Korea. Samsung is their Bread and Butter. Probably a lot of stock holders with a "vested interest"!

 

[recDNA]

They will never figure out the problem because they sourced out too many batteries and assembly processes. They need to do it all themselves to track problems.

 

[johnpjackson]

I wonder what the calculated 'normal' failure rate was expected to be, and what the actual rate ended up being - at least as best as they could determine, anyway.

 

[johnpjackson]

Maybe we'll finally get a plausible explanation for the battery melting problem by year's end!!?

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Samsung-said-to-announce-the-Note-7-recall-cause-by-years-end_id88398

 

[mikedt]

Wow, all I can do is wonder who is really in charge in South Korea. Samsung is their Bread and Butter. Probably a lot of stock holders with a "vested interest"!

I now read that their president could be facing impeachment.

South Korea's President Park 'willing to resign' - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38140588

 

[El Presidente]

http://m.androidcentral.com/report-claims-galaxy-note-7-batteries-exploded-because-they-were-too-big

They were igniting as they were too big apparently.

 

[johnpjackson]

http://m.androidcentral.com/report-claims-galaxy-note-7-batteries-exploded-because-they-were-too-big

They were igniting as they were too big apparently.

I've been reading responses to this new report, in various places, and some agree with it, while others disagree, for several reasons. I'm still waiting to hear what Samsung says before anticipating possibly feeling like I have enough information to form my own conclusion about it all. I say possibly instead of definitely because I don't doubt for a second the possibility for Samsung to try and spin and/or distort, rather than go for simple and full disclosure. I think this third party analysis is a valuable piece to contribute to the total investigation, if for the very least, the basic details of the design and engineering it supplies, if not the conclusions it makes about them.

 

[lunatic59]

From the instrumental report ...

When batteries are charged and discharged, chemical processes cause the lithium to migrate and the battery will mechanically swell. Any battery engineer will tell you that it’s necessary to leave some percentage of ceiling above the battery, 10% is a rough rule-of-thumb, and over time the battery will expand into that space. Our two-month old unit had no ceiling: the battery and adhesive was 5.2 mm thick, resting in a 5.2 mm deep pocket. There should have been a 0.5 mm ceiling. This is what mechanical engineers call line-to-line -- and since it breaks such a basic rule, it must have been intentional. It is even possible that our unit was under pressure when we opened it.

While we were doing the teardown, Sam wondered, “Samsung engineers are smart. Why would they design it like this?” The answer isn’t a mystery: innovation means pushing the boundaries.

My theory is somewhat different.

Senior Engineer: Here are the minimum and maximum dimensions of the battery during testing. Please use the maximum dimension when designing the frame to hold it in place so we can keep the problems to a minimum.

Junior Engineer: Uh what? Use the minimum dimensions? Okay I guess you know what you're doing.

CNC programmer: Damn, these batteries are tight, but I guess these engineers know what they're doing.

 

[johnpjackson]

Samsung may be getting ready to say they simply can not come up with any definitive causality for the Note 7 battery short circuiting:

http://www.nashvillechatterclass.co...nufacturing-flaw-in-the-note-7-devices/20883/

 

[kennyroadshow]

Bring on #note8...

 

[johnpjackson]

If you're been following along, you'll know that at least a dozen various tech rags have taken the unsolicited report from the engineering company (Instrumental) about the Note 7 battery fault cause and fanned it into a raging dumpster fire, in terms of making it sound like the cause of the problem has been officially pronounced. It seems kind of bizarre. And Samsung still remains silent.

 

[lunatic59]

And that is the shame of the internet. If there is no news to report, create it and itself becomes news about news that may or may not be news.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

I heard the phone was too thin. Is that body shaming?

 

[recDNA]

Samsung may be getting ready to say they simply can not come up with any definitive causality for the Note 7 battery short circuiting:

http://www.nashvillechatterclass.co...nufacturing-flaw-in-the-note-7-devices/20883/

Admitting an obvious flaw might make it more difficult to defend against lawsuits.

 

[mikedt]

Admitting an obvious flaw might make it more difficult to defend against lawsuits.

And IMO not admitting the flaw and stating exactly what went wrong with the Note7, could shake customer confidence in future Samsung devices, like S8.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

So the word now is Samsung knows but they're not sharing the findings right away. I have to wonder, why not?

 

[johnpjackson]

So the word now is Samsung knows but they're not sharing the findings right away. I have to wonder, why not?

I saw it mentioned somewhere that they have shared the results with some outside labs first, for vetting. I haven't dug for more details or confirmation. But, that would seem like a sensible enough thing for them to do, rather than keep repeating the same mistake of hanging onto all responsibility for their conclusions and rushing to action in response, rather than consulting around first, to try and confirm their findings and actions to take in response?

 

[johnpjackson]

Interesting information from the Chosun reference in this article:

http://bgr.com/2017/01/16/galaxy-note-7-fires-probe/