Good people, Safety concerns us all, some people more, some people less. Locally there has been a string of accidents with lithium batteries. This brings me no joy in posting this news. ((Heck, I'm going to be their first customer when they come to the suburbs!)) ;-) Dave Garnier http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=708266
AT&T replacing batteries Device blamed in U-verse equipment cabinet blast in Tosa By RICK BARRETT [email protected] Posted: Jan. 16, 2008 A string of fires and explosions in equipment cabinets providing AT&T's U-verse video service, including one explosion in Wauwatosa, has prompted the company to start replacing thousands of lithium batteries that could be safety hazards. Replacing the batteries in 17,000 outdoor cabinets could cost AT&T Inc. millions of dollars because the Canadian battery manufacturer, Avestor, declared bankruptcy and went out of business in late 2006. U-verse is a new video service offering more than 300 TV and music channels, plus high-speed Internet access. It's poised to become serious competition for cable and satellite TV services across Wisconsin - although it's available in only a few areas of the state, including selected neighborhoods in Milwaukee and its suburbs. Hundreds of U-verse equipment cabinets are scattered around the Milwaukee area, on public and private property. The large metal cabinets must be close to the neighborhoods they serve because they are the last links in bringing U-verse over telephone wires to individual homes. AT&T declined to say how many of the Milwaukee-area cabinets have Avestor batteries, which are used for backup power. The company said it was replacing the batteries as fast as possible with batteries such as those used in traffic signals. The Avestor batteries are suspected of causing two U-Verse cabinet explosions and two fires, including the Wauwatosa explosion on Christmas Day. In Wauwatosa, one of the cabinet's 50-pound steel doors was torn off its hinges and thrown 5 feet. The cabinet, at N. 64th St. and W. North Ave, was destroyed by a fire that started just before the explosion, said Jeffrey Hevey, Wauwatosa fire marshal. The blast slightly damaged a nearby brick building, he said. AT&T has installed about 40 U-verse cabinets in Wauwatosa and has plans for many more, according to Hevey. "It's not like these things are blowing up left and right every day," he said. "Would I want to set up my granddaughter's play set next to one of these cabinets? Probably not. But if I were mowing the lawn, I wouldn't be looking over my shoulder, worried that the thing is going to blow up." Houston, Cleveland AT&T first became aware of the battery problem in October 2006, when a cabinet in a suburban Houston neighborhood blew up and tore out a piece of wooden fence from a resident's yard. About three months later, another cabinet near Houston caught fire. Then there was a cabinet fire near Cleveland, followed by the Wauwatosa explosion. The lithium-metal polymer batteries, once thought to be safe, are suspected of causing the fires and explosions. If they leak, the batteries can produce flammable gases. "There's a noticeable fire before the explosion," Hevey said. The U-Verse cabinet from Wauwatosa has been sent to a California forensics engineering firm, Exponent Inc., that investigated a Delta jet crash in 1985 that killed 134 people. Results of the forensics tests probably won't be available for about another six weeks, according to Hevey. "But I have a feeling that AT&T is going to be replacing batteries before then," he said. AT&T has decided to replace all the Avestor batteries in about 17,000 cabinets nationwide. "We are in the process of getting it started now. All I can say is that we are doing it as quickly as we can," AT&T spokesman Rick Fox said. The company has declined to reveal the cost of the work, although some experts said it might cost several thousand dollars per unit, including the cost of the batteries, labor and any changes that have to be made to the cabinets. "Avestor is out of business, so this is something that we have decided to do on our own," Fox said. "We want to make sure that we are protecting the safety of our customers, our employees and the communities we serve." U-verse service probably won't be interrupted because of the work, which involves replacing the Avestor batteries with two types of non-lithium batteries from other manufacturers. "It's no small task. But on the other hand, AT&T can't take too long because there could be other incidents," said industry consultant Kermit Ross, principal of Millennium Marketing in Frisco, Texas. "It's going to be ugly. These batteries have to be handled as hazardous waste. They're supposed to be put back in their original packing material. . . you can't just drop them off at the local landfill." AT&T could have saved a lot of money if it had stopped using the Avestor batteries immediately after the Houston explosion in 2006, according to Ross. "Instead, they pressed on, installing more of these batteries. Now they have a much bigger problem," he said. AT&T chose the lithium-metal polymer batteries for the amount of energy they can carry in a small space. The company has been under pressure from communities to keep the U-verse cabinets as small and unobtrusive as possible, mostly for aesthetic reasons. The cabinets are "supposed to enable AT&T to do a truly wonderful and marvelous thing, and that's deliver not only voice telephone service but high-speed Internet and television over copper wires. . . but the thing that's disturbing to me is you should never put anything in front of the safety of your employees and the public," Ross said. Since the Wauwatosa explosion, Hevey said, AT&T has been diligent in updating him about the investigation. "I haven't gone a week without at least one phone call from them. At this point, I think they are making an honest effort to correct a bad problem," Hevey said. - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
