this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
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Is this an American thing? In Europe we have regulated batteries and chargers made by well known companies like LG, Samsung and Panasonic.
People in Europe can easily buy cheap shit from wish.com and whatever that new one is and import them, also you'll get them on ebay from people that just importing in bulk. They will certainly have a nice FCC and CE sticker on them. But, no they're most certainly not certified!
Cheaply made non conforming electronics has been a thing for decades now. But until now it's generally been power supplies that pollute the radio waves with noise (and might go pop one day, but probably not cause a fire). Now we're messing with lithium based batteries without the proper safety circuits you see on property certified stuff. They can cause serious self fueling fires that are hard to put out.
In short, in Europe I would only trust something I bought on a retailer with a national presence and definitely NOT ebay.
You can find these in the US but they're a lot more expensive so folks always save the 50% to buy the no brand trash that breaks in a month to one year and is also a chemical bomb.
It globally affects anyone who buys products that don't meet safety standards. For example if you live in the EU, you can buy and ship products sourced from cheap labor markets through sites like Alibaba.
For products powered by Li-Ion batteries a good rule is always buy a trusted name brand. You can save money buying some cheap no-name brand, but then you may be putting yourself at risk for fire. And Li-Ion battery fires are especially nasty because they burn anaerobically, in other words they don't need oxygen to burn and are difficult to extinguish.