Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

ricker · Dec 29, 2005, 03:45 PM

This is not a joke... We purchased the Sonic Impact i-Fusion for xmas and played it in the morning - that evening, my daughter removed her ipod from the speakers and shortly thereafter the unit's battery chassis began to smoke - I immediately unplugged it and moved it to our front porch - where within one minute it actually burst into flames. Not just little flames but at least a foot in height! It seemed to fuel itself with the battery - we took pictures! It took four glasses of water to put it out - I am an electrical engineer - and thought I had seen everything, but this takes the cake - I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if we were not awake at the time of this incident. I have four children and the baby's room was the adjacent wall! Please take my advice and return this item immediately - its not ready for prime time. The battery issue - I believe to be an unlikely isolated incident...

I tried to contact someone on Xmas day, but the lines were closed. Now that I think about it - it seemed to be a combination of plug in and remove the ipod from the unit while its still plugged in - without the ipod there to charge - the battery overheated to a super heated state - and being fueled with it own battery chemicals - burst into flames - like I said - it took four full glasses to put out the fire - the unit was determined to burn until every inch of that battery was incinerated... Man that was close - BTW the smoke from the unit was that thick black type that sticks to walls - we are going to have to repaint... both the liviing room wall and the porch...

SEE FOR YOURSELF: http://www.1esc.com/Applefusion.html

I notified Apple - have yet to hear from them...

sith33 · Dec 29, 2005, 04:33 PM

I assume you've contacted Sonic Impact, yeah? I don't imagine Apple will have anything to say about it - they don't have anything to do with the product besides offering it in their stores. Obviously they should stop selling it if they're all defective, but I don't think they share in the blame.

ghporter · Dec 29, 2005, 04:51 PM

First off, NEVER tempt fate by saying "I've seen everything." It's just bad to do so. Fate WILL find a way to surprise you. As an EE, you should know this!

Oh yeah, WELCOME to the MacNN Forums!

I'm not familiar with the flamable product you had problems with, but it does look like the charging circuit got completely stupid. What kind of battery did the thing have? Some are more volatile than others.

f1000 · Jan 1, 2006, 04:14 AM

I'd put that thing in a plastic bag and leave it outside if I were you; you never know what kind of toxic chemicals or metals might be present in the sooty film now coating the plastic. Air out the house well.

Dark Helmet · Jan 1, 2006, 04:45 PM

Yikes, I'd sue.

IFLY2HIGH · Jan 2, 2006, 01:23 PM

Contact the actual manufacture, I bet they will replace, and or refund your money. I had a battery charger that caught fire in my house one time, called the company up, instant refund right there and then. Last thing they want is a law suit so they will try and do everything possible to please you instantly, if not then sue them, they deserve it after that point.

Leia's Left Bun · Jan 2, 2006, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by IFLY2HIGH

Contact the actual manufacture, I bet they will replace, and or refund your money. I had a battery charger that caught fire in my house one time, called the company up, instant refund right there and then. Last thing they want is a law suit so they will try and do everything possible to please you instantly, if not then sue them, they deserve it after that point.

Big deal, you get your money back but you have to go through a lot of inconvenience and nearly torched your house and hurt your family.

Best thing to do is make this very public to alert others and think about a lawsuit.

nerd · Jan 2, 2006, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by Leia's Left Bun

Best thing to do is make this very public to alert others and think about a lawsuit.

If he contacts the company and they respond and even do recalls, blah blah blah is there really a need to sue? What is he really going to get out of it? I just don't get it.

wuzup101 · Jan 2, 2006, 03:44 PM

Tell them you want money for paint and labor to fix your house also...

Leia's Left Bun · Jan 2, 2006, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by nerd

If he contacts the company and they respond and even do recalls, blah blah blah is there really a need to sue? What is he really going to get out of it? I just don't get it.

Money to fix the house.

tooki · Jan 2, 2006, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by ricker

SEE FOR YOURSELF: http://www.1esc.com/Applefusion.html

Please, resize images in an image editor, not in HTML. If you do the latter, as you did, you force visitors to download several megabytes of images, only to have them scaled down to what could have been a few kilobytes!

tooki

tooki · Jan 2, 2006, 09:35 PM

Also, don't claim this is an Apple product; it is not, it is a third-party device.

tooki

ugovpa · Jan 4, 2006, 06:55 AM

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

Yikes, I'd sue.

I'd sue them too. Maybe I would give any revenues for charity, but it's time that manifacturers do things better, especially in case where lives are involved. Moreover, I think it's an american practice (I write from Europe) to evaluate a device's safety and compare with insurance coverage.

That's bastard (to use a word that i do not like). Think what could happen to your life if your son went hurted or killed. Would you mind their money? It's time to stop. Go hard on them.

new newton · Jan 4, 2006, 07:26 AM

If a person can't correctly identify the manufacturer of a product, what are the odds that they read the manual that came with the product or managed to use the product correctly? I'm not saying that this was the case here, but this guy is obviously sloppy in his thinking.

ghporter · Jan 4, 2006, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by new newton

...but this guy is obviously sloppy in his thinking.

Or extremely rattled. Ever had a house fire, even a tiny trash can fire? It is incredibly scary. Cut him some slack.

new newton · Jan 4, 2006, 10:55 AM

If you've got the time to build a web page, you're not all that rattled. If you start joining forums just to highlight your web page, you're not all that rattled.

Leia's Left Bun · Jan 4, 2006, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by new newton

If you've got the time to build a web page, you're not all that rattled. If you start joining forums just to highlight your web page, you're not all that rattled.

Gimmie a break. You want him to be in the fetal position in the corner of the room for a month because of it?

new newton · Jan 4, 2006, 02:13 PM

Did I say that? A person can be expected to be a little confused right after a stressful event. That confusion usually doesn't last through creating a web-page and seeking out a forum. Why on Earth would anyone think that it does?