Google’s Nexus 7 Tablet is on Fire — Literally

[CommanderFrank]

We could go on all day with the witticisms about how hot the Nexus 7 tablet is, but we’ll spare you the effort. Just remember not to carry the Nexus 7 in your pants or handbag; you may be in for a very big surprise as was found out by this unlucky Chinese customer.

The situation could have been much worse had the Nexus 7 been a phone he was carrying around in his pants pocket when it exploded.

 

[Semantics]

humm actually looks like a real nexus 7 on the inside, was hoping to make come counter fitting jokes.

 

[faugusztin]

Because you usually charge a tablet for hours in pants or handbag.

 

[ziggo0]

Well fuck me, I'm about to buy one of these. Any idea what causes it?

 

[KENNYB]

Damaged battery?

 

[faugusztin]

Well fuck me, I'm about to buy one of these. Any idea what causes it?

Battery overheated durring (over)charging. Probably a malfunctioning charging curcuit. But hey, it's the only one which did it, from few millions sold. And considering it failed in China, anything could be a reason.

Chance of this happening to you is pretty much zero.

 

[ziggo0]

I see. Figured over charging was a thing of the past but with a faulty charging system or battery you never know. I'm still going to get one just sucks to see.

 

[FinalAura]

I've had one since launch and use it primarily for netflix and YouTube. It never gets overly hot. It can warm up a little but never uncomfortably

 

[Kor]

Well fuck me, I'm about to buy one of these. Any idea what causes it?

I wouldn't worry about it, mine has been completely not on fire for a while now.

 

[SamuraiInBlack]

i could be wrong but isn't this mainly an issue when you use non-OEM batteries and roll the dice on a cheaper one?

i only ask because i have read that some off-brands have done this before.

 

[HisSvt76]

I have never felt mine get even warm enough to be conserning. Anyone looking to buy one need not worry.

 

[XenIneX]

Lithium batteries have really nasty failure modes. Fact of life.

Imagine if hard drives outgassed pure hydrogen and erupted into fireballs any time they failed. Would make for a heck of a lot of inflammatory headlines. (couldn't resist)

 

[Paradoxine]

Lithium batteries have really nasty failure modes. Fact of life.

Imagine if hard drives outgassed pure hydrogen and erupted into fireballs any time they failed. Would make for a heck of a lot of inflammatory headlines. (couldn't resist)

Working at a data center would become one of the most hazardous occupations, probably next to open warfare if that was the case. I'd take that job.

 

[XenIneX]

Working at a data center would become one of the most hazardous occupations, probably next to open warfare if that was the case. I'd take that job.

Install HD security cameras and put it on pay-per-view. Dirty Jobs? Deadliest Catch? Sissy shit. I got your reality TV right here.

 

[itomwisp]

Seeing how this was in China how do we know this was actually a Nexus 7? Or just what someone thought was a a Nexus 7?

 

[BBA]

Do we really know it's a real Nexus 7? After all, it was bought in china...it has to be a fake copy.

 

[Neb]

Damaged battery?

This is my guess as well. If you look at the pictures:


Nexus 7 Fire by Stratageme.com, on Flickr

See what looks like a sharp divot under the "X" of Nexus? Almost looks like a puncture mark while the rest of the melted areas just look...melted.


Nexus 7 Fire by Stratageme.com, on Flickr
Continuing onward you can see that on the lft middle you can see that same spot looks like it really did get impacted inwards at the very least.


Nexus 7 Fire by Stratageme.com, on Flickr
There just so happens to be a spot on the battery that looks almost like a hole right where you would expect under the suspected puncture hole.

Source: MiniMachines which mirrored the original Baidu post

TLDR: Looks like someone damaged their Nexus 7 badly (possibly via a puncture) enough to impact the battery, which caused it to fail.