The continuing growth of portable handheld devices has spawned a healthy selection of aftermarket battery pack suppliers. The ownership period of an individual portable device often exceeds the cycle life of the original battery. This is especially true for medical, industrial and military original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) where product life cycles can be as long as ten years or more. Both the OEM and end user pay a price when counterfeit battery replacements are chosen. The quantifiable impact of imitation battery packs to the OEM includes increased safety risks for their customers, greater product returns due to non-performing batteries, reduced customer satisfaction, and reduced revenue for batteries supplied by the original manufacturer. The field failures of individual batteries have the potential to result in serious injuries, and we mustn’t forget the importance of protecting ourselves and our customers from these failures.
In an analysis of several counterfeit batteries, Electrochem Solutions, Inc. engineers found safety violations ranging from insufficient safety circuitry to poor manufacturing quality. This paper details some of the safety issues observed in counterfeit battery packs and presents options to implement a prevention program to control the aftermarket ecosystem.
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