The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Mobile phone users should constantly watch for symptoms of malfunctioning batteries to avoid explosion.
Mobile phone technicians at Carl Care Service Center, which provides technical support for tecno phones at Prism Building in Uganda, say most phones they receive for repair present with serious electrical damage in their charging systems and internal sub boards.
The presence of the service center on Prism Building has turned the property into a popular destination for Infinix, Tecno and Itel smart phone users in Kampala city. Hundreds of people stream to the center each day from various parts of the city to have their phones repaired.
The lead technician, Abdallah Yiga, says the phones are brought when they are at the brink of explosion in exceptional cases due to swollen batteries.
Yiga says some users are lucky to take their phones while dead for repair because they could have instead exploded in extreme cases during charging because of a damaged sub board.
Yiga says phone users can recognize faulty batteries using the speed with, which they drain up while recording videos.
URN found Sarah Nantambi, a mother of four from the sprawling suburb of Bugolobi at the center on Tuesday. She had come to fix her fourth Infinix phone, which accidentally dropped into a basin of water as kids played with it.
Nantambi says technicians detected faults with the phone’s charging system, which extended to its power button. “I am waiting to hear whether I should acquire my fifth phone of the year or not. I think the subject of safety with phones at home is a critical one especially for families with toddlers” she stated looking anxious.
According to technicians, allowing mobile phones to frequently drop to the ground exposes them to internal disintegration with potential of affecting the charging system as well.
“Some internal parts are made up of glass wares, which tend to break when the phone falls down. And when such parts severe, they tend to move away from their positions as they press on other components” Yiga explained.
According to Yiga, phones suffer extensive electrical damage during overnight charging associated with the use of bad chargers. He says using the phone while charging exacerbates the problems.
Patrick Menya, a Safe Boda operator says most of his colleagues no longer charge their phones while riding due to huge losses they have suffered in phone break downs. He told URN that he only charges his phones at home using electricity.
Yiga says they have advised Safe Boda operator against charging their phones while on the road to reduce on the chance of batteries swelling. On the use of solar panels to charge phones, he says the charger must be compatible.
The Center with six technicians says phone battery explosion is technically known as thermal runaway – a situation where the kinetic energy compressed inside the battery explosively escapes due to expansion associated with overheating.
In October this year, a herdsman was killed in phone battery explosion in Kiruhura district after his swollen phone battery came into contact with the hot motorcycle engine during his journey to check his cows. Police later issued public warning to people to take care while using their phones at homes.
Arnold Mangeni, the Director of Information Security at the National Information and Technology Authority- NITA, says phone battery explosions are associated with the use of fake electronic gadgets such as chargers, phones and batteries.
Mangeni says the critical tips to remember include never exposing phone batteries to extreme heat or fire, avoiding the use of phones while charging on power banks or electricity, adhering to battery charging durations, using few applications at a time to avoid overheating the Central Processing Unit and replacing old batteries and chargers with new ones among others.
In 2007, Nokia recalled more than 64 Million BL-5C-branded batteries from the market around the World over malfunctioning due to possible risks of explosion after the batteries were found to contain a mechanical fault. They were replaced by new ones.
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